Starker on 15/1/2019 at 17:25
Quote Posted by catbarf
I distinctly remember reading a review when it came out that was overwhelmingly positive, and also said nothing beyond what was known from trailers, which made it sound like it had been written without actually playing the game. I'll need to see if I can find it.
Also, (
http://www.egmnow.com/platforms/pc/egm-review-aliens-colonial-marines/) EGM gave it a 9/10. Yeah, most reviewers panned it, but I remember there were some suspiciously positive reviews mixed in there too. I wouldn't be surprised if most have been taken down to save face.
Even if you take your review down, Metacritic won't remove it. So the 9/10 score and one more 4/5 score (and the reviewer does explain that one a bit) are the only examples of positive reviews on Metacritic. Besides, it's not entirely out of the question that someone actually liked the game. At least it looks like there are quite a few positive user reviews as well.
Sulphur on 15/1/2019 at 17:35
I liked it just fine. Sure, it's a terrible Aliens game and... well, it's just a really bad game all around, but it was a never-ending carnival of co-op hijinx, which is always worth its weight in belly laughs. There's lots of dumb shit, some even on the same level of janky hilarity as Narco Terror, which I also look back upon quite fondly.
froghawk on 15/1/2019 at 17:44
Quote Posted by Sulphur
That's selling the original Alien a bit short. Its character beats are a good deal subtler than any of the subsequent movies, it does an intelligent takedown of corporate malevolence, it's one of the earlier movies to put a woman front and centre in an action-oriented role whilst not trading away her smarts, the psychosexual symbolism is baked into the prologue well before the alien comes into play (the entire descent into the Space Jockey ship can be viewed as a metaphor for penetration and conception), and Ash's dispassionate tirade on human flaws all on its own shows that there's some fairly strong writing in there. It's a well-balanced story with multiple threads that come together at the end - none of the movies after it juggled all those things at the same time with the same precision; or in the case of Prometheus and A:C, tried and failed (spectacularly) to match the sharpness of Alien's bleak original vision.
That's fair on a thematic level, but I have read Alien's script on its own, and for the most part the characters are paper thin. But in a way, it's tha simplicity which allowed the movie to be great, which is why I'm not all about expanding the lore.
Pyrian on 15/1/2019 at 21:13
At some point over the past few decades the xenomorph has basically ceased being alien in its original sense. It's too familiar to ever be the same.
Thirith on 16/1/2019 at 12:55
Quote Posted by froghawk
That's fair on a thematic level, but I have read Alien's script on its own, and for the most part the characters are paper thin. But in a way, it's tha simplicity which allowed the movie to be great, which is why I'm not all about expanding the lore.
I would definitely agree with this. Rounded, complex characters are great, but a great character doesn't require depth, only a certain type of great character - and equally, good writing cannot be reduced to psychological depth only. Sometimes, what is called for is broad strokes and primary colours executed effectively and efficiently.
Aja on 25/1/2019 at 21:41
I actually think this is good news.
N'Al on 25/1/2019 at 21:50
Good, but disappointing.
Malf on 26/1/2019 at 00:03
Bringing Retro in to helm development is sounds like a good idea to me. Mind you, I doubt very much that today's Retro Studios are the same people who made the original Prime games.
Aja on 26/1/2019 at 02:51
It's true, but Retro's got a track record at least. The Donkey Kong games they've done recently are high quality.
What Nintendo should do is just re-release the original Prime trilogy on Switch to tide us all over until the fourth game is ready.