E3 2012 Hands-On – Aliens: Colonial Marines

At E3 2012, Gearbox Software and 2K Games are showing the multiplayer of their upcoming Aliens: Colonial Marines and I found that the game manages to capture the essence of the franchise while also delivering a thrilling first-person shooter experience.

The shown game mode allows six Marines to go up against six Aliens (these positions were manned by experienced players from the Gearbox development team) and the team that managed the most kills in a five-minute interval was the winner.

I died a lot during my play session, but I had much fun doing it, despite the fact that, for my Marine character, getting ripped apart in a brutal manner by an alien was not a question of “if,” nor one of “when?” (sooner rather than later), but one of “how?”.

The kill animations that Gearbox has created for Aliens: Colonial Marines are fun, fear inducing and perfectly suited to the universe they are working with.

Men get ripped apart, heads are separated from other limbs, blood sprays everywhere and the best part is that the alien treats all of this with exemplary contempt and then simply moves on to another potential kill.

There were four potential builds for the Marines to try out and it seems that a good mix of pulse rifles and shorter range shotguns are critical for the success of the six-man team while straying away from the group is a huge mistake and a sure way to get killed.

Of course, a lot will depend on how the two teams get along and a quick look at the developers who were playing the aliens indicated that they are hard to master and use well.

The only problem I had with Aliens: Colonial Marines is how Gearbox is using light because the environments seemed a little too bright when compared with the look of the movie series.