Obsidian’s canceled Aliens RPG doesn’t look much worse than Colonial Marines

A new 13-minute gameplay video of Obsidian's canned Aliens RPG has popped up online. As studio boss Feargus Urquhart claimed, it appears that the game was ready to ship. Although I'd be hard-pressed to say it looks any better than what we saw with Aliens: Colonial Marines.

The Aliens RPG was announced by SEGA in 2006, alongside an Aliens FPS. As the story goes, the FPS became Aliens: Colonial Marines from Gearbox while the Aliens RPG was canceled. Although judging from this video, I can't see why. It certainly doesn't look worse than what we hadwith Colonial Marines. It doesn't help that the video resolution doesn't go any higher than 480p.

The environment is primarily dark so it's hard to get a good idea of the texture details. I think what we're seeing is just sheer age taking its toll. Think of how much time has passed since this game began development. Much of the gameplay sees the character and his four marine buddies exploring the interior of what seems to be a spaceship. There's plenty of xenomorph action and naughty words. The combat also looks clunky, though that could be due to the game's early build. Then again, Aliens: Colonial Marines had the same buggy combat mechanics when it shipped…sooo…

At certain points there are dialogue options available. There are also context-sensitive options like Heal, Hack, Open, Loot, etc. — each mapped to the A and X buttons. Despite being an RPG, there really doesn't seem to be much customization aside from the initial character creation — at least judging from the footage shown.

I think it may be time to lay the Aliens game franchise to rest.