8 Video Games That Tragically Wasted Their Genius Premise
5. Aliens: Colonial Marines
From the beginning it seemed that SEGA's multi-platform first-person shooter, Aliens: Colonial Marines was destined to crumble under its own weight given the six long year development hell it underwent before release. However, when Borderlands developer Gearbox finally stepped up to the plate to take over development from in 2008, gamers felt relieved at least for the time being. Gearbox's vision for a topnotch adaptation of Ridley Scott's Aliens franchise almost appeared flawless in the demonstrations leading up to launch. Everything was there; from the most detailed depiction of alien-infested colonies to the authentic Marines, note-perfect right down to the weapons and equipment used for hunting down their phallus-headed adversaries. Unfortunately, ACM's premise was completely dismantled by a wide variety of common bugs and amateur-ish design choices too unforgiveable even for Gearbox. Simply put, one just has to think of everything that could ruin a first-person shooter to have a good idea why ACM failed. Just go down the list inferior console ports? Check. Graphical bugs? Check. Horrendously stupid AI? Check. Horrible controls for the aliens in multiplayer? Check. Uninspired multiplayer modes? Check. After its release, ACM was a total flop, and a shady Gearbox came under fire from all sides.
Ryan was born in Barbados and grew up with a pen in one hand and a paper in the other. He is an accomplished blogger, freelance writer and vlogger. He is also an avid gamer (in case you couldn't tell from the things he writes about).
