Colonial Marines, the last big Aliens game, was an unqualified disaster. What looked like it could've been a worthy pretender to the throne of the all-time greatest titles based on the horror-sci-fi-action franchise (which, obviously, is the old Alien Vs Predator games) and developed by the usually dependable Gearbox Software, this highly anticipated title ended up missing the mark by a fair old distance. To say the least. A first-person shooter which saw you in the part of, duh, one of the space marines that fell prey to the xenomorphic monsters in the second film was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 with very little fanfare, and a whole lot of fan outcry and criticism. Despite being in development for yonks the graphics stunk, the AI didn't work, it was full of bugs, and the multiplayer didn't even work. All of which appears more egregious when you realise that Sega cancelled another, way more exciting Aliens game in order to focus on Colonial Marines instead. Aliens: Crucible was being made by Obsidian Entertainment for the same consoles and would have played in a similar manner to the developer's previous role playing games Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic II and Neverwinter Nights 2. Basically it was going to be Mass Effect - a turn-based RPG set in space - except it was going to be absolutely terrifying and instead of banging hot space chicks, your party would fall prey to facehuggers. And if they did, they were gone for good. So there's a chance you could end up alone, in an abandoned space station, with a bunch of aliens chasing you. Which sounds 100% more terrifying and 100% more fun than Colonial Marines.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
