Aliens : Colonial Marines

hooradiation

SeantheMan wrote: »

'You can use a flashlight to illuminate your immediate environment' - ...what ? ..really ? ...no way !! awesome !! Stupid tutorials.

Is the game not 18's ? surely people who have reached 18 have a functioning brain and don't need to be treated like 6 years olds

Every game is someones first game. Stop bellyaching.

Agricola

hooradiation wrote: »

Every game is someones first game. Stop bellyaching.

Be great if you could just select something like in MGS "Im an experienced player of shooters, no tutorials needed" etc and then get a game that doesnt handhold.

balkieb2002

hooradiation wrote: »

Every game is someones first game. Stop bellyaching.

But what else are you going to use a flashlight for? It's Ok if it told you "press RB to use your flashlight" but fact it explains what it actually does is a bit OTT.

Grumpypants

hooradiation wrote: »

Every game is someones first game. Stop bellyaching.

Yea but what are the chance of getting to 18 and not knowing what a flash light does?

SeantheMan

hooradiation wrote: »

Every game is someones first game. Stop bellyaching.

How did people get by 10 years ago ? People didn't need tutorials to finish Doom, Monkey Island, and every other single game made back then.

You've come to accept dumbed down tutorials as standard and necessary, whereas the rest of us are opposed to them.

Azza

Tutorials are a sign of dumbing down? Oh come on. Yeah Deus Ex was dumbed down that had a tutorial section, Half Life 2 was dumbed down. Loads of old games have tutorials.

The rest of us are not opposed to them, I for one barely even notice them. Usually to my detriment later on when I'm completely unaware of that roll/dodge mechanic that would of made my life a lot easier.

I don't see whats wrong with helping out newcomers. A lot of games have options to disable tutorials anyway. I would not be surprised if Colonial Marines has it to.

pixelburp

The best tutorials are the ones you don't even realise you're playing. As someone (I forget who) once mentioned, the first Portal game was in effect one long tutorial, but never intruded so far into the gamers consciousness that they picked up on it.

I don't think it's anything to do with dumbing down ones game, I just feel it's lazy game-design first & foremost: a reluctance or inability to do anything clever with a standard necessity of gaming. Arbitrary HUD prompts require no thought or effort and I imagine get chucked in as one of the last things in the production cycle. Not to appeal to Johnny Nevergamed, but because like documentation, nobody wants to do the tutorial.

On the subject of the actual video, I find the glitchy animation in the NPCs more annoying, along with the fairly cookie-cutter gameplay. It's funny that I actually started this thread with genuine excitement for the concept & yet the more I see, the less interested in playing this I become.

Still believe there's a stellar Xenomorph game to be had if it just moved out of outside of the FPS genre and into Survival Horror; but given how it's a near-dead genre, I don't expect it to happen anytime soon (I know there were rumblings of another Alien game in the works by ... somebody. I forget that too hehe)

Azza

pixelburp wrote:

I don't think it's anything to do with dumbing down ones game, I just feel it's lazy game-design first & foremost: a reluctance or inability to do anything clever with a standard necessity of gaming. Arbitrary HUD prompts require no thought or effort and I imagine get chucked in as one of the last things in the production cycle. Not to appeal to Johnny Nevergamed, but because like documentation, nobody wants to do the tutorial.

Well I can say from what I seen of that leaked video, those tutorial prompts are exactly the thing I wouldn't even notice.

But for the newcomers you don't really need to be clever if the system that is used most often works.

To me complaining about tutorials seems extraordinarily petty.

kearneybobs

Azza wrote: »

I don't see whats wrong with helping out newcomers.

Especially when you look at the number and types of gamers we have these days compared to 10 years ago. It's all about making these sorts of games accessible to as many people as they can.
I've no problem with tutorials as the first mission/part of the game but I get annoyed when it runs on too long.

pixelburp

Azza wrote: »

Well I can say from what I seen of that leaked video, those tutorial prompts are exactly the thing I wouldn't even notice.

