The tension is getting thicker, as is the marketing hype, surrounding the upcoming Aliens: Colonial Marines. In the latest installment of its short "From Concept to Game" trailers, developer Gearbox takes us inside an Alien Hive.
You would think that after a distress call and the knowledge that previous platoons have been decimated, the marines of Aliens: Colonial Marines would be hesitant to enter the fray. But the group enters with all the "oorah" it can muster, and the body count promptly begins to rise. That's what you get for underestimating xenomorphs.
Much of the marketing for Aliens: Colonial Marines has banked on nostalgia for the franchise, like Powerloader figurine and marines skins serving as pre-order bonuses. The game takes place in many of the same settings, so it only makes sense for Sega to showcase one of the more iconic sets of the film Aliens: Hadley's Hope.
Aliens: Colonial Marines is all about hardened space jocks taking on xenomorphs. But if the movie Aliens taught us one thing, it's that all the badass in the world is no match for an angry killing machine with a tiny mouth inside its larger, conveniently human-head sized mouth.
With Aliens: Colonial Marines, Randy Pitchford and his team will get to create a canonical expansion of the revered Alien franchise. The Gearbox Software CEO's entire face lit up at a press event last week when he started talking about the films and quipped about "stealing" from the films since the beginning of his career. Clearly a fan of the franchise, Colonial Marines has become a "labor of love" for the studio, having worked on it since late 2006.
Before you jump into the online world of Aliens: Colonial Marines, you'll want to play through the single player campaign. Marines can earn experience in both single and multiplayer, meaning you'll be able to have a consistent loadout whether you play online or off.
"The great thing about that is, if you are more into single player, you can get just as many upgrades and weapons before you even play multiplayer for the first time," senior producer Matt Powers told Shacknews.
One of the greatest lures of an Aliens multiplayer experience is the chance to play as the franchise's iconic Xenomorphs. At a recent event for Aliens: Colonial Marines, I was able to do just that by trying out two of the game's multiplayer modes: Team Deathmatch and Escape.
Aliens: Colonial Marines has outlined its pre-order bonuses: a set of colonial marines. How fitting. Plunking your money down at GameStop will let you throw down in multiplayer as marines from the classic movie Aliens: Hudson, Hicks, Apone, and Drake. So look forward to people quoting Hudson's "game over, man" line every five seconds.
Aliens: Colonial Marines was recently delayed until Feb. 12, 2013, but to get over your disappointment, you can check out all the extra goodies in the just-announced Collector's Edition.
The $100 CE offers a laundry list of bonuses, highlighted by a "resin powerloader figurine in a Limited Edition Xeno Hive box."
Aliens: Colonial Marines has been hit with a delay (again), this time pushing it into next year. The new release pins the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 versions on February 12, 2013. How romantic! The Wii U version's release date is still unannounced.
Read more: Team prioritizes goals 'over any particular launch window' »
Creative Assembly, developer of the Total War series, has been working on a game set in the Alien universe. While this summer's release of Prometheus may have you clawing for the game, it appears the title is still early in its development, as evidenced by a new job post on Creative Assembly's website. Interestingly, the game is now being aimed not only at the current gen, but the next one as well.
The Aliens franchise has captured a powerful fan base, cross-sectioning sci-fi and horror aficionados. Even the most die-hard fan has to admit some series missteps, though, so a lot of hope is riding with Gearbox's Aliens: Colonial Marines. A look at the game from PAX East 2012 should assuage most fears, and even create a little hope that we'll get a decent new Aliens story out of the game to boot.
Duke Nukem Forever received a pretty icy critical reception, including in our own review, but that doesn't bring down Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford. The passionate developer says he's still very proud of putting out the game, and that its poor response was the product of high expectations.
Read more: 'No possible way to meet or exceed such expectations' »
Sega delivered some sad news to Xenomorph hunters today: Aliens: Colonial Marines has been delayed. After dropping off the radar following its 2008 reveal, Aliens: Colonial Marines was pushed back into the spotlight and given a spring 2012 release date.
Former Shacknews editor and current Gearbox Community Manager Chris Faylor tells Shacknews that the upcoming PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 shooter is set for sometime within the fall 2012 release window.
A collector's edition of the upcoming Aliens: Colonial Marines has reportedly been leaked. It looks to include a few extra weapons, an extra mode, a set of dossiers, and a resin model immortalizing Ridley's famous exosuit battle with the queen from the film Aliens.
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