Games in development for so long

Review’s are in for Aliens: Colonial Marines and it seems the game has failed. This has been one of my most anticipated games this year. I remember over five years ago (before AVP) when it was announced on Ps2 how excited i was for this game. Yet its just a let down. Now i know what you're thinking, i should give the game a try myself. But at £40 a pop can i afford to give the game a chance. Can i not expect a decent game that’s playable for my cash? It seems to be a growing trend that games that take so long to be developed just seem to go with the motions and suffer from all the gaming cliches. First there was Duke Nukem and now Aliens: CM, and yes both are Gearbox games the same team that fetched us the wonderful Borderlands series. In these games there have been complaints of glitches, textures not loading, ai team mates just standing there staring into space and game breaking freezes where you will need to start the game again.

Duke Nukem is a prime example of lazy development although i guess they can be forgiven for how many times the game has stop and started. Duke Nukem was being made for 12 years and i that is where the problem is. When i game is designed on a last gen system surely it would be better to start again with fresh new ideas and keep up with competition rather than use age old ideas that have been done to death and just plant HD textures over the old graphics. There are many examples of games Too Human, Two Worlds, Final Fantasy XIII (yes i hate it!) that suffer from repetitive gameplay, bad graphics, boring storylines and glitches galore. What i'm getting at here is if your gonna take your time on these games start from scratch don't start with the basis and keep that idea all the way through development. Go back to the drawing board, start again if needs be, Capcom did it with Resident Evil 4 and look how that turned out. So if you're reading...Valve, Sega please make Shenmue 3 and Half Life 3 at least approachable and if things aren’t looking good, start again and don’t just try to rush the games out cos you need money. Good games are what keeps the gamers coming and that is something the fans won’t be doing for the next Aliens game.​

Published scores:

Games TM - 4/10: "Mechanically, the game functions, but the fun of the Aliens universe is quickly drained away by what amounts to a mundane shooting gallery through a drab and lifeless world."

PS3gen.fr - 5/10: (Translated) "We expected a lot from this project. And unfortunately, our disappointment was all the greater."