Actually i think alien3 has already happened by the time the game takes place? plus i for one happen to like Alien3

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SSgt Kris "Bloodsucker" Kobus, VAS.
A09/TQ2.0.12136E1

Yes I thought this was set after Alien 3?

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Martin 'Victim' Victory
A86/TQ3.4.49421E3
UKCM 13th Regt. 1st Batt. Freebooters


you can't take the PUNK outa Spunkmeyer

It IS set after Alien 3. Which is good.

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A Scot, a Predator and an Alien walk into a bar....hilarity ensues



Read it here!

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6120506/1/Aliens-Heart-of-Darkness

I guess in my mind I just put ALIENS and ACM as a one-two punch and try to distance myself from 3. Just watched the old special edition DVD with commentary and it made me laugh when Cameron says at the very end of the credits that movies are all about people...until of course you go and kill them off in the next movie.

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http://www.tentaclechris.com

Hey, not his fault!

And you know what, I LIKED where the Hicks plot twist was going until....they didn't mention it again. I mean, it's NOT beyond WY to do a quick swap, no? He just fobs off his kidnap and someone lese being put in his place with a "you don't wanna know/long story/tell you later" weak arse excuse

_________________
A Scot, a Predator and an Alien walk into a bar....hilarity ensues



Read it here!

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6120506/1/Aliens-Heart-of-Darkness

That's what I meant. Wasn't blaming him. Didn't want to put quote's on it because I didn't know it exactly but Cameron says "all about people, until they kill them off in the next installment" as a jab a A3. Thought it was funny Fox would keep that in there.

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http://www.tentaclechris.com

Ah, my bad!

Aye, they should have gone with William Gibson's script

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A Scot, a Predator and an Alien walk into a bar....hilarity ensues



Read it here!

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6120506/1/Aliens-Heart-of-Darkness

Just now beat it. Yeah...that ending. Wow. Talk about a let down.

Had fun though. 7 out of 10. If the DLC ends up being campaign stuff that fills in my questions about the story it could easily bump to an 8.5 (I'm easy to please).

What the hell happened to the 63 marines that made the assault on the WY base?!?! Surely they can't all be dead!?
Why the weak ass brush off from hicks about the body in his tube???

If DLC explains those two things, I'd feel better about the story. Gameplay bugs never really were glaring in my experience (post-patch, PS3).

I better not be, I just got out of that closet!

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http://www.tentaclechris.com

I know right?! Last I saw 'myself' was in good health, with 2 pals for support, and behind good cover as the rest of the area was cleared. If I'm to believe I just died off camera as an afterthought, I will be most put out.

Aw man, they better not ALIEN 3 us!

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http://www.tentaclechris.com

LOL! Aaaahh, the IRONY...

I haven't played it yet, but given what I'm seeing here, I'll be doing so just as soon as I can.

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Squad Leader, 58th Regt., 2nd Batt., "Morse's Marauders" - U.S.S. Azuera
Primary MOS: Rifleman
Secondary MOS: Combat Demolitions

"When the going gets tough, the tough call on the Colonial Marines."

As to the marines left behind, I suspect that either:-

A - They already picked them up before Bishop was 'plugged in'.

B - They needed to plug Bishop in to get the over-ride codes for the ship so they could go back.

And the Marines will be perfectly safe waiting on LV-426 - after all, once the ship left I suspect that there'll be a lot of Wey-Yu PMC that'll be stranded and a little less keen on killing the guys with the guns who can help them defend themselves from the rather large amount of acid-blooded "friends" who want to get to know them better!

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Weyland Yutani Corp. Bio-Weapons Division - "Superior Weapons through Superior Genetics"

Overall, I like it. But, there are SO many details that they screwed up on, or that are lost opportunities. I’m all about the details; the details will make or break you. So…



First off, the campaign. I thought it was ok.

- I've seen the dumb AI from the aliens and your buddies. But at times it's good, too.

- The story is hard to follow and not very well thought out. At all.