But for the newcomers you don't really need to be clever if the system that is used most often works.

To me complaining about tutorials seems to me extraordinarily petty.

Well indeed, and like I said I find the game itself more troublesome than the form of the tutorial; but to be fair, a good tutorial counts a great deal towards creating a positive, immersive and engaging experience for the player. And if you're actually stopping the games flow to send players basic gameplay messages, you're doing the tutorial wrong, it doesn't matter how often its used. Yes it's a small thing, but like intuitive pathing through a map, or clever use of lighting, you don't notice it done well until it's done badly. Not saying Colonial Marines' is the worst of the worst, but I'm sure it could have been done better.

marko93

Really hoping that leak wasn't entirely finished. The Aliens IMO weren't all too impressive. As a poster said, they seemed to just be gluttons for punishment. Perhaps it was the difficulty setting. Still rather excited to get it, cant be worse than AVP

_Kaiser_

Looks great to me.. whatever about the animation possibly being unfinished I think they've really captured the tone and suspense of Aliens - especially the bit when he steps into the part of the ship that's been transformed.

Rifle sounds, background music, general tone all spot on from what I can see. I knew yer man was implanted though!

_Kaiser_

marko93 wrote: »

Really hoping that leak wasn't entirely finished. The Aliens IMO weren't all too impressive. As a poster said, they seemed to just be gluttons for punishment.

Not remember the scene in Aliens then with the auto turrets? They just kept coming then too

marko93

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Not remember the scene in Aliens then with the auto turrets? They just kept coming then too

I'd like to formerly retract that statement :P, but also point out they were testing for weakness and an entrance point :cool: (or at least, that's what I remember )

BlitzKrieg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-h2Gx1CHhQ

Didnt see a link to this, a 2 hour playthrough of single player/multi player.

Not overly impressed, as a huge fan of the AVP series and playing as an alien in multiplayer, the multiplayer here looks very slow in third person and not very flexable.

Zeouterlimits

Yeah, hearing dire things about the game.

I'd wait for more impressions/reviews to be sure if you want to drop your €50 on it.

Duggy747

Not many people seem to be impressed with it, AI is supposed to be thick as shìt and that the campaign itself is quite short.

James094

Zeouterlimits wrote: »

Yeah, hearing dire things about the game.

I'd wait for more impressions/reviews to be sure if you want to drop your €50 on it.

Dont drop your €50 on it man,you can get this game for €35.99 on cdwow.ie with free p&p.

Beefy78

SeantheMan wrote:

You've come to accept dumbed down tutorials as standard and necessary, whereas the rest of us are opposed to them.

Please don't speak for the rest of us. Thanks.

hooradiation

SeantheMan wrote: »

How did people get by 10 years ago ? People didn't need tutorials to finish Doom, Monkey Island, and every other single game made back then.

You've come to accept dumbed down tutorials as standard and necessary, whereas the rest of us are opposed to them.

Not that you realise it, but the amount of carry over and learned behaviour from game to game is, frankly, massive.
There are, what, sixteen buttons on a 360 controller alone - sit someone who's never played a game before down with a 360 and a copy of something like assassins creed and they're probably going to end up killing themselves with the snapped disc. And that's before we get into stuff that carries from game to game, like jumping inertia, enemy movement patterns, enemies with some kind of shielding, traps, inventory systems and god knows what else.
There is a lot to learn, and like or not people who have not had your misspent youth to fall back on for "knowing everything" have as much right as you do to play the game they bought. So they get tutorials, you don't need them but they're not for you.

And really, isn't it better to be inclusive rather than exclusive?

gizmo

The review embargo until Tuesday morning has me far more worried about this game than any hour or two long video leaking online.

5uspect

hooradiation wrote: »

Not that you realise it, but the amount of carry over and learned behaviour from game to game is, frankly, massive.
There are, what, sixteen buttons on a 360 controller alone - sit someone who's never played a game before down with a 360 and a copy of something like assassins creed and they're probably going to end up killing themselves with the snapped disc. And that's before we get into stuff that carries from game to game, like jumping inertia, enemy movement patterns, enemies with some kind of shielding, traps, inventory systems and god knows what else.
There is a lot to learn, and like or not people who have not had your misspent youth to fall back on for "knowing everything" have as much right as you do to play the game they bought. So they get tutorials, you don't need them but they're not for you.

