10 Aliens moments we need in Colonial Marines

[Mother]

As our Aliens: Colonial Marines preview in issue 75 notes, Aliens is one of the most ripped-off movies in existence. Pretty much every roughneck line of dialogue, eerie interior shot or chunk of fictional tech has been borrowed and recast for a videogame. How exactly, then, does Gearbox Software plan to make its contribution feel fresh and interesting? Answer: by going still further, delivering the ultimate homage to the James Cameron flick, faithful right down to the fast-decreasing LED ammo read-out on your pulse rifle.

For all that, studio president Randy Pitchford remains unwilling to commit to specifics. We know the action will perambulate from wrecked military cruiser the Sulaco to the surface of planet LV-426. We know there are nefarious Facehuggers (some served in a pickling jar, for extra crispness), and screeching Drones, and colossal, multi-limbed Alien Queens. But on a few counts, we're utterly in the dark. And the dark is a bad place to be when you're fighting xenomorphs. Here are 10 things Gearbox could take from the movie, with illustrative cheesy quotes.

1. They're Coming Out Of The Goddamn Walls.

In most games, walls are there to box you in, block your progress or provide cover. In an Aliens game, they're there to keep players in a state of simmering paranoia. We expect and demand Gearbox to make full use of the xenomorph-generating properties of any and all vertical surfaces - our viewing for the feature showed them erupting from floors, ceilings, vents and more. Doors are for squishy pink bipeds only.

2. There's Something Moving And It Ain't Us.

Bleep bleep bleep. No, that wasn't an outburst of swears, it was our typographical homage to the whine of a motion tracker. We hope Gearbox intends to treat the device as more than a tactical mini-map, as the possibilities for marshalling suspense are enormous. There's nothing back here, says you. Check under the walkways, says we.

3. Nuke The Site From Orbit (It's The Only Way To Be Sure).

There's only one way to purge an Alien infestation, when you get down to brass tacks, and that's to incinerate everything in the vicinity from a distance of a solid few hundred miles. Although come to think of it, roasting the setting isn't the wisest move if you're planning on developing sequels. They managed it with Alien 3. Are the Aliens hardy enough to stomach another atom bomb?

4. Now All We Need Is A Deck Of Cards.

You can run, but you can't hide... unless you hide behind a wall of sentry guns, a few welded doors and some overturned tables. It's only a temporary fixture, mind. The siege of the colony complex is a stand-out Aliens moment, with Hicks blow-torching the entrance closed at the very last moment, only for obscene dribbling horrors to fall through the ceiling. Give us, Gearbox.

5. Well, Somebody's Gonna Have To Go Out There.

When it comes to earning your comrades' trust, volunteering to crawl down a narrow vent shaft to a distant, exposed computer terminal takes the biscuit. Bishop's valiant escapade deserves a section of its own - and as Gearbox has confirmed that a key part of the game is revisiting the locations we saw from the movies, we wouldn't be entirely surprised if they recreate it entirely.

6. Another Glorious Day In The Corps.

Sergeant Apone's post-hypersleep bedside manner is the stuff of legends. Who wouldn't want to waken from a cryogenic slumber to the sound of Al Matthews yelling about sweethearts and paychecks and breakfast in bed? There's a first-person interactive cutscene in there somewhere, Gearbox.

7. What The Hell Are We Supposed To Use, Man? Harsh Language?

Ammo is for wimps, or for people who aren't standing directly under mile-high nuclear reactors. Gorman's early tactical fudge-up might have cost many marines their lives, but the ensuing carnage was thrilling to watch. Don't load us down on bullets when we're investigating labyrinths of oozy resin, Gearbox. Give the bugs a sporting chance.

8. They Mostly Come Out At Night. Mostly.

If Colonial Marines doesn't contain at least one night time mission, we'll never have faith in anything a developer tells us ever again. Our glimpse for the cover feature included a brief run across the darkened surface of Hadley's Hope, and Pitchford has promised survival horror elements too - shuffling through an Alien-infested building after dark seems unavoidable.

9. Remember, Short Controlled Bursts.

Come to think of it, what we wrote about being stingy with ammunition should apply to the whole game. Few things focus the mind better than the knowledge that there are a dozen bogies for every round in your clip. We don't mind resorting to pointy sticks when the going gets seriously tough. If pointy sticks are in short supply, power loaders will have to do.

10. Drake, Check Your Camera.

We're still trying to work out how the squad element of Colonial Marines will handle, but we do know there's an APC on board the Sulaco, and we do know it packs screens hooked up to helmet cams. And what are screens hooked up to helmet cams for, if not pant-wetting close-ups of gaping alien faces? Pitchford will only say that the game seeks to play with the tech the same way the movie did - as an element rather than the whole of the thing.

