Aliens Arcade Game

Cozzens Deploys "Aliens: Colonial Marines"

After traveling a long and twisting road, the upcoming "Aliens: Colonial Marines" video game from Gearbox Software made its public debut at E3 earlier this year. The title was first announced in 2001 as a publishing partnership between Electronic Arts and Fox Interactive that would have resulted in a PlayStation 2 release. That game was ultimately canceled, but the title and setting stuck around when SEGA acquired the rights to the franchise in 2006.

This is where Gearbox comes into the picture. SEGA revealed the studio was working on an "Aliens" game in late 2006, but it wasn't until early 2008 that the title and first details spilled out in a "Game Informer" cover story. The squad-based, four-player first-person shooter would be built around the idea of tactical co-op play with an eye toward weathering siege attacks from the Xenomorphs, the magazine reported. The story, largely inspired by the marines of "Aliens" and set after the events of "Alien 3," follows a group of marines as they investigate the Sulaco starship and the planet LV-426.

Updates on the game slowed to a trickle after that, and it wasn't long before reports of delays started coming out of Gearbox. The studio insisted all along that "Colonial Marines" remained a priority, even revealing a set of new screens at last year's Penny Arcade Expo. The big reveal came in early June 2011 though, first with a teaser trailer and finally with a 20-minute gameplay demo shown at E3 2011. "Aliens: Colonial Marines" is now said to be on track for a release sometime next year.

Any extension of the story first laid out by filmmaker Ridley Scott in the 1979 sci-fi film "Alien" is reason for celebration. The Scott-helmed prequel, "Prometheus," is coming next year as well, but "Colonial Marines" fits into the timeline fans are already familiar with. Gearbox isn't saying much beyond what was revealed at E3, but CBR News recently had the opportunity to probe Brian Cozzens, the studio's Minister of Art, for some insight on what to expect from the shooter.

CBR News: How did "Aliens: Colonial Marines" end up landing at Gearbox?

Brian Cozzens: A while ago when Gearbox was still young we had made a list of 'dream projects' of games that we desired to work on; Aliens was at the top of that list. At the time Gearbox was becoming well known for properly handling other people's franchises. With the success of our games such as "James Bond Nightfire," the "Half-Life" expansions, "Halo" for the PC, and also our desire for realistic authenticity with our own "Brothers in Arms," companies such as FOX recognized the fantastic potential for collaboration.

Review: Galaga 30th Collection (iOS) - Quoth The Ravings

Another issue is the fact that only one game in Namco’s free collection is unlocked from the start: Galaxian. The rest (Galaga, Gaplus, and Galaga ‘88) are in-app purchases (you’re essentially buying an unlock code). The three together will run you $7.99, or you can buy each individually for $2.99, $2.99, and $3.99 respectively. That seems a bit pricey for fixed shooter arcade ports from the 80’s, especially when there are Atari console ports and much more advanced games like Dead Space on the iPhone for a lesser price than the collection.

The biggest issue stems from the small surface space of the iPhone. There is no landscape mode, which is a big problem for the iPhone version, as you need both of your thumbs on the screen at once and will easily become either cramped, uncomfortable, or block your view. Of course, it wouldn’t truly be Galaga without the classic horizontal orientation, but the option would have been great--if at least for the sake of your hands. Sliding one thumb left and right on the bottom of the screen to move your ship and tapping an invisible button on the left to shoot works well enough, but with such little screen real estate available there just simply isn’t enough room for your thumbs to be at their nimblest. I imagine this is not an issue on the iPad version, though I did not have the opportunity to try it.

Here’s a breakdown of the games included:

Galaxian: While a standard ship-facing-upward fixed space shooter experience, the 1979 game chronologically begins the collection, utilizing a basic concept of shooting aliens hovering above as they shoot back. Individual aliens will often break out of formation, attacking you as a fiery ball. Just like in Space Invaders, your objective is to clear the enemies to move on to the next level and beat the High Score.

Galaga: This legendary 1981 arcade game is the sequel to Galaxian ported to sit within an app. You play as a small spaceship confronting a horde of insect-like aliens that shoot at you and sometimes swoop down (like Galaxian). It’s the kind of old-school arcade game that starts slow and becomes impossibly hard as enemies become faster and faster and more appear at once--and every so often an alien will close in and attack with a wide beam. This is the ultimate retro arcade space shooter, and the only thing bringing this game down is the fact that my thumb blocks my view of incoming bullets as I tap the left side of the screen to shoot. Game over. This is an issue with each game in the collection, though, not just Galaga.

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