And really, isn't it better to be inclusive rather than exclusive?

Then make the tutorial text/audio an option with can be toggled on or off, just like in Valve's recent games (default on). The first Assassins Creed had a training area where you could learn to fight and VR style sections for even more training in the sequels if you needed it. And of course Half-Life had an obstacle course. You make these fun by turning them into time trials etc.

Patronising the player's intelligence in the games narrative with dialogue that doesn't belong distracts from the immersion. Some games manage to do it more subtly. Crysis iirc, had you recalibrate your suit after a failed parachute jump.

Building overt tutorials into the narrative is frankly lazy and unimaginative.

COYVB

gizmo wrote: »

The review embargo until Tuesday morning has me far more worried about this game than any hour or two long video leaking online.

That used to mean something, it no longer does. Sure the Revengeance embargo is 8am PST the day the game launches, and it's far from being a stinker. Can't go by embargo dates any more to judge quality of a game.

Although in this case it's a very good indicator :P

Big Knox

5uspect wrote: »

Building overt tutorials into the narrative is frankly lazy and unimaginative.

Quite simply this. You could argue about this all day but the truth is they can be a necessary evil, however a lot of games have done them in quite unique and creative ways without beaking immersion or having the option to turn them off. If I play a game that throws them in my face as nothing more than showing me how to walk in each direction or telling me what a flashlight is for, that is more often than not an indication of lazy game design which carries on through-out the experience!

hooradiation

5uspect wrote: »

Patronising the player's intelligence in the games narrative with dialogue that doesn't belong distracts from the immersion.

You do understand that the misconception of being "patronised" only affects you, the person for whom the tutorial is not meant, right?
Taking offense at something designed to deliver basic knowledge to people who've not played many (or indeed any) games is kind of like railing against primary school English textbooks for being simplistic.
Yes, true - but that's not really the point, is it?

Not The Real Scarecrow

First review I've seen.Doesn't look too bad but campaign is only 6 hours and few other glitches make me wary of a purchase.

Taylor365

Cancelled my order for the Collector's Edition only yesterday when i heard it's like CoD with Aliens.

Not willing to throw €80...yes EIGHTY at a forgetful game.

I'll prob pick it up for 20-30 quid at some stage as i love aliens but zero tension and weak-ass aliens is a deal breaker for me.

omerin

Looks like this will disappoint How the funk can they include a melee kill for an alien or even walk on them when they are dead, have they not seen the films?


For those looking to buy -

http://www.kinguin.net/aliens-colonial-marines-limited-edition-steam-key/aliens-colonial-marines-limited-edition-steam-key.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=11-02-2013-NEWS

James094

omerin wrote: »

Looks like this will disappoint How the funk can they include a melee kill for an alien or even walk on them when they are dead, have they not seen the films?


For those looking to buy -

http://www.kinguin.net/aliens-colonial-marines-limited-edition-steam-key/aliens-colonial-marines-limited-edition-steam-key.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=11-02-2013-NEWS

That link you provided is that the limited edition cost of the game?Its says steam key,whats that?..For me I love aliens so have to get this game bad reviews or not!!

johnny_ultimate

As I said earlier in the thread, this always had the potential for disaster (and apparently GamesTM have given it a 4/10 - a rarity for such a high-profile release). Aliens is a lot of fun as a film, but unfortunately its iconography and action has long since become cliché in film and game alike. James Cameron made 'gruff space marines in dark corridors against dangerous predator' look slick and compelling, but that was a long time ago. The corridor shooter against extraterrestrial canon fodder is one of gaming's most familiar and downright laziest genres, and this always ran the risk of seeming a bit trite compared to the hundreds of games that came before it.

Bring on the long-promised survival horror game instead