Jimquisition: A-LIE-ns: Colonial Marines

Mar 30, 2010
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Legion said:
Grouchy Imp said:
Legion said:
>snip<
But that's the difference. It may say work in progress, but it also says in-game footage. While you are correct in saying that the former means that they admitted it's not the final product, the fact that the final product is worse, is another matter entirely.

Although it is never explicitly stated, it is taken as a given that when somebody advertises something, and what they show is a "work in progress", it is meant to say "Don't judge it too harshly, as it's still got more work to be done."

In this instance, the "work in progress" is actually better than the final product, so people are pissed off, because it is effectively false advertising. Nobody looks at a work in progress and expects it to be better than what they are getting, even if the phrase doesn't guarantee otherwise.

Like Dexter said, you are defending poor business practices. It doesn't matter that they have absolved themselves of any legal issues by claiming it was a work in progress, they deceived people by advertising a superior product than the one they actually released. Nobody expects a half done product still being worked on to be better than the one they buy.
I wouldn't say I'm defending poor business practices, just really pointing out this level of reaction is disproportionate to the offence (and it is an offence, just not one of earth-shaking magnitude).

As has been previously pointed out by other users, <a href=http://kotaku.com/5984068/how-aliens-colonial-marines-fell-apart>this article sheds some light on exactly what happened to the game displayed in the trailer and after reading it I am more inclined to blame Timegate for the loss of content than Gearbox.
 

lostlevel

Senior Member
Nov 6, 2008
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Maybe it was pre-rendered or some sort of money saving plan that didn't require such good game play throughout. I guess it depends on what they referred to it as? but I imagine there is some sort legal BS that absolves them of the responsibility.
 

sadmac

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Sep 18, 2011
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I guess anything worth saying is worth saying verbosely, eh?

"And here this part isn't in the game, and.. oh yeah this part isn't in the game either, nor is this part..."

Kinda got the point after 2 minutes.
 

Deacon Cole

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Jan 10, 2009
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So, Gearbox should have their demo team make the full game and have their full game team go get lunch for the demo team?
 

Bindal

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May 14, 2012
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This video was put out... when? Early 2012, Summer 2012? Well, this was over a year and when they decide to cut things out or add things, can you blame them for changing things? There were a lot of games, which showed the game to be A and it was in fact B. Heck, the first Half Life 2 Screenshots showed TONS of content not present in the final game... did anyone call Valve out on it? No. (Granted, they had quite a lot more time between the release of their screenshots and their game, but still)

And some of that stuff is just nitpicking in my oppinion. For example the Weapon-table-example - so, in the actual game, they decided not to make the thing nice and tidy but for the demo, they did it to make it easier for them to show/find stuff. Turret-Placement: Again, maybe they felt that putting it down in first-person would feel better than doing it in third-person.


I am not saying that the game is actually great (in fact, I haven't played it yet but I am going to at the weekend), but blaming them to show stuff they change later? Come on, it's not the first time someone did this.
 

Jesse Billingsley

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Mar 21, 2011
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Proverbial Jon said:
I can't believe I got suckered into this too. I'm sending my copy back right away. In fact I'd forgotten that I'd even preordered it in the first place! Seeing it arrive today was like being told I was a complete loser. I think I'm going to have to start being more sensible with my video game purchases in future.
Here's what I do:
1) Never buy into hype (Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Amazing 2010 demo, crappy final product, so I know what you guys are going through)
2) Don't even preorder, put them as holiday gift ideas or shell out $60 and buy it yourself a month after release.
3) Don't even pay any attention to the game news.
 

Ham Blitz

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May 28, 2009
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I got the game but haven't played it yet, but now watching this video is already putting me on the train to regretsville. Hopefully there is something redeemable about the game.
Now I am really worried.
 

MonkeyPunch

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Feb 20, 2008
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Good episode.

Now I know some people have problems with CGi trailers. A problem which I neither understand or share but when companies release these things as "demos" they're leading you to believe that it's a slice of the game and that really pisses me off.
I too was really quite positive when I saw this "demo". Luckily a friend of mine bought this game and I realised that one had very tittle to do with the other. I really do think that it's a bit of a dirty practice.

