This isn't terribly surprising. After looking at that Quick Look, this game has every single hallmark of being over-developed (as in developed for too long with more primitive tech) : bad textures, weak AI, but the most obvious one to me was the wild gesticulations people make in cutscenes while talking. That was a hallmark of last-gen games that predated well-rendered faces.

Many have chided Ridley Scott's recent sort-of-Alien-prequel Prometheus as a cynical, unnecessary retcon of the existing Alien canon that never quite justified its own existence.

Uh, who did? You? This is some Glenn Beck shit.

Gross. I wonder if they spent Sega's money making Borderlands DLC instead. Great review.

I wonder how this will effect Gearboxs future? I mean I know everyone loves BL but this and Duke has left me wondering what this will do to there reputation.

To me, the mishandling of the great and beloved mythology behind this game only makes it worse. It seems like an even more cynical cashgrab with the Aliens name on the box than if it had been, say a bargain bin Call of Duty clone. Even if the game had gotten 2 stars, that extra star would've been so weak that it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

As is usual for the last few months, I'm once again surprised by the quality of Alex's writing.

I think it's the facial hair.

Alex do you ever just go home and look at a copy of Suikoden 3 or Bayonetta weep? You get the shittiest games to review bud.

Gotta be the hair.

One star? Ouch.

I guess that's why they played it for almost an hour and a half on that quick look. Because that's how shitty games work right? you keep playing them for an hour and a half.

That's kind of your fault. They've had the option to switch between white and black backgrounds for years. You only just discovered it

My enthusiasm for Colonial Marines started to die down as I saw more of the game, but I still held out hope that it would be at the very least an entertaining game that just fills the time until something else is released, and apparently that is not the case.

I will still rent the game because, who knows, I might actually like it.

There is no other explanation.

I really want a new Aliens game. Just not this one.

Funny, I don't remember Alex or anyone who had played all that much of the game being in the Quick Look. Must've been watching the wrong one.

No seriously, what point are you even trying to make here?

That is a mighty harsh indictment of the game, Alex. Seems to be well deserved, too. Ouch.

Considering it's a licensed game, and was in development hell. The writing was kind of on the wall.

@rudecubes said:

because they try to fix games that should've just been scrapped? duke nukem... now this...

Please outsource and hype the shit outta every game from now Gearbox, it will bring us closer to the cleansing collapse that will save us all.

Borderlands isn't even good, no idea how people last more than a few hours. It's so simplistic and no amounts of crazy guns and bad humour can save it.

<p>Well if anything, Gear Box are probably the last studio on earth producing B Tier entertainment in world of AAA or Indy mobile, so that's one for the historians anyway... this game looks fucking terrible.</p>

Edit: To be be fair to GBX, thy appeared to have inherited there 2 most dismal outputs. If nothing else they proved to publishers they can ship, no matter what the final product might look like. They are really all merc projects to keep the studio lucrative and let work on there true passion projects, anything with 'Border' in the title, which if I'm honest have never really done much for me.

Boy do I feel bad for anyone who bought this game before reviews hit, ouch. If any such people are reading these comments I feel your pain as I bought Duke Nukem forever for $60, new.

Gearbox are run by some evil evil people that's for sure.

For anyone interested in the rumoured division of labour on this project:

http://www.reddit.com/r/LV426/comments/18ewf4/a_lot_of_you_are_rightfully_upset_at_the_final/

TL:DR - Apparently TimeGate did 85% of the SP campaign, Gearbox didn't think it was up to snuff but contractual obligations meant that they had to ship it.

I was really hoping as well as almost everyone else out there that this could be good... and well... it wasn't. :(

That reddit article is interesting. Shame that with so much potential for something interesting to be made, it resulted in this.

@kanyeeast:ugh

I really want this game to be awesome.
And I mean awesome like this one that Jim Sterling is showing off and not the one they decided to actually make. It sucks when they just make a demo look awesome (because that's what's gonna rope people/the press in) and then make the game nothing like it.

At least they know what "shovelware" means and use it accordingly.

The Aliens arcade game was alright. Kind of a quarter muncher, but it was definitely fun in co-op and reverent for the time. I guess that's the only Aliens game I've really enjoyed, or am likely to.

As for this game, it amazes me how these zombie projects shuffle along to completion. At some point when designing a game, shouldn't the focus be to at least make one gameplay loop fun to play, and then worry about all the fanservice? Crazy. Give me Dead Space 1 anyday.It is possible to make a shooter that's scary, challenging, and filled with melee enemies.Just have to start with the game mechanics rather than the licensing checklist.

Even good things come out of bad games.

I'm still waiting for the blessed day where someone can make a good Aliens game. While I wait for that, I'll continue to mourn the loss of the Reviewer avatars.

I give up, nobody is ever going to get this shit right. I am sad.

After watching the quicklook, I have to agree this game looks terrible... but then I'm still going to GameFly it so maybe that makes me part of the problem...

First the last AvP sucked, then Prometheus and now this. Man. Alien fans just don't get to catch a break.

@ravelle: Who gives a fuck? No one accused you of not liking that piece of shit.

After this and Duke Nukem Forever, is Gearbox and/or Randy Pitchford in trouble? Even Borderlands 2 didn't seem quite as well-received as the original. The disconnect between their hype and their results is staggering and, in my opinion, much more noticeable than it is with most other devs.

seems Navarro is up to his old tricks again

Will this be the most Disappointing game of the year? From what I read, strong signs point to a definitely.

Why is Gearbox doing this to themselves? First Duke Nukem, now this? But I love the Borderland series. I guess that's a redeeming factor for them.

Why is that developers will place the setting of the game on LV-426 after the events of Aliens and have the characters still be able to breath?

HOW THE FUCK. Can people breath AFTER the atmospheric processor got blown up!? It's not like there's a crap ton of trees and plants around. I thought the whole point of the atmospheric processor was to create oxygen and allow people to breathe without suits on the planet.

Is this at least addressed in the story? That's all I want to know.

I never really cared for the game to begin with so my opinion might be a lil harsh but i don't understand how people saw the shitfest that was Duke Nukem and didn't expect this, on some level.

Another messed up movie license game destroyed.

i can't believe gearbox made this game

@mjhealy: Hmmm

Uh, that movie was critically panned on release and drubbed by fans also. It very much seemed like any positive opinions were very much in the minority.

Damn, was hoping that this would turn out playable :(

Wow.

They shipped this turd?

I am honestly sad it turned out this way. It could have been really good. I kept telling myself it was Gearbox they won't mess up but they did. I wonder if we will ever get a good Aliens game?

Gearbox and 20 other studios made this Frankengame.

Is the veil finally lifted that Randy Pitchford is full of shit. "We're gonna make this game...but first we'll make this game...this game...and a sequel to this other game....but we're still making an Aliens game too...well most of it...we some of it, maybe?"