..Aliens: Colonial Marines..

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Does Hadley's Hope mean anything to you? How about LV-426? Pulse rifles? Power loaders? Sulaco? If you're thinking "Idiot! Do you think me a fool who knows nothing about Aliens?!" then you are a part of the audience that Borderlands developer Gearbox is aiming at with Aliens: Colonial Marines. But for those who know next to nothing about Aliens, be comforted to know that this game is shaping up to be a shooter worthy of your time, even if you're not well informed about the movie.

Say you want to get up to speed anyway. All you need to know about Aliens is that it tells the tale of Ellen Ripley and a group of marines who set out to answer a distress call on a planet filled with killer, acid-bleeding, ugly-as-heck aliens. Aliens: Colonial Marines takes place after that, setting you in the role of... well... a colonial marine who, along with the rest of your search-and-rescue team, has been sent to the same planet to learn what became of Ripley and the rest. The mission will take you and your fellow marines through many iconic settings from both Aliens and the original Alien. It is also possible that Colonial Marines will include references to Ridley Scott's upcoming Alien prequel, Prometheus. In short, the geeks reading this should be getting excited right about now.

Attention to detail is one thing in particular that Aliens: Colonial Marines appears to have going for it. Many of Gearbox's employees have spoken about how they love Aliens, and that love shows through in the attention to such details as the setting and the sound. The atmosphere and mood alone should make any diehard fan happy. 

More importantly, though, it seems that level of detail extends to the gameplay. In the gameplay videos shown for Aliens: Colonial Marines, aliens were shown displaying impressive A.I. as they crawled all over walls and ceilings, popped out of vents and pulled people in, and made it difficult for the marines to get at them. There will be many types of "xenomorphs" for you to take on. Most of them, like the Facehugger, Chestburster, and Queen, are from the movies, but some will be debuting for the first time in the game. 

Fighting back against the aliens won't be easy, but you and the marines will have the means to cope, with tools ranging from a motion scanner, which can detect alien presence, to a repertoire of iconic weapons (like the pulse rifles I mentioned earlier) that will make the acid fly. You won't have to go at it alone in Aliens: Colonial Marines either, for up to three friends online (or one via split-screen) can drop in at any time to help ease the burden of trying not to die from an alien that lays eggs in one's mouth.

There are still several months left before Aliens: Colonial Marines' fall release window. That should give those who haven't seen the movie enough time to watch it, thus enabling them to enjoy the game when it comes out as fans. And, after all, it is for the fans that this game is being made in the first place.

Look for Aliens: Colonial Marines on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows PC, and Wii U. 

Peter Grimm A writer, journalist, and aspiring storyteller, Peter Grimm has been gaming since the days of the Nintendo 64, and reporting on the goings-on in the World of Gaming since late 2011. His base of writing operations is located within the void between Here and There, or so he would have you think.

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