Aliens: Court Marines - "I say we take Sega's money and Nuke the entire IP from orbit..."

[Badnik Mechanic]

Borderlands 2 was real received, though there was the complaint that there is so much useless loot that it gets ridiculous. I for one love it, though.

 

 There are a few other problems with it. I've got it and the season pass and have played it quite a lot, the first playthrough was fine, but there were a number of problems...

 

As mentioned, there was a grind, and it was huge, I played through an entire 'normal' game doing every side mission and I wasn't close to max rank. I then did TVHM and did every mission up until 'Flesh stick' and I wasn't anywhere near max rank. So I did the flesh stick grind trick just because I wanted to do a second playthrough on rank 50 against rank 50 enemies and get great loot.

 

And even when I did the loot I got was quite terrible. The only time I got anything good was if I grinded specific enemies for a long time and if I used the 4 player glitch trick. Otherwise there was very little point in trying to find loot. The only good loot in the game comes from very specific bosses and locations without using glitches e.g. the Captain Skarlet treasure room glitch this takes a stupidly long time for a reward which may never come.

 

To put it into perspective, I used the glitch to access the treasure room and must have done it maybe 20 times if not more before I saw 1 orange weapon, which was a grenade mod.

 

Had I done this legitmately it would have taken somewhere around 6 hours if not longer to raid the room that many times.

 

And then you have to ask, what the point of gridning for this long anyway when they're constantly nerfing everything to death since people are constantly duping level 50 oranges... and why are they doing this...? Because it takes so bloody long to get to the enemies/chest which drop the weapons.

 

Theres also the section of the main story which is similar to FF13's plains segment, after Sanctuary vanishes and you wander around for ages until you do get a clue as to whats going on.

 

And then theres the biggest annoyance. Once you start TVHM, you can't start a new game with that character, you are locked into 'post game' mode once you do everything, but I've wanted to start from the beginning with a level 50 character... only way to do that is by grinding in a second players game.

 

 

 

Actually... on the subject of 'season pass' Doesn't this game also have a season pass which has been sold in large numbers? So doesn't that mean that there should be future DLC coming to this? Despite all the problems and the supposed cancelled Wii-U edition?

[Conando]

Well, they'd have to deliver on that or refund everyone. I don't think they could just get away with not making the DLC, as crap as it will probably be.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Just looking it up now.

 

According to urm... Sega as it happens. The DLC content (which is due in August) is 4 different DLC packs, based on both multiplayer and single player.

 

The first pack is Bug Hunt and thats basically a survival mode where you battle against waves of enemies. But no details on the others yet... hmmm I wonder who is making the DLC?

[Detective Shadzter]

Just looking it up now.

 

According to urm... Sega as it happens. The DLC content (which is due in August) is 4 different DLC packs, based on both multiplayer and single player.

 

The first pack is Bug Hunt and thats basically a survival mode where you battle against waves of enemies. But no details on the others yet... hmmm I wonder who is making the DLC?

Some cowboy devs SEGA found in the local newspaper ads. I think they're called Toolbox. 

[Yong]

 long list of complaints about Borderlands 2

 

Too be fair those are all things that were in the first Borderlands also. It was pretty much impossible to get to 50 on your first playthrough in the first also. Max level is pretty much reserved for those that play the second run.

 

Anyway getting back on topic I think it's appauling they even attached a season pass to this game. Who's going to want to buy multiple DLC packs when the base game is horrible?

[Candescence]

ProJared shares his thoughts, and also points out something big - aside from the single player demo being unplayable, he pointed out that the multiplayer was not only only playable, only the marines were playable, and for good reason, considering playing as the aliens is terrible. Also, he elaborates on how terrible the story and the sound is.

 

[Stacy]

Pretty sure they were always "meh" developers. They have worked on countless mediocre projects and have soiled Duke Nukem.

 

I think the Duke Nukem comment is a bit unfair to be fair to Gearbox at least they finished the game and its was playable and shock I actually found it fun to play. They did a good job finishing up a game that was nearly 14 years in the making!   

[Badnik Mechanic]

 

Don't Press F.

[Autosaver]

I think the Duke Nukem comment is a bit unfair to be fair to Gearbox at least they finished the game and its was playable and shock I actually found it fun to play. They did a good job finishing up a game that was nearly 14 years in the making!   

