Aliens: Colonial Marines came out in 2013 as a sequel to the classic Aliens movie. It promised scary fights with xenomorphs on the spaceship USS Sulaco and planet LV-426. Players would join a squad of marines checking a distress signal and uncovering secrets about the Weyland-Yutani company. The story sounded exciting, picking up right after the film. But the game failed hard and became famous for all the wrong reasons.
The big problem started with hype. Gearbox Software and Sega showed demos at events like E3. These looked amazing with smart aliens that hid, flanked players, and felt real. Trailers promised top graphics, intense action, and a game that matched the movie’s tension. One promo even said it ran on the final engine in real time. Fans got excited for a true Aliens experience. For more on the trailers, check this overview.
When the game launched, it was a mess. Graphics looked way worse than promised. Lights and shadows were off, making dark areas flat and ugly. Sound effects felt weak and cheap. Aliens acted dumb. Instead of stalking from vents or ceilings, they ran in straight lines or got stuck. They ignored players or shot at walls. The marines’ AI was just as bad, with teammates blocking doors or dying too easy. Crashes happened often on consoles after some playtime. Details on the false promises are in this false advertising page.
It turns out the demos were faked. They were not the real game. Gearbox made special videos to hide how broken development was. This led to a lawsuit against Sega and Gearbox for misleading players. The final product had boring fights that repeated the same patterns. No real story depth or fun co-op lasted long.
One key fix came later from fans. A modder found the alien AI broke because of a single typo in the code, just one wrong letter. Changing it made xenomorphs smart and scary again. PC players used mods to make the game playable. This shows how rushed the release was. Read about the code fix here.
Even years later, people call its AI some of the worst ever. Lighting stayed inconsistent, hurting the scary mood. Steam reviews point out these issues from players who tried it. See community thoughts on Steam.
Sources
https://fantasticnerdom.net/2025/12/08/aliens-colonial-marines-an-overview-of-the-game-that-tried-to-carry-the-franchise/
https://newqualitipedia.telepedia.net/wiki/False_advertising_in_games
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/-i-colonial-marines-i-modder-finds-big-ai-fix-by-changing-one-letter-of-code
https://www.qualbert.com/reviews/sleep-awake-review-playstation-5/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/49540