- I have no idea why they changed the Pulse Rifle. It was perfect the way it was. The story takes place right after Aliens, yet we are supposed to believe there was another version of the M41 that the USCMC used? Not to mention that the reloading is dumb and inaccurate.

- One of the first things we see is Marines doing CPR on other Marines... through their armor. Common f*cking sense - it doesn't work that way. You can't do a chest compression through body armor. More on that in a minute...

- “Marine” is capitalized. Disrespectful and incorrect to write “marine”. Semper Fi, bitches.

- Cruz: He doesn't really act like an officer, but we can let that side. What is just distracting is his prosthetic leg. WTF? I thought that was dumb. Ok, he's got a prosthetic leg but he's still active duty like everyone else. Then why have his pant leg up so you can see said leg? Why not have him wear his uniform like everyone else? But they have him up high so you can see PROSTHETIC LEG. Don’t know where they were going with that.

- That’s not how you use a welder/cutter. That darkened screen on it? That’s supposed to be DARK, you know, so you don’t go blind when you use it. And they just cut through/weld doors like it’s nothing. There are scenes from Aliens where they do just that; it’s slow and you focus on one part of the door, why not just copy the source material?

- About the welder, I think it would have been cool to whip it out and use it as a desperation weapon when you’re out of ammo or being ripped apart by an alien. Just another detail…

- The shotgun(s). We have three different types of shotguns, none of which are ever seen in the Marine’s inventory in Aliens. (Hicks’ was a personal weapon.) That’s one too many. Drop the pump but keep the others, just for variety I suppose. Shotguns don’t make for good weapons in the military.

- I think it would have been cool to choose your own personal weapon, as we see Hicks and Vas brought their own to the party. It would be a third tier weapon, like the various pistols, and not very effective/powerful, but a cool detail. Like a sawed-off double barrel shotgun, a gimongous revolver, etc. Just a personal touch for your Marine to use when all your other weapons are empty.

- The voice acting was good at times and bad at times. They really could have knocked it out of the park, but they fell short.

- Bishop. Why was another Bishop(s) there? He was just one of hundreds of synthetics used by the USCMC. There was nothing special about him, which then DOES make him special.

- They nailed the Pulse Rifle sound. But is it me, or does the Smartgun just like the Pulse Rifle? I don’t think it’s supposed to… I remember from one of the other Aliens games the Smartgun just sounded MEANER. I wish they would have done that. And while we’re on the topic, some of the other guns just sound like sissy pea shooters. Not fun.

- More armor fun with Hudson and Bella. Apparently, Marine armor is flimsy enough to do CPR though, AND a chestburster has no problem going through it, either. They could have just had Hudson’s armor halfway falling/torn off or something. And why, after weeks, is Hudson’s blood still red?

- Why call it Frost’s Flamethrower? Did he ever even use his? Why not Drake, or at least Apone? That would have been a cool shoutout to Al for lending his voice to the game.



Ok, on to the Multiplayer games:

-I love the multiplayer. They got the balance between Marine and alien just right, which I’m sure wasn’t easy.

-I really wanted a human vs human option. It would have been great to be able to play as the company goons, Hadley’s Hope Militia, future Army soldiers, foreign troops, whatever. After all, the game is about the Marines, and they’ve fought more humans than aliens.

- I’m so tired of the same Marine voice telling you to do stuff. “30 seconds, Marines…” Get some different voices in there.

- The customization of your Marine is awesome. I love those little details that most will not even see, but I know they’re there.

- I’ve ranted about this before, but why in the name of James Cameron are the Flamethrower and Smartgun not even offered as standard weapons? THAT IS MY BIGGEST COMPLAINT OF THIS WHOLE GAME.

- People hate the comparisons to Call of Duty, but guess what – you’re already playing Call of Duty: Colonial Marines. The controls, missions; everything is very similar. And I say that’s a good thing. But I still wish they had killstreaks, accuracy streaks, point streaks, survival time streaks, SOME WAY to be rewarded for playing well. For the Marines, you get a Sentry Gun, you can use the guns on any of the crashed APCs in the various levels, you can call in a dropship airstrike, you roll out the CN20, you use a FREAKING POWER LOADER. Here’s one more: Newt comes to help you and follows you around, warning you of incoming aliens, when weapons are near, something like that. I think it would have been a cool touch. And if you die she just runs away and disappears down an air vent. No killing kiddies, people.