Like they finished up Aliens and got it into a "playable" state?

 

LOL

[Stacy]

Like they finished up Aliens and got it into a "playable" state?

 

LOL

 

Seriously have you played Duke Nuke Forever? Its not that bad you act like they were only people who worked on it! 

[Autosaver]

Seriously have you played Duke Nuke Forever? Its not that bad you act like they were only people who worked on it! 

Like how Aliens has gone through multiple builds and Gearbox wasn't the only that worked on it?

 

LOL

[Jacky]

DNF is truly not their fault, they were simply handed over whatever was already complete from 3D Realms, polished it slightly and just managed to get it out the door and released.


Aliens however, has no excuse, it's entirely their fault.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Like how Aliens has gone through multiple builds and Gearbox wasn't the only that worked on it?

 

LOL

 

Actually thats a good point ACM was originally a sub par looking PS2 game. 13 years later it comes out... looking like a sub par PS2 game.

 

Actually... do we know how much from the original PS2 version is in this version?

 

I definately remember reading articles on it and hearing how you would play as a Marine who is sent in to investigate what happened to the Marines in the second Aliens movie.

 

Screenshots of the game exist, so there must be video somewhere (most likely on ancient PS2/Xbox dev units) of it. When Sega got the license to it, I wonder if they also got the stuff that was already worked on and sent that to GB as reference material?

[Stacy]

Like how Aliens has gone through multiple builds and Gearbox wasn't the only that worked on it?

 

LOL

 

True but DNF was almost finished by 3D Realms the developers had to finish the game at home which became Triptych Games who worked in the same studio as Gearbox. Piranha Games worked on the console ports. Stop blaming Gearbox for everything, yes what they did was a very shitty thing to do but maybe SEGA should of you know maybe followed development of the game better and checked up on what gearbox was doing with their money like other Publishers tend to do.

 

Duke Nukem Forever was largely 3D Realms fault. That game went through more changes and redesigns than Michael Jackson's face!  

 

What is with the LOL?

Edited March 2, 2013 by BW199148

[Scott]

Despite Duke Nukem going through more changes, it came out an alright game, Aliens had literally half the development time of Duke Nukem and it came out...an alright game.

 

Both games had promises that weren't in the final product and it led to a lot of butthurt. I can see why anyone would be excited for a survival horror Aliens game but the way I see it; if it's based on "Aliens", it's gonna be tough to make into a survival horror. I would only class "Alien" and "Alien 3" as the more horror movies of the quadrilogy. When Colonial Marines are involved, it's a case of "ooh-rah, blow everything up".

 

It still looked promising from the few demo's, it looked like they finally nailed a good, scary, atmospheric alien game. Despite Gearbox's small development on both games, they both feel and play nearly exactly the same, how is that?

 

Even the graphical quality seems the same :|  Also...

 

Protip: Turn Brightness down in settings to get a better atmosphere in some levels (lighting looks a lot better this way in later-half WY lab levels)

[Badnik Mechanic]

Uh oh Chongo!

 

TimeGate, specifically the section which worked on Aliens Colonial Marines have laid off 25 people today. Now whilst this hasn't been officially confirmed. Sources from inside TimeGate are saying that the reason for the layoffs is due to a publishing deal which fell through suddenly last month... .. ... ... After the reviews for Aliens came out and TimeGates involvement with it.

 

Source

[Detective Shadzter]

Aliens: Colonial Marines Xbox 360 update released
Tackles single- and multi-player bugs
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/394983/aliens-colonial-marines-xbox-360-update-released/

[Badnik Mechanic]

Well just when you think SimCity was going to steal this games thunder...

 

PC Patch is now live... and it's... lol.... 3.8GB! Just how big is the game file size now!?