Source: Feature: 10 Aliens moments we need in Colonial Marines - Official Xbox 360 Magazine

[Shadow Raptor]

What do you mean they cut the power?- no there not animals, their aliens. And damn smart ones too, don't forget it.

You don't see them fucking each other over for a goddamn percentage- and where would the Aliens touch be without some Company trickery. I for one would like to see an element of the Companys treachery show its ugly head, because they REALLY need it for their Bioweapons division!

[Guirec]

They don't show up on infra-red at all: This one was almost confirmed in the OXM article. I bet they will throw in a sequence when you try to use IR but it totally doesn't work.

[BooGNiSh]

But since we know it doesn't work why would be bother to try it?

[Guirec]

Because we have to screw up and people have to die. It's partly a horror game, after all.

[SupaFlea]

"Its Blocked Man We Gotta Go Around!"
After 1 or 2 playthroughs the direction you need to go will be second nature. maybe in the multyplayer coop(not the campaing) the location of the evac/objective could change to planning your route isnt so easy

"Concentrated Acid For Blood!"
Most games the Aliens blood has only been a minor hinderance and only lethal should you take or a bath 30 second shower in it. This stuff melts through every metal in existance including the Predators armour. It should have more of a damaging impact to make you take that extra caution when faced with the choice of shooting an aliend in the head when its trying to kiss you.

"Everyone Online......Looking Good!"
The helmut cams could offer a optional recorded game session as in before you start a mission tick the option to record the entire mission through your head cam for other ppl so see how you handled yourself as a team or by yourself.

"The Dont Kill You!"
A squad member could get nabbed and you have a set amount of time or merely the option to attemp a rescue putting your squads life at risk to rescue the other marine to for moral and his individual skill which none of the remaining marines have.

"They Probably Looking For Otherways To Get In, It'll Take'm A While!"
The Marines never new when or where the aliens were going to attack or how often. The Aliens should never know when they aliens will attack and they should also retreat and re-attack from the same or different random directions making patroling the corridors with trackers a useful but skiddish tactic.

[MOOSH89]

Originally Posted by SupaFlea

"Everyone Online......Looking Good!"
The helmut cams could offer a optional recorded game session as in before you start a mission tick the option to record the entire mission through your head cam for other ppl so see how you handled yourself as a team or by yourself.

I like this idea. I hope they have something like this, but I doubt they will... the game would be too good to be true. It would be cool to save videos like Halo's theatre mode (not like Black Ops, theirs is terrible, 6 slots or a 30 second clip only? pfft!) I want to be able to save whole sessions with my friends or brothers. My brother has a bunch of hilarious videos of him playing Halo with his friends haha

"Damn you!" - OK, I was referring to the part where Bishop takes off without Newt and Ripley, leading you to believe he finally betrayed them, because you're not really sure if he's trustworthy if you haven't seen the movie before. My point is, I want the possibility of betrayal from someone close to you. You should be suspicious of one or two people.

"You always were an asshole" - There should be someone who is such a dick, haha. Not someone annoying, someone who's just a prick to be around... Probably someone of higher authority, or maybe same rank as your character, who likes to clash with you. You just can't get along with everyone...

I don't want to suggest any more, theres some great ones in that article, and in these replies, but I don't want it to be EXACTLY like the movie, so...

[Maphisto86]

Originally Posted by BooGNiSh

But since we know it doesn't work why would be bother to try it?

Sadly for the corps they know almost nothing about what happened on Acheron during the events of "Aliens" because no one lived to tell the tale. In fact the shadowy Weyland-Yutani corporation seem to know a lot more than the governments on Earth do. So I do hope that "the company" is a major antagonist in this game, featuring the rivalry between the grunts and the powers that be, who see their soldiers as expendible chew toys for their would-be pets.

My biggest worry for this game is that Gearbox will make it a script fest, ignoring the fact that not only do the aliens like to "come out of the goddamn walls" but are also more than animals (or in this case digital puppets). I mean sure there will be plenty of scripted moments but I sincerely hope that during major confrontations, the xenos come from every possible angle, hardly ever using traditional entrances and exits, but instead tearing the place apart to get to the meat inside. You better make good use of the vertical Gearbox, ala Dead Space.

[DarkGuard]

i hope thy have missions where they leave us feeling "absolutely bad ass"

[Guirec]

I'd rather they leave me feeling utterly wrecked and shaking from adrenaline.

Perhaps a good mix of the two, a la Dead Space 2.