Aliens Colonial Marines deserves all of the vituperative assaults it's been receiving from fans since its falsely-advertised release in 2013. The game seemingly wears each of its flaws like badges of honour; shamelessly placing each and every one of them on absolute display for all to see. From the first screen-tearing frame, Colonial Marines refuses to cooperate with proper mechanics or any sense of cohesive storytelling. Although you're accompanied by AI-controlled cohorts, a majority of the time they'll either just stand around, become caught on obstacles and in the worst cases, refuse to fight enemies standing directly in front of them. The aliens themselves are another mess altogether and completely lack proper animation. 360 owners also faced a separate collection of problems which cause the game to freeze, crash or outright delete entire game saves. And then there's the story which demolishes continuity with the beloved foundation that the films (and hell, even comics) already established. In one of the most ridiculous plot-twists ever mustered, Hicks is discovered to have survived the fatal crash which blatantly took his life during the outset of my personal favourite Alien film, Alien 3. Worse still is that an explanation isn't even given! While other games on this list are definitely bad and nearly unplayable, Alien Colonial Marines takes the cake because it had no reason to be here. Fox entitled Gearbox to the Alien lore and allowed their narrative to also be canon; they were allotted a near-limitless budget and ultimately siphoned funds which Sega gave them into a separate party of developers (which they hid from Sega) while placing the majority of their efforts into Borderlands 2. This is one of the most shamefully repellant games ever made and deserves to be labelled as such. While there are worse games out there, few are as knowingly audacious and self-aware as Gearbox's disgustingly broken attack on gamers and Alien fans alike. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0T_d3_dh7s
Greetings from The Yentz! The Warrior of the Wasteland! The Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla!
I live, eat and breathe film... And videogames... And comics... And, well... Anything that might be considered "nerd related".
I consider myself the voice against that of mainstream cinema. While critics might praise the ostentatious drivel supplied by Oscar-pandering films, I enjoy directing attention to less popular gems in hopes of educating people on incredible film experiences that may not be backed by massive studios, nominations and a star-studded cast.
Outside of WhatCulture!, I write for Movieweb, assisted BlueCat as a script analyst, have worked on films from the east coast to the west and continue to write, critique and direct here in the lovable land of ol' LA.
I hope you enjoy reading my diatribes as much as I enjoy writing them.
