It's appalling that rabid shooter fans have to wait until February to blow apart xenomorphs in Aliens: Colonial Marines. The project that's been through multiple studios and finally got a stable stand through Gearbox Studios, who have also developed the Brothers in Arms and Borderlands series. Speculation aside, the ins and outs of the mechanics are unknown but it sure looks pretty.
Speaking to Game Infrormer, studio President Randy Pitchford commented on the Aliens license:
"As a creative interest, we are gamers and game makers who love to play a lot of different types of games, so we will endeavor to make a lot of different types of games. Sometimes there's awesome stuff in the world that other people have created that inspired us.
With Aliens, it's a no-brainer. Part of the fascination with Halo is because it's basically derivative of the Colonial Marines stylings. You can feel [director] James Cameron's' influences all over Halo. The sergeant in Halo is Apone. I've been stealing from Aliens forever; I'm not ashamed to say it."
The game takes place roughly around the time of Alien 3, as the Space Marines are dispatched to find Ellen Ripley--although the trailer insinuates an interesting spoiler depending on the exact timing of the game--aboard the abandoned U.S.S. Sulaco and even the original ship on LV-426, the terra formed planet that just happened to be the crash site from the original film.
But the attention to detail is apaprent, as the collector's edition brings this out with a resin model and display case for the fan of James Cameron's sequel. Even with the delay, there's the 11-minute gameplay footage from last year's E3 to keep you nice and creeped out by an enemy that can literally attack from anywhere.
