Reviewed On: PlayStation 3

Available For: PC, PS3, PC and Wii U

Publisher: SEGA

Developer: Gearbox Software

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Age: 18 (PEGI)

Price: £29.85 from simplygames.com

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The Aliens franchise has always been about suspense, thrills and tension. The beeping of the motion scanner has always been a sound to get the heart pumping and the nerves jumping. Thankfully there's a fair amount of ambience in Aliens: Colonial Marines.

It's not about being a lone gunner, its online rich features and compatibilities make it so much more enjoyable when played with others. Up to four players can play through the storyline clad mission, which makes proceedings more palatable on higher difficulty settings. However, ammo, armour and medical packs will be shared amongst players.

Other than the fantastic ambience and the solid online compatibilities, another glorious feature is the ranking system. Players who take on the alien hordes alone in co-operative play or in the competitive multiplayer will earn experience points to be added towards their current marine rank.

With promotion to a new rank comes the unlocking of new gun upgrades. Players can spend their hard-earned upgrade points on different gun upgrades from a larger ammo-clip on their tactical shotgun, through to a more accurate sight for their sub-machine gun. There are many options available for the weapons, and each can be used in all parts of the game - online or not.

So it's got the features, the ambience and the online play, and because of my deep-rooted love for the Aliens franchise, spurred on by the first time I saw John Hurt's stomach get ripped apart from the inside-out, I genuinely wish I could say the game wasn't without flaws.

With Gearbox Software at the helm, I had high hopes of a beautiful, but fearful traipse through dark, and shiny metal corridors, full of corners and crevices - the likely homes for acid bloated Xenomorphs with a lust for death. And although it does have that, the polish isn't quite what I was expecting. I was hoping for the shading and textures to pack more detail, but instead are dull and dated.

My other gripe is with the actual combat system. It's recommended at one point for players to duck behind objects - however it's not a cover and shoot system, just an actual crouch behind objects. It's clumsy, badly thought-through, and a general step-back for the first-person shooter genre.

It's not without fault, and it's not got the quality I was expecting, yet I love the ranking system running through all modes of play. It's good to get the option to kill alien scum with friends or not, but it's even better to be able to build up your character no matter what your choice.

 

SCORE: 6 / 10

PROS: Great ambience, decent ranking system, .

CONS: Cons here.