DigitalNoob

Very rarely is a “direct sequel” to a movie all that good, especially when that sequel is a game, rather than a movie. So, going into the playable multi-player demo for Aliens: Colonial Marines, hopes were not high. However, many games will be pleasantly surprised about how the multi-player aspects of the game work, and how well.

Despite the short length of the demo (a five minute round of team death match, with players fighting for the marines against Gearbox developers as the Xenomorphs), the gameplay was smooth and chaotic, like any good multi-player match. A good sized map, along with easy controls made things very easy to just pick up and play.

It looked great, too, with environments well designed and detailed, and character animations clear and realistic. While no one got to play as the Xenomorphs themselves, the way the developers played them was gorgeously terrifying. The way they slide along walls and around corners, silently striking from behind was a thing of beauty, even when it was your own characters head that was being torn from its body.

This was a surprisingly fun demo, despite the disappointment of only being able to play as the Marines. Hopefully more will be shown soon. The game is ready for all but the final touches, so this  video game sequel to the original film could be one of the few that holds its own weight as its own property when it launches for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii U and PC  early next year.