Fans of Ridley Scott’s Alien franchise have been looking forward to Aliens: Colonial Marines for quite some time – especially after the title’s lengthy development. In a newly released dev diary, dubbed “Authentic Aliens,” key Gearbox Software personnel speak of how they plan to keep the game true to the franchise’s roots.
Gearbox is quick to remind gamers that Aliens: Colonial Marines will be an authentic Aliens experience. Using words like “frightening,” “scary” and “badass,” members of Gearbox reiterate that, rather than a recreation of James Cameron’s iconic film, Colonial Marines is a sequel in video game form. Not to mention, the developers hope to clear up some canonical inconsistencies between Aliens and Alien 3.
Due to the game’s placement in the Alien cannon, players will see what happened to LV-426, 17 weeks after the film Aliens. Colonial Marines writer Mikey Neumann says players will see the results of the atmospheric processor explosion and how the remaining xenomorphs have affected the planet.
Gearbox is also taking fan feedback quite seriously, and has been making changes to the game based on responses to previously released screenshots. However, it’s interesting that despite this pledge for fan approval, Gearbox has still not addressed the game’s lack of female multiplayer characters. Fans have petitioned to get female character models in the game’s multiplayer – and rightfully so, considering the Alien films have always had a focus on strong female characters.
That piece of criticism aside, the gameplay shown off in the trailer looks great, and really captures the feel of the film. Gearbox is aiming for the finished product to look like something Cameron would direct, and they’ve pretty much nailed the feel – at least from this Alien fan’s perspective. Perhaps that’s just because the M41A plasma rifle sounds perfect.
Aliens: Colonial Marines will release on February 12th, 2012 for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. No date has been set for the Wii U version.
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I’m curious about this game, but there’s a huge plot hole that I have difficulties believing they can adequately address. If the Atmospheric Processor was detonated in Aliens (and we saw that it was), why would anything be left of the colony on LV-426? And even if there is, how would there be a breathable atmosphere on the planet if there were no processor there to generate it?
Food for thought.
We never see the aftermath of the explosion, just a flash of light. We have no way of knowing that the explosion hollowed out a crater in the planet, or if it was just very bright and launched a shockwave at the settlement.
Also, the processor had been going for a while, building up an atmosphere; it would take a lot longer than 17 weeks for it to dissipate. Granted, it would not be getting any better, but creating (and destroying) an atmosphere is not instantaneous (like the original Total Recall did)
LOL! And of course you have documented scientific proof of the effects of 17 weeks without a planetary atmospheric processor? According the film, detonating the processing station would have been the equivalent to a thermonuclear explosion, leveling anything in its path. Again, how is anything left?
When you buy the rights, anything is possible, so…..DEAL WITH IT!! It won’t take much to explain how or why they can still breath air after the explosion of what left standing. Now here is a real brain twister. You never see Hudson die. You see him get pulled into the floor, but no blood. The same thign happened to Newt, and she was glued up to have a facehugger implant her. Hudson could have been glued up and lived with the alien in him. I would love to hear that Bill Baxton reprises his role in Aliens as a voice actor in this game.