Aliens Colonial Marines

2013-02-12 08:37:31

#101

M.O.A.B: 'Light 'em up!'; +1,220|6436|Escea

Alright then. Overall, it does strike me as an older style of game, especially with the health packs and so on and sometimes the graphics do let it down. But I have to say there's quite a number of pants-shitting moments. I'm currently up to Spoiler (highlight to read):
the sewers, with no gun, with sporadic flashy lighting. And I found Hudson!. It's not perfect, but I think its doing quite well so far, for me at least.

Last edited by M.O.A.B (2013-02-12 08:38:13)

2013-02-12 21:14:19

#102

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,053|6985|PNW

OK, I've played through part of single player.

Keeping you updated wrote:
LEGEND:
during first playthrough
during collectibles cleanup
during coop play

Likes:
* there are a lot of opening company videos, and you can skip every single one.
* atmosphere. animation, audio, lighting, etc. this game does a very good job of being "alien."
* the fact that you can start at the hardest difficulty the first time through. that's right! you don't have to unlock it at all.
* ai allies that you don't have to babysit. their "death" is just getting knocked over. they'll stand up after awhile.
* upgrades tree.
* different kinds of xenomorphs. some aliens purists hate this, but I think it adds variety. the AvP franchise already has a bunch of different kinds, so why can't this game?
* oh yeah, you can crouch. good on them for not going the route of the recent AvP game.
* the main character has a voice and a name.
* all single player missions may be played through in four-player coop.

Dislikes:
* dated-looking graphics. unreal 3 is an old-ish engine, but it's been used to better effect before.
* inept alien ai. how many years since avp classic...and they haven't gotten any cleverer.
* collectibles. seriously, yet more collectibles. nothing like trying to find collectibles while some other character is barking into your earpiece to hurry up and move to the next area. TOTALLY breaks the flow of a game.
* stunted ending and easy boss fights.
* minimal splash damage from alien acid blood
* lack of cleverness in alien AI. swarm mode is one thing, but on they're own they're supposed to be tricksy.
* obscenely short sprinting distance for a fucking space marine, making instakill attacks from the big xeno very annoying to dodge.
* the enemies all know you're the player and that your companion npc's are immortal until the story says otherwise. as such, they target you accordingly. I would have preferred something like, I dunno, keep the story-critical npc's as they are but give you other marine reinforcements on a ticker so you can get some equal-opportunity biting and clawing in?
*** non-interactive corpses and corpse fade! I remember being able to claw bodies for health in the older AvP's or otherwise keep shooting them up after they're already dead. why is this not a feature? has it lost popularity or something? the game's already violent enough. why can't I stand on a pile of dead xenomorphs like the OP badass Winters apparently is?!
* degraded visual quality during development. if they couldn't have gotten it to work with the consoles, they could've at least kept it for the PC. less fog and no allied flashlight beams. :(
* awkward in-game cutscenes for coop mode. all players can look nothing like Winters, but we still hear him talking to Cruz over the radio. also, it's awkward seeing other player models freeze up like you're looking at them in 3ds max or something.
* teleport to keep up is nice, but it kind of kills any kind of "left behind" potential that made the L4D games so suspenseful. get too far behind and your screen will fuzz and warp you back to your group. :|

Indifferences:
* it's shooter on rails. was expecting this from preview footage, so I wasn't surprised. it doesn't bug me that much if games don't try to hide it.
* already with the DLC seasons pass thingy. i could pretend to be irritated about being asked to drop another thirty bucks on this game, but honestly: nobody says i have to.
* minimal graphics configuration. I would prehaps care more about this if there were actually better graphics to enable.

The question that I asked myself is, "would this be a good game if it wasn't tied to a popular franchise?" Yes, I think it would be. True, I wouldn't be feeling all nostalgic about it, but the gameplay is solid. I have no idea where the hate is coming from in regards to the Steam forums and reviews, but I'm just not feeling it. Maybe an epiphany will strike when I move to multiplayer, but so far it's gold.

3/4, would still buy if I knew then what I know now.

e1: new thoughts after game concludes
e2: I added more dislikes on my second time (quickplay for collectibles) through the campaign, but it doesn't affect my liking for the game.

