Aliens Isn't About Shooting Aliens

[faefrost]

Walking Dead is a great example of how some game creators have actually learned this lesson. Perhaps the absolute best of them goes back to FF VII. The death of Aeris has resonated with game players for decades. Good characters, Good story, true emotional investment = good games.

 

[Seneschal]

Actually, that sounds really good - a horror-oriented Bioware-like game. It needn't be an RPG, but having it occur in an explorable location with relatively freeform gameplay sounds interesting. Maybe something in the vein of Deus Ex Human Revolution or VtM: Bloodlines.

EDIT: I'll have to add a dissenting voice regarding the hypothetical Telltale Aliens game that many here have already mentioned - I'm normally one to enjoy such stuff, and I had high hopes for The Walking Dead, but the fact that it's a point-n-click (or, these days, quick-time-event) adventure made me give up after Episode One. It was like watching a great TV show, except you get pepper-sprayed at regular intervals and need to pause the show to regain your sight.

And, while I'd be glad if they made an Aliens game with similar passion, I wouldn't drudge through a dead genre's carcass to find the bits that are still edible. It just isn't where I'd spend my money, and I do think it would only be a niche title.

 

[Kahani]

The best vehicle for an Aliens game - or for any game aspiring for a cinematic feel - probably isn't a straight-up shooter, but a Bioware-style thing with dialog wheels.

You make some good points, but I'm going to have to disagree here. While I completely agree that such a game could be great, it's in no way necessary for a good Aliens game. AvP and especially AvP2 have already shown that an Aliens game can be one of the best shooters ever made, with no more story needed other than "You're a space marine, go shoot bugs". There's also plenty of potential for survival horror, turn-based tactics and various other genres.

I think the problem is that you're not actually addressing making a game based on the Aliens universe, you're talking about making a game of the film Aliens. For the latter, of course you need more story and characters because the film had them. But for the former, they're only necessary if that happens to be the kind of game you're making. A Mass Effect-style game based in the Aliens universe could be great, but AvP2 was also great as a straight shooter. The problem with most of the games in the Aliens franchise isn't that they tried to make the wrong kind of games, it's simply that they made bad games.

I know that with the new console generation peeking at us over the horizon everyone is excited about the new graphics

Really? If you're looking to consoles for advances in graphics, you're doing something very wrong. There are plenty of perfectly good reasons to consider a Ford Focus better than a Ferrari F40, but it would be pretty silly to get excited about the top speed of a new model of the former since it's obviously never going to compare.

 

[Rect Pola]

It's funny you mention both Kojima by name and his work with cutscenes. Because reading your article smacked me with a realization straight out of MGS2. What if we started an aliens game as ANOTHER GAME? I don't know if you'd want to pull a fake out like MGS2 did, but you'd need time to know who you are and such before senior Xenomorph pops up, and you need to take a level in badass to survive.