ALIENS: Colonial Marines

After several years of delays, Alien fans will be happy to see this one hitting the shelves.

This is very much a sequel to James Cameron's popular Aliens movie from the late-‘80s. The game places you in the boots of Corporal Winter, part of a colonial marine rescue mission to find out what happened to Ripley and the other marine team on the U.S.S. Sulaco (dispatched to planet LV-426). Besides the deadly Xenomorph aliens to contend with, the ominous Weyland-Yutani corporation is also in the mix (having to battle their commandos and mercenaries) - which results in the ship crash landing on LV-426. The ensuing chaos and search for survivors have you facing many enemies (including all the alien variations from the first three movies).

There is a cinematic atmosphere brought into play in both the graphics and the music & sound design (with creatives from the movies employed for the look).

The first person shooter mayhem takes you through the story based Campaign mode, gearing up with powerful weaponry (incl. the pulse rifle, flamethrowers, shotgun, setting up of robotic sentry turrets and more). But it's hardly non-stop shooting, as a lot of creepy mood building is created as you search dark, gory and deserted passages and terrain with your motion tracker. You need to save trapped marines, and missions take you from one point to another or force you into fighting aliens in stand-offs.

As you traverse the deadly territory, you can make health, armour, and weapon pick-ups. Experience points allow upgrades incl. character appearance, weapons and skills.

Take on a choice of Recruit, Marine, Hardened and Ultimate Badass difficulty modes, single player and up to 4-player co-op battles. Versus mode allow you to join with other players on-line for Team Deathmatch (battle Xenomorphs in areas like Origin, Excavation, Last Hope, The Hive, Adrift), Extermination (arm explosives to wipe out alien egg clusters), Escape (through alien infested territory - Flushed Out, Emergency Evac), Survivor (try to come out alive from a hectic alien attack). You get to edit layouts and appearances.

In the competitive mode (just like the Aliens vs Predator game) you can choose to play either humans or aliens, making it a bit more fun than the regular shooter POV, in stead belching acid on marines and ripping them to bits.

Original stars Lance Henriksen and Michael Biehn make appearances as their characters from the Aliens movie.

Your usual interaction icons appear when there are doors to unlock or objects to pick up.
Doors can be cut open or welded shut.

(Downloadable content packs for added customization and upgrades will only be available until August 2013)

As you'd expect, this one gets an 18-restriction (for language, violence and horror elements), so keep an eye on your kids - you're the one responsible for what they're exposed to.
(I experienced a jagged interlaced effect with link scenes - not sure if it is a disc, console or software defect)

4 / A
- Paul Blom

A - Multiple Playing Prospects
B - Can be taken for another Run
C - Once Should Suffice