As most of you know, Gearbox Software’s oft-delayed Aliens: Colonial Marines finally hit stores shelves yesterday. Unfortunately, for the most part, critics have not been kind to the game, giving the self-professed canonical sequel mediocre scores at best. One of the main critiques of the game has focused on the abysmal AI, both enemy and partner. Today, Gearbox has released a major patch available across all 3 major platforms, PC, PS3 and, Xbox 360, in an attempt to rectify the situation.
The full patch notes can be found below:
Campaign Notes:
- Fixed an issue that could prevent NPCs from getting on the elevator in the Sulaco.
- NPCs no longer attempt to open doors while being welded.
- Fixed issue where Raven could sometimes pass through welded door.
- Implementing a message to warn players that campaign progress will be overwritten if they try to start an offline campaign game from within the co-op campaign UI.
- Adjusted the distance between players before they’re warped to the location of furthest player in co-op.
- Fixed issue where torch would sometimes appear incorrectly to co-op clients.
- Fixed issue where difficulty could sometimes become stuck incorrectly after switching modes.
- Fixed issue where co-op player would not recover properly after being saved from a close encounter.
- Fixed issue where Russian players could not drop into a co-op match in some missions.
- Updated late-game close encounter moment to disable player input, which could cause them to become stuck.
- Splitscreen: Weapon Radial menu no longer appears for other players when the pause menu is opened.
- Splitscreen: Fixed issue where if the Game Menu is opened while accessing the Weapon Radial, it stays up on does not function properly.
Multiplayer Notes:
- Resolved issue where campaign Motion Tracker could incorrectly in multiplayer loadouts.
- Fixed issue where clients would sometimes be invisible after spawning in No Hope in Hadleys.
- Multiplayer teams are now randomized (parties excluded) if percentage difference in scores is greater than 15%
- ‘Switch Teams’ option removed from the Pause menu.
- Corrected issue where server and client could get out-of-sync when switching out of a power-up while firing.
- Fixed issue where controller would vibrate during the scores screen if Rage ability was active upon match end.
- Fixed issue where Cloak ability would not conceal the Lurker when walking or jogging.
- Corrected bug where clients appeared to spawn outside of world before match start.
- Removed placeholder text from appearing on scoreboard in certain situations.
- Improved camera transition when Xeno enters a vent.
- Fixed issue where Xenomorph HUD could sometimes appear in the wrong color.
- Fixed issue with Spitter acid sometimes preventing players from deploying a Sentry Turret for a short while.
- Spitter’s “Acid Spray” now originates from the mouth.
- Escape: Fixed issue where Xenos could spawn in unplayable space.
- Escape: Fixed issue where Xeno players could lose functionality if warped to next area while in a vent.
- Escape: Addressed issues where players would spawn with no weapon if they were the last Marine to die in Escape.
- Escape: Fixed issue where Cat-Like Reflexes ability would not properly complete in an Escape match.
- Escape: Improved timing and placement of warp locations in Emergency Evac map.
Miscellaneous Notes:
- General user interface improvements.
- Various performance improvements.
- Fixed issue where a door may not function properly if a Xeno was killed while opening it.
- Addressed issue where players could become stuck in a close encounter after killing a Lurker that had pounced them.
- Fixed collision issue where bullets would not pass through certain open doorways.
- Fixed an issue related to clients incorrectly interrupting Xeno melee encounters.
- Addressed an issue where doors would sometimes not open properly.
- Addressed an exploit where players could melee while throwing a grenade or placing a claymore.
- Fixed some collision detection issues that could result from a close encounter.
- Prevented campaign pop-ups from appearing outside of campaign.
The patch is live now so I encourage anyone playing to download it. I haven’t played Colonial Marines, and frankly I don’t plan on it, but the idea of releasing a major patch the day after release is a great topic for conversation. From the reviews I’ve read, it seems pretty clear the game was released unfinished; despite the years of development time, however rocky the development cycle may have been. I won’t accuse Gearbox Software of anything, considering their track record with the Borderlands franchise, but I find it a rather despicable business practice to release a broken or unfinished product simply to cash in on fan interest and then releasing extensive patches post-release. In all likelihood that sort of scenario has more to do with the publisher than the developer, and I’m not saying that’s even the case here; the negative reviews I’ve seen of the game simply reminded me of the topic and I think it’s an issue worth discussing.
Has anyone picked up Colonial Marines yet? If so, and you’ve already downloaded the patch, be sure to stop back and share your thoughts about the update in the comments.
