Aliens: Colonial Marines is a first-person shooter which puts the player in the role of a United States Colonial Marine named Cpl. Christopher Winter. The player has access to iconic weapons from the movie such as the flamethrower, pulse rifle, smartgun, shotgun, pistol, and robotic sentry turrets. Players are also able to use welding torches to seal doors and motion trackers to detect unseen enemies.[8][verification needed]
Initially it was announced that the game would involve squad-based gameplay, allowing the player to issue orders to AI-controlled marines using context-sensitive commands.[9] However, Gearbox later revealed that this feature was dropped to make gameplay more accessible.[10] Aliens: Colonial Marines was originally planned to have no HUD to provide the player with onscreen information.[11]
Gameplay types have been described as "Gauntlet Runs", where players must fight enemies as they travel from point A to point B, and "Last Stand" moments, where players must defend a specific area by welding doors and/or setting up automated sentry turrets.[12]
The players gain experience points when dominating enemies and completing certain objectives. These experience points allow players to customize the appearance of their character, purchase upgrades for weapons, and unlock other skill sets, all of which carry over to other gameplay modes.[13][verification needed]
The primary enemies of the game are the xenomorphs from the first three films, which include the "Facehugger", and "Drone" alien from Alien, the "Warrior" and the "Queen" aliens from Aliens, also as the "Runner" alien from Alien 3. The "Crusher" alien is an original enemy, which was revealed in the E3 2011 Walkthrough demo. Another original enemy, the "Boiler" alien, is a variant capable of self-exploding and covering its enemies with molecular acid. It was revealed in the tactical multiplayer trailer.[14] Along with being able to traverse different surfaces from an angle, the aliens' AI uses the environment to set up sneak attacks, and group tactics to overwhelm the player.[15][verification needed] Not all enemies are aliens, as players also find themselves fighting human enemies in the form of Weyland-Yutani commandos and mercenaries.
- Minimum Specs: Operating System: Windows XP SP3. Processor: 2 GHz Intel Dual Core Processor. RAM: 2GB RAM (XP),2GB RAM (Vista). HD: 20GB free hard disk space. Optical Drive: DVD. Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible. Video Card:NVIDIA GeForce 8500/ATI Radeon HD 2600 (256 minimum).
- Recommended Specs: Operating System: Windows XP SP3/Vista/Windows 7. Processor: 2.3 GHz Intel Quad CoreProcessor. RAM: 2GB RAM. HD: 20GB free hard disk space. Optical Drive: DVD. Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible. VideoCard: NVIDIA GeForce GTX560/ATI Radeon HD 5850 (512 minimum).