2013-02-13 00:49:10

#103

M.O.A.B: 'Light 'em up!'; +1,220|6436|Escea

unnamednewbie13 wrote:
aksdhgkawheg uwehg

I have to say I agree with you. The way some reviewed it you would think it had raped their mothers.

I think it nailed the atmosphere to a T, the only letdown being the inconsistent quality of graphics and often poor animation, but it is a lot of fun. It has some extremely tense moments and good scares and the action is nice and thick where needed. I also love using the tracker, which was another thing people reviewed as being useless, but I found it to be really helpful, especially with the lurkers. There's also something very satisfying about that crunch sound when you blow the aliens' legs off or shoot them with the smart gun. I was a little dissapointed though that Spoiler (highlight to read):
the big last stand with all of the Marines seen in the earlier gameplay vids was left out.

2013-02-13 01:09:41

#104

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,053|6985|PNW

I just finished it. I was disappointed in what you spoiler-tagged as well. It wasn't the fight I was expecting. Speaking of fights I wasn't expecting, the last boss was the easiest thing in the game, and the stunted ending and cliffhanger was just as weak. Is this what they set up the $30 DLC pass for?

Still, I think it was worthwhile, and I haven't even touched multiplayer yet.

2013-02-13 02:22:21

#105

M.O.A.B: 'Light 'em up!'; +1,220|6436|Escea

Yeah, just finished it as well. The ending/boss fight could definitely have been better.

I think there were number of things they could have made use of but missed the opportunity. Spoiler (highlight to read):
Using the APCs would've been pretty awesome. It seemed to build up more story as you went, but then burned out too quickly.

But overall I'm happy enough. It looks like Aliens, sounds like Aliens, and does what I expected an Aliens game to do.

I tried MP, but it was taking ages to try and find other players.

2013-02-13 04:16:34

#106

FFLink: There is.; +1,380|6904|Devon, England

The sensor picks up Dog tags as two little squares and Legendary Guns as little exclamation points.

I really like the Multiplayer. I feel it's pretty balanced, especially as the round's win is based on your performance as both Marines and Xenos.

I also love the game modes. Escape is great fun.

2013-02-13 11:22:01

#107

M.O.A.B: 'Light 'em up!'; +1,220|6436|Escea

MP is both tremendously fun, and highly frustrating at times. I may be past the frustrating aspect now though, having unlocked a few more upgrades for the xenomorphs. But the totally unscripted nature of roaming a hive infested factory with your tracker going nuts and spotting aliens running across the ceiling and hiding in vents (or in one instance, a big fucking crusher) makes it awesome.

2013-02-13 17:05:02

#108

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,053|6985|PNW

https://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/558715034972193986/ADCAB81CC257B340177468963FC8F22086121562/

Yo xeno dude, whassup?
Nuthin' much, brah, just hangin' around.

https://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/558715034972202014/2D6324014816397AB8D53E35DD07C5833B778C32/

Hater's gonna hate.

https://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/558715034972203594/D9863F2E9E17943106DBBFE7C6780DADB0B89B15/

Aliens: Colonial Marines - balanced for lean.

2013-02-13 21:08:57

#109

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,053|6985|PNW

Got all collectibles but some aren't registering. Reloaded a mission with one of the "missing" ones, and it registers as having been found and no longer shows up. I'm guessing I'd have to complete the mission again (rather than collect and exit) for it to register, but my care cup is empty. I think I'll do multiplayer next.

2013-02-14 02:04:44

#110

FFLink: There is.; +1,380|6904|Devon, England

You need to get on it.

When you get Xeno to level 10, you get Flurry for Soldier and Lurker, which is pretty much your ticket to winning every encounter (on TDM and the... Egg-hunt mode).

And if it's used against you, never forget trusty-old melee, which no one seems to do.

2013-02-14 02:31:25

#111

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,053|6985|PNW

Really? I use melee all the time, preemptively.

2013-02-14 02:32:12

#112

FFLink: There is.; +1,380|6904|Devon, England

You'd be surprised what people don't seem to use in MP.

Like the sensor.

2013-02-14 03:05:27

#113

M.O.A.B: 'Light 'em up!'; +1,220|6436|Escea

Really enjoying the survival mode, especially on condemned. At the moment I seem to be one of the few who try to lock everything up, going into the basement to weld up the doors and bypass the shutter controls.

