Just finished A:CM.......

[Pvt.Crowe]

It had great potential, the graphics weren't as bad as some people said they were, the story and levels were great at times, but the thing I hated most is you never really got to look around.  It was a get here, get there which made it hard to even take anything in, I would have loved it if we had a simple secure the area mission that even though in the end nothing happened, we were at least able to take in the atmosphere, "No Hope in Hadley's" gave us a little taste of it, but I would have liked further exploration to make the xeno fights that much more intense since we were relaxed and exploring for a few.  Michael Bien also sounded extremely bored, his comment of, "Great, Back at this place again", sounded like it should have been more like, "Great, Back in this series again......".  Overall it was just an OK game because if left me wanting more that it should have had.

[WinterActual]

the graphics weren't as bad as some people said they were

Compared to what?

[esz]

Aside from low-res textures and annoying details, the overall look was fine. It had the recognizable style of Aliens and some interiors looked really good.

By the way, Pvt.Crowe said something that really reflects my feelings: it' a get here, get there game, and it's its biggest flaw. It's basically an on-rails shooter. There's no time to explore because of the pacing, but even if you try to stay in an area just to look at the details, there's just nothing to find. I loved how the A:I world seemed lived in. I've probably spent hours just admiring the Sevastopol, looking at book covers and trying to guess what were people in a specific location. There was a room with a portable TV, a tape player nad some casettes - this must've been a resting area for someone, I thought. It was great to feel that you're in a real location.

ACM has the overall look, but there wasn't any effort put into making the locations look real and usable. I liked how the Sulaco's bridge looked like, but when I killed the enemies and came back to appreciate the small things... there weren't any. When you rush through it it seems fine, but if you try to guess what does what and why it's there - you break the illusion. Those were just the same textures and objects copied and pasted a couple of times to make a level.

So, now I play it like an on-rails shooter and it's pretty fun. But don't try to get into the game world - there nothing in there, just textures on walls.

[WinterActual]

Aside from low-res textures and annoying details, the overall look was fine.

Not it wasn't. That's UE3 ffs... it can look WAY better. Just check literally any other UE3 game and you will see for yourself. The Unreal Engine can be very detailed. SC: Cockviction and SC: Cocklist for example. They are using UE 2.5 and they look hundred times better than ACM. ACM is missing proper dynamic lighting, the textures suck, the devs were really lazy and you can see lots of reused assets throughout the levels, let alone that there are no dynamic props at all. There are games from 2011 which look better than ACM.

[esz]

Well, I wasn't aware it was UE3. GoW 1 (2005? 2006?) looked way better than ACM. But I still don't think it looks bad.



It's really not that ugly.

[WinterActual]

Dude.. DooM 3 looks better.. Its crispy and smooth compared to this.

[esz]

All I'm saying is it has better and worse parts. Exteriors suck balls because they lack any detail and textures are muddy as hell, but interiors are at least competently done. The parts mimicking Nostromo's lower decks look really cool though, as well as Hadley's main corridors and some parts of Sulaco.

Doom 3 looks better, sure (well, not counting the character models), but this game doesn't look as bad as Rogue Warrior or History Channel games. It has its style, it just lacks any polish.

[LastSurvivor92]

but the thing I hated most is you never really got to look around.  It was a get here, get there which made it hard to even take anything in, I would have loved it if we had a simple secure the area mission that even though in the end nothing happened, we were at least able to take in the atmosphere, "No Hope in Hadley's" gave us a little taste of it, but I would have liked further exploration to make the xeno fights that much more intense since we were relaxed and exploring for a few. 

Get the BugHunt DLC man. Its exactly as you described

[SM]

I just finished it myself.  It was bad when I watched in Youtube.  Actually playing it was howlingly bad.  The final fight is so limp.  Then after someone said - probably Cruz - for the millionth time about not leaving anyone behind and going back for all the marines still on LV-426, O'Neal really topped himself in the outrageously shit acting department, and Bishop stepped in to try and save another robot, then decided, 'Meh, no biggee' apropos of nothing - they just chugged off into space.

"We got everything...

...'cept all them marines we left behind."

Is there a worse written game and I mean every single aspect of the writing - than this?  Mikey Neumann didn't have the faintest clue what he was doing, and I don't believe he didn't write that trailer that everyone was laughing at just before the game came out.

[LastSurvivor92]

I just finished it myself.  It was bad when I watched in Youtube.  Actually playing it was howlingly bad.  The final fight is so limp.  Then after someone said - probably Cruz - for the millionth time about not leaving anyone behind and going back for all the marines still on LV-426, O'Neal really topped himself in the outrageously shit acting department, and Bishop stepped in to try and save another robot, then decided, 'Meh, no biggee' apropos of nothing - they just chugged off into space.

"We got everything...

...'cept all them marines we left behind."

Is there a worse written game and I mean every single aspect of the writing - than this?  Mikey Neumann didn't have the faintest clue what he was doing, and I don't believe he didn't write that trailer that everyone was laughing at just before the game came out.

I agree SM. The ending was limp as hell. I thought we would be facing the queen in a powerloader or something more explosive. The ending was complete crap and most of the story was too. I didn't have any problems with the acting. I actually really enjoyed O'Neil's character. But the graphics looked like it came right out of a 2005 or 2006 Xbox 360 game. I heard the development of this game went on for years and there was endless arguments on what should be in the game. Aliens Colonial Marines had so much potential and all of us fans waited YEARS for this thing. I hope someone is able to take the concept of Aliens and make it into an actual quality game.

[SM]

In that final scene O'Neal almost pipped Cruz for the Shittiest Acting In This Game Award (TM).  I wanted Hicks to turn the gun on O'Neal and be all like STFU.

Reid came in third.

Of course the excrutiatingly bad dialogue they had to deliver didn't help them.

For all the criticism Biehn copped, I thought he was pretty decent.

On top of that I found it too linear, which is something that doesn't really bother me.  As much as I disliked Far Cry, I really dug how wide open a lot of the outside areas were leaving a lot up to the player how they went about reaching the next checkpoint.

And on top of that, it wasn't that difficult.  I ended up beating the Raven and Crusher, thanks to - I think - bugs.  I managed to get myself or the boss into a position where I couldn't be harmed and took them down.

[HuDaFuK]

For all the criticism Biehn copped, I thought he was pretty decent.

Biehn's voice acting wasn't bad, per se. It was just utterly disinterested. He clearly knew the game was a piece of shit and he didn't give a damn about it as a result, and it's as obvious from his performance as if he'd wrote it on a paper bag and stuck it over his head in-game.

It's a shame because he was awesome in Tiberian Sun (although I guess his bits in that were technically live action).

[LastSurvivor92]

Some of the actors at least tried though. I'm sure some of the voices were recorded well before the release date. Not exactly all the acting was complete shit but a majority of it was.

[Huol]

The creepy thunderbirds models don't really help things.

[SM]