Gearbox: Fan Service Is at the Core of Aliens: Colonial Marines

For a long time fans and analysts believed that Aliens: Colonial Marines, the game under development at Gearbox, had been canceled but now that the developer is ready to talk about the project the company is saying that one of the core ideas behind the title is to deliver as much fan service as possible without intruding into the gameplay.

Brian Martel, who is the chief creative officer working on the game at Gearbox, has told VG247 that, “We wanted to have more time with the marines – this time we’re in the boots of the Colonial Marines – so in that way you get to finally be them – use their hardware, all that kind of stuff. We’re not gonna mix in Predators and things.”

He added, “Working with Fox really gives us the detail – in-depth photos, all the resources they had from the films – and they took a lot of photos – blueprints, everything. All that’s been really helpful and they’ve just been really cool – every time we’re making up a new Alien they’ve been there to help us figure out the details to work it into the canon – it’s cool.”

Aliens: Colonial Marines will be team based and will see players engaged in the all familiar scenario from the movies, with a small team of soldiers stranded on a hostile world and under constant attack from the aliens.

The developers are keen on introducing new variations on the enemies seen in the movies but they are also delivering situations that seem ripped straight from the first Aliens movie.

Iconic elements like the motion tracking, with its attached tension, and the sounds of the weapons are taken directly from that universe but Gearbox is also innovating on the fringes, something that's needed to add the variety that a modern video game requires.