2013-02-14 03:47:36

#114

FFLink: There is.; +1,380|6904|Devon, England

Is condemned the one with the turret room behind the APC?

2013-02-14 03:51:56

#115

M.O.A.B: 'Light 'em up!'; +1,220|6436|Escea

FFLink wrote:
Is condemned the one with the turret room behind the APC?

Nah, the one in the colony with the motor pool. Can't remember what the other one is called, but its on the ship.

2013-02-14 11:06:52

#116

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,053|6985|PNW

FFLink wrote:
You'd be surprised what people don't seem to use in MP.

Like the sensor.

Me: sensor, smart tracker on battle rifle and melee. Honestly the first two would have saved my life so much on L4D vs, and the third simply comes from L4D habit.

2013-02-14 11:12:12

#117

M.O.A.B: 'Light 'em up!'; +1,220|6436|Escea

Getting kind of irritating at times when I die almost instantly from pulse rifle fire, but I can put most of a mag into a xeno player and they'll still be standing, running in to hit me once. This happens even with heavy chitin.

It also seems the reason why so much shown in the last few years, whether in screenshot or vids, doesn't actually match with the game, is because it was previous work. Gearbox outsourced to a company called Timegate, who scrapped 4 years of work GB did, and then delivered something rather subpar, leading GB to basically restart it again and ship it very different from originally envisoned or risk action from an impatient SEGA.

Last edited by M.O.A.B (2013-02-14 11:18:44)

2013-02-14 11:16:27

#118

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,053|6985|PNW

Some teams just use voice and focus fire? I have better luck popping heads with the battle rifle anyway.

2013-02-14 11:21:22

#119

M.O.A.B: 'Light 'em up!'; +1,220|6436|Escea

unnamednewbie13 wrote:
Some teams just use voice and focus fire? I have better luck popping heads with the battle rifle anyway.

Thing is it can usually be just one guy. I'll chase after them and they'll spin around, take a load of hits from me, and still manage to kill me all by themselves. There was an instance today where one person just had to look at me to score a kill. Their ping was the same give or take a few points, yet in reversed roles I couldn't kill them even with grenades thrown into the mix. Sometimes people move as if they're using the hollow exoskeleton perk, but have the durability of the chitin and likewise for attacks. Moving and fast like flurry, but with heavy hit's power.

2013-02-14 14:35:23

#120

FFLink: There is.; +1,380|6904|Devon, England

Might have been Hudson's rifle? Higher damage.

2013-02-14 20:36:33

#121

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,053|6985|PNW

Too bad the xenos can't use pulse rifles.

2013-02-14 20:51:14

#122

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,053|6985|PNW

You're not imagining things when you thought that the game looked worse and worse as development continued. It was reverse feature creep. Looking at this video again, i notice that I don't really see a lot of fog in the finished project, nor do allied flashlights project a beam of their own. If they couldn't have made it work with the consoles, I wish they'd at least let us enable it on PC.

The game really suffered from Molyneux Syndrome. Bloated on feature-hype by the developers early on, then critically disappointed reviewers when it went gold.

All that said, it is STILL a decent game overall, but I don't think it'll be worth my picking up the DLC.

2013-02-15 00:37:12

#123

FFLink: There is.; +1,380|6904|Devon, England

After looking in the config files, I can see a "hunt" mode, which I assume will be Bughunt, and also a "Capture" mode. Not too sure what this could be, but I assume a 1-flag CTF game mode. Nothing worth paying for, unless bughunt is really good.

2013-02-15 08:42:25

#124

M.O.A.B: 'Light 'em up!'; +1,220|6436|Escea

https://www.geforce.co.uk/Active/en_US/shared/images/xml_graphics/aliens-colonial-marines/screenshot-8.jpg

This is from that original gameplay vid with all of the Marines. Quite a difference.

2013-02-15 10:31:29

#125

M.O.A.B: 'Light 'em up!'; +1,220|6436|Escea

Bah, Steam's doing some First Time Setup lark and I don't know if it's actually doing something, or just the usual Steam-take-forever bit. Can't play the game

BF2S Forums Aliens Colonial Marines

Keeping you updated wrote:

unnamednewbie13 wrote:

FFLink wrote:

FFLink wrote:

unnamednewbie13 wrote:

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