If the finished product had even an iota of the polish shown in this "demo" then it would have made the game a whole lot better. I know people (who love the Alien lore) who thought the game was decent enough. Playable. But I couldn't really look past all it's faults. I tried loving it but as soon as you were immersed in an environment or situation that really reminded you of the movies and were starting to get in to it the game would rip you out that state of mind and remind you just how messy it is.
 

Crazycat690

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Aug 31, 2009
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Why is it so hard to make a great Aliens game? Why? They need to make it into a survival horror, not a shooting gallery... Perhaps Irrational Games should have a go?
 

Callate

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Dec 5, 2008
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I would say that perhaps Gearbox just shouldn't work with other people's properties... but they did fine with Half-Life, once upon a time.

This is just... what the hell happened...? How did this game, from most reports, turn into such a cluster-f@#%? Sega even did a pretty good job with the Aliens game they made on the DS, for cryin' out loud; how did a a developer and a publisher with relatively good records manage to turn a good license into such an apparently under-developed product? Did they not allow enough time to optimize it for consoles and have to cut a bunch of corners at the last minute? Or spend too much time trying to sync up the art assets to their final version to work on the AI? The demo seems to indicate, if nothing else, that they knew what the game should look like; how did they fall so short?
 

Proverbial Jon

Not evil, just mildly malevolent
Nov 10, 2009
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Jesse Billingsley said:
Proverbial Jon said:
I can't believe I got suckered into this too. I'm sending my copy back right away. In fact I'd forgotten that I'd even preordered it in the first place! Seeing it arrive today was like being told I was a complete loser. I think I'm going to have to start being more sensible with my video game purchases in future.
Here's what I do:
1) Never buy into hype (Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Amazing 2010 demo, crappy final product, so I know what you guys are going through)
2) Don't even preorder, put them as holiday gift ideas or shell out $60 and buy it yourself a month after release.
3) Don't even pay any attention to the game news.
You're right, of course.

I normally only preorder games that I'm pretty damn sure will be magnificent, or games I will play despite what any of the reviews say. Skyrim was a good example and I'm hoping Bioshock Infinite will be too. This one? Perhaps I had far too much faith.

That said, I have been saved by not buying the latest Resident Evil and Assassin's Creed sequels this time around. Both of their previous games gave me an inkling that their franchises were going downhill.
 

TheSchaef

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Feb 1, 2008
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Am I the only one who wondered how that marine had an alien drooling all over him, and then shoot it in the face point-blank, and still somehow manage not to get a single drop of that high-molar acid all over him?
 

riftermcriftington

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Dec 11, 2010
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So, other than the obvious financing rationales, why make such a great proof of concept and then not prove the concept? Did they blow through their budget making the demo? If so, they may as well have just released the demo, included a final sequence against the Queen and then sold that for like 9-20 bucks, Maybe as a trial run for an episodic set up. The thing that struck me was that, there was such a glaring descrepency not only in the quality of the presentation, but the competence of the developers and their understanding of pacing, tension, drama and design. Methinks the team that made this demo asked for too much cheddar and either Gearbox or Sega went with a cheaper dev team. As a result we, the consumers suffer and isn't that becoming par for the course.
 

ritchards

Non-gamer in a gaming world
Nov 20, 2009
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BTW, does this count as JimSkippable? Do we next get an episode of UnQuisition?
 

chozo_hybrid

What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets.
Jul 15, 2009
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I just finished the game last night. I don't think it's as bad as some reviewers have been saying, but I will admit, I wouldn't give it more then a 5 out of 10. I wrote up a first impressions review a few days ago and I still agree with most I said there, I never posted a score etc because I hadn't finished the game and didn't think that would be fair.

That said, I think the campaign is shallow and average. The story was predictable, the twist, I don't think was as bad as some games do, could have been handled better, but at least we get a little explanation for it and it wasn't in the last 5 minutes of the game either. As for the game never explaining how the Sulaco ended up back over LV-426, it didn't need to, you got your answer when
fighting the Weyland guys on board that ship.

I've been finding the multiplayer fun, I gotta admit I won't play the campaign again unless a friend got this and begs me to co-op it, even then I may not as it was pretty forgettable aside from the sewer level. So yeah, I guess I'd the multiplayer is the only solid reason to get the game, as it isn't the game we were promised. Still got an awesome cargo loader figure though, guess that's something else.