- For the aliens, you can set an egg down like a claymore, you have a facehugger that you can throw at the Marines (and if it hits you have the frenzied tapping of the X button to hold it off which you will eventually lose unless one of your buddies comes and helps you out), you can plant a hive node that lets you or other aliens heal, you can become the FREAKING ALIEN QUEEN and go on a rampage. (If the Queen should happen to fight the Power Loader in hand to hand, it too becomes a contest of hammering the X button or whatever. Oh, and I think the Crusher is cool, but the Boiler sucks.

- We’ve got Hicks, Hudson, Apone, and Drake. Where the fuck is Vasquez? I can’t believe Jenette didn’t want to reprise her role. Ok, she’s dead set against it. What about Colette and Cynthia? This game NEEDED a female player character in it.

- Lastly, it would have been cool to choose a starting class for your loadouts. Smartgunner (great firepower, decent armor, slow), Grunt (Pulse Rifle, great armor), Officer (fast, no armor but your presence make the other Marines more effective, Flamethrower, Medic (you can fix up your Marines, within limits), Synthetic (fast but a glass jaw or something).


So there are my ideas/bitches/complaints/compliments. Like I said, details will make or break you. Unfortunately, for the most part I feel they missed out… and then so did we.

- HUMVEE Driver

Shotguns aren't really that widespread in today's military, but the USCM has a different role. Not only combat, but bug clearance and (according to the Tech Man) strike breaking. Shotguns allow the use of non-lethal weapons (bean-bag rounds, baton rounds, riot gas, the stun-rounds used in the game). Pulse-Rifles aren't going to be used for crowd control! They also may be more useful in say a burrow environment. However, three types is a little excessive. I think they should have gone with one Issue shotgun, the option for underslung, then Hick's Legendary weapon.

I'd love to have seen one of the female Marines from the movies, as much as I love Hudson, the voice-actor they got for him just isn't right, he just comes off as more "whiney" than Bill Paxton did.

Strangely enough, one of the criticisms of A:CM has been that you fight human enemies. People seem to forget this isn't an Aliens Game - this is Aliens:Colonial Marines. They weren't just formed to fight xenomorphs. A human-vs-human option in vs would add more to the mix, and I'd like it, but some people won't.

I don't think the smartgun should be a standard weapon, as it's difficult to balance it right (multiplayer for the xenos will be a nightmare if all four Marines have them). But the flamethrower? Yeah, that should be there, as Frost and Deitrich carried one as their main weapon, and in the game it's nothing really OTT.

The class thing is something that would have made more sense in the original proposed RPG. The officer class would be useless (if unarmoured, he'd be in a command post directing the Marines), as would the Synthetic (not allowed to be combat trained) in a shooting game like this. But an RPG, they'd be ideal.

Overall, I think the game is great. The disappointment? It could have been a true EPIC.

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Weyland Yutani Corp. Bio-Weapons Division - "Superior Weapons through Superior Genetics"

I know ‘thing’ with including the Smartgun would be that it’s overpowered…but other games have powerful weapons and they managed to balance them out. How? Well first off is the autotargetting. That WOULD make the Smartgun broken. But, the Smartgun targets by heat, or infrared. Aliens are cold blooded (or otherwise “don’t show up on infrared at all”). Therefore, the Smartgun’s autotargetting is useless. Problem solved. Ok, well it hits too hard. So give it drawbacks. When aiming manually, it’s got a heavy recoil and it's hard to stay on target. You move and aim slower than with any other weapon (they did include that). It’s very slow to reload. I really don’t think it would be too hard to give the weapon balance. I also thought that a later option for the Smartgun could be somehow slaving it to a Motion Tracker that would give you a limited, half-assed autotargetting capability that wasn’t 100% reliable. (Marines are known for improvising modifications in the field.) I think that going through the task of balancing it out would be well worth including the Smartgun.