 

 

3/18/2013 Update

General

• Improved texture resolution.
• Various visual improvements.
• Added mouse smoothing to options menu.
• Fixed crashes tied to launch and motion tracker.
• Added additional safeguards to better protect save data.
• Resolved an issue where a player's level could sometimes appear incorrect when backing out of a party.
• Addressed several scenarios under which players could spawn without a weapon.
• Changes to better prevent audio from sometimes cutting out during end of mission cinematics.
• Fixed issue where Xeno death animation was not properly calculating momentum of the killing blow.
• Smart Gun animation now properly tracks targets.
• Addressed some instances where Xenos would display erratic animations.
• Increased light radius for player's shoulder lamp.
• Adjusted aim assist to better reflect player input.
• Addressed an issue that could sometimes cause co-op player revival to not work under certain circumstances.
• Addressed issues with players not spawning into a level properly.
• Fixed a marine player invincibility exploit.
• Resolved several instances where players could walk or fall outside of maps.
• Addressed an issue where Ripley’s Flamethrower (bonus content) would sometimes fire continuously without player input.
• Fixed an issue that could cause localized text to sometimes display incorrectly.
• Addressed an issue where weapon ammunition was not always highlighted properly.
• General user interface improvements.
• Miscellaneous bug fixes.

Campaign

• Tweaked enemy and friendly AI to be more aggressive and responsive.
• Modified campaign difficulty to account for improved AI responsiveness.
• Improved enemy collision detection regarding doors and Power Loader.
• Addressed some issues that could cause improper warping for co-op players.
• Various tweaks to address instances where NPC characters would not always properly navigate to objectives.
• Players will no longer bleed out immediately when downed in a Power Loader.

Versus

• Fixed issues that could cause clients to report inaccurate results and statistics.
• Addressed instances where a map would appear to “pop in” when loading into a new match.
• New Xeno appearance customization added.
• Multiplayer teams should now correctly auto-balance between rounds.
• Increased duration of Lurker Pounce Challenge “Cat-Like Reflexes” from 10 to 20 seconds.
• Fixed issue where certain multiplayer challenges would not unlock properly for all characters.
• Crusher pick-ups now correctly appear as highlighted for clients.

My favourite fix is this one...

 

Addressed an issue where Ripley’s Flamethrower (bonus content) would sometimes fire continuously without player input.

 

So the bonus DLC weapon would sometimes fire even if the player didn't push the fire button... the flamethrower is so keen to burn things it won't wait for you.

[Detective Shadzter]

Well just when you think SimCity was going to steal this games thunder...

 

PC Patch is now live... and it's... lol.... 3.8GB! Just how big is the game file size now!?

 

 

My favourite fix is this one...

 

Addressed an issue where Ripley’s Flamethrower (bonus content) would sometimes fire continuously without player input.

 

So the bonus DLC weapon would sometimes fire even if the player didn't push the fire button... the flamethrower is so keen to burn things it won't wait for you.

It said that in the Xbox 360 update I posted, too. That one's hilarious.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Well, I would have thought that pyromaniacs would have loved that bug

[Badnik Mechanic]

So the Wii-U version might not be happening at all now.

 

When asked about it today Sega replies with "No news" on the subject.

 

Randy Pritchard however had this to say....

 

"We'll see [...] I think [developer Demiurge Studios] did amazing work. I think it's really cool, but Sega's got to figure that out, [...] We're doing the best we can."

 

Not sounding all well in the alien house does it?

 

Source: http://uk.gamespot.com/events/pax-east-2013/story.html?sid=6405809

 

[Toby]

At this point, it's an act of mercy not having the game on Wii U.

[Autosaver]

If they release all the (future) DLC and patches from Day 1, it MIGHT do a little better. I heard the patches greatly improved the game but I don't own it so I can't be sure.

[Scott]

Well the Bug Hunt DLC came out on the 19th, apparently a lot more was improved in that add-on alone but after watching a few vids, nothing seemed different, the lighting looked better though, but I'm not 100% sure there's a difference.

 

It had no achievements, so I wasn't gonna blow money on it.

[Yong]

Well the Bug Hunt DLC came out on the 19th, apparently a lot more was improved in that add-on alone but after watching a few vids, nothing seemed different, the lighting looked better though, but I'm not 100% sure there's a difference.

 

It had no achievements, so I wasn't gonna blow money on it.

 

Any improvements if at all would be due to the last patch. I'm more curious about the mention of

• Tweaked enemy and friendly AI to be more aggressive and responsive.
• Modified campaign difficulty to account for improved AI responsiveness

Is the AI actually any better now after the patch?