Back in February, I had the distinct pleasure of reviewing “Aliens: Colonial Marines” for The State Press. The game was unpleasant to look at and physically harmed me. The gameplay was a horrible amalgamation of "Call of Duty" and "Call of Duty: Aliens," and significantly altered the established story throwing multiple monkey wrenches into the tight "Aliens" universe. And then it had the audacity to end with a cliffhanger.
I gave it a 2/5 because I was in such disbelief that I was conned out of my money on such a promising title but in retrospect, I should’ve given it a much lower score. Little did I know how much deception was a part of the marketing of “Aliens: Colonial Marines.” This deception is still going on over at SEGA and Gearbox Software. But let’s take a moment and rewind back to E3 2011 and E3 2012. “Aliens: Colonial Marines,” a title delayed multiple times – across six years - was starting to show itself to the general public.
Demos that showcased dark atmospheric environments, advanced enemy A.I. and lighting effects tied with visuals that looked up to par with a 2013 video game were all a farce. This coupled with the fact that the CEO of Gearbox Software, Randy Pitchford, lied through his smile over the past two years about how much respect he has for “Aliens” and assured "Aliens" fans that this was the game of their dreams. Once “Aliens: Colonial Marines” was released, however, the game spoke for itself.
Graphical glitches, horrendous character models and a laughable attempt at what could barely be considered a plot were running rampant in this $15 downloadable game masking itself as a full $60 retail game. Only a studio with such contempt for the "Aliens" franchise would fabricate one of the worst games of 2013 and still have the nerve to block legitimately upset "Aliens: fans on Twitter, something the CEO has been doing since the game’s release.
Then the media blitz of rumors and controversies started popping up mere days after the game’s launch. According to destructoid.com, it was rumored that Gearbox Software had outsourced the entire single-player story to TimeGate while Gearbox only worked on the multiplayer portion. And then Randy Pitchford came out to say that TimeGate “worked on probably 20 or 25 percent of the total time.” It doesn’t stop there.
Multiple unconfirmed sources (due to a Non-Disclosure Agreement that keeps them from being blacklisted) from both former Gearbox and current TimeGate developers paint a picture of uncertainty throughout the entire development process. It’s unfortunate to also note that TimeGate suffered layoffs on March 4 while the real culprits over at Gearbox remain relatively unaffected by the whole ordeal, other than having their reputation damaged severely.
At the end of the day – what really gets me in an emotional frenzy – is the fact that the gaming community seemed relatively nonchalant about this blatant deception Gearbox and SEGA implemented to make “Aliens: Colonial Marines” one of the highest selling games in February.
Let me clue you in on an event that rattled the cages of many a "Mass Effect" fan last year – the trilogy’s ending. The gaming community was in a colossal upheaval over the ending of a fictional video game series which included: initiating Facebook groups dubbed "Retake 'Mass Effect,'" countless YouTube complaint videos and a completely serious complaint to the FTC that the ending of "Mass Effect 3" did not live up to the promises made during the advertising campaign. Sound familiar? But because Gearbox and SEGA aren’t Electronic Arts, they get a slap on the wrist.
There were complaints made to the UK Advertising Standards Authority four times and SEGA responded that they would add a post-launch notice, “that the trailers depict footage of the demo versions of the game.” What SEGA forgot to mention is that when those words appear on a video for any other video game the consumer is going to assume that the final retail product looks better than the trailer and demo footage because, typically, a game’s quality improves with time. More lies and deception ooze from the mouths of Gearbox, Randy Pitchford and SEGA and the fans allow it to happen.
Gearbox fans have told me numerous times that they don’t care about all of the widespread dishonesty because “Borderlands 2” was one of their favorite games last year. This kind of attitude is damaging and detrimental to the video game industry. It stands as one of the prime examples of gamers' exaggerated temper when it comes to discussing anything related to Electronic Arts.
It’s not just Electronic Arts that get copious amounts of grievances. YouTubers and powerful Reddit gaming communities cluster Electronic Arts, Capcom, Square Enix and Activision together on the same gripe boat in a sickening bandwagon mentality that is a complete perversion of power.
And standing behind the wheel of this boat is Randy Pitchford, his cohorts at Gearbox, and the deluded fans that allow games like “Aliens: Colonial Marines” to remain on store shelves and continue to swindle people out of their money.
I will give Gearbox kudos for continually supporting such a deprived game with paid-downloadable content and fixing problems with a 4 gigabyte patch for the PC version of the game. But it isn’t enough to counteract the misuse of brand names and the general mendacity that took place. I’m gonna make sure that they nail you right to the wall for this, Gearbox. You’re not gonna sleaze your way out of this one.
Reach the blogger at shfawcet@asu.edu or on Twitter @MaroonandGamer.