I know the synthetic can’t join in combat, but before Aliens came along, “combat” was defined as human vs human. Aliens aren’t human, so the synthetics can join in the fun. (It would be just like the Marines to exploit a loophole like that, and there could be some amusing game commentary on that topic, too.) Aliens: Extermination touched on that by having the synthetics with a limited combat role as scouts with only a few weapons; such as pistols and submachine guns only. Maybe sniper rifles too, more on that in a second. Also, a synthetic can be damaged easily… but they can also keep going. So, your synthetic gets hit, loses an arm, keeps fighting, spurting out that white fluid while slowly 'dieing'. Then half his head gets taken off, which results in a very blurry, static-y, malfunctioning view for the player, but the synthetic still keeps fighting. Then he’s cut in half, a la Bishop. So he’s crawling along, not very effective, but still fighting. That just sounds cool! I think having more variation than just humans would have been a good boost to the game. One more thing; they show up differently to ‘alien vision’ (no heat signature) and the aliens would have a much harder time locating synthetics. So they would be the class to use if you want to play a stealth/sniper character.

-HUMVEE Driver

Sorry, this is just wrong. It's only 'disrespectful' if you don't capitilise whilst talking about contemporary marines. This story has futuristic SPACE MARINES, NOT today's USMC. Therefore they can address them however they damnwell please and it's not disrespectful to anyone. They may be based on the USMC in name and stuff, but they are 170 years in the future and part of the UA forces. So drop the 'disrespectful' nonsense.

I agree that androids should be able to fight aliens - they don't allow humans to come to harm after all!

_________________
A Scot, a Predator and an Alien walk into a bar....hilarity ensues



Read it here!

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6120506/1/Aliens-Heart-of-Darkness

It's a game about Marines. Doesn't matter when it takes place. Marines capitalize "Marine". 'Nuff said.

Simple enough for you?

-HUMVEE Driver

You are still wrong. Only US Marines capitilise it in the wrong place. The ones in the game are not US Marines, they are Colonial marines of a made-up alliance of nations. So yes, it does matter when it happens. Unless you think the French and British marines aren't marines

_________________
A Scot, a Predator and an Alien walk into a bar....hilarity ensues



Read it here!

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6120506/1/Aliens-Heart-of-Darkness

They "maybe don't show up on infrared at all" - we went through this a few pages back in the main A:CM thread. Besides, even "cold-blooded" creatures can be seen on on infrared cameras by virtue of heat generated as a side-effect of muscles doing work when they move.

This is regardless of the absurdity of the Tech Manual saying that the Smartgun tracks only by infrared - a technology that, when used alone, isn't totally effective for burglar alarms, let alone precision targeting an intelligent weapon. And, furthermore, the questionable nature of deciding that what the TM says is the final word in the Aliens canon.

If it makes it easier, maybe the M56 in the game is the next revision of Smart Gun that has a tracking system that might actually be effective? I certainly would be annoyed if they had put a "dumb" Smart Gun that didn't target the Aliens in the game.

I don't imagine why it would trace movement as well as infrared. It's not that difficult a technology to adapt.

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A Scot, a Predator and an Alien walk into a bar....hilarity ensues



Read it here!

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6120506/1/Aliens-Heart-of-Darkness

I thought the infrared statement was with regards to the drop down sights on the Marine's helmets. As for tracking by infrared, you can already see this at a consumer level with the Kinect, bathing a scene with infrared light, building a model of the environment and then tracking people through movement.

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A11/TQ1.0.32150E1 Murphy, J - Covert recording headcam. There is no flashing red light when you are on Kona-Cam
Weyland-Yutani: Their projects are intentionally full of bugs. Avoid!

Doh. I didn't even consider that - shine enough infrared on just about anything and it will show up on an infrared sensor...

Aliens may have black bodies, but they're not "Black Bodies"!

Maybe its the silver or the choice of glitter they used that morning

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SSgt Kris "Bloodsucker" Kobus, VAS.
A09/TQ2.0.12136E1