Which is slightly worrying. My main concern is that they haven't handled the "gung ho" aspect of the marines with any sort of tact or restraint. I'm a games producer and if there's one thing I've learned it's that with games, ANY kind of story or narrative content needs to be dialed back a LOT compared to movies or television. What is cool in a film usually ends up reading as silly or stupid in a game for some reason. You REALLY need to tone it down and hold back.
My bet? Uncanny valley issues. What looks reasonably convincing on film is more difficult to portray in a video game because the animators have a much tougher time with facial expressions and body animation. Particularly hands. The other culprit, I'd bet, is lousy voice acting.
Years ago, I'd heard the original Deus Ex game (from, like, 1999) was really good. I didn't play it at the time, but ended up nabbing it as part of a bundle on Steam during some sale. Both of the above issues REALLY impacted the game. The graphics were decent...for a game made in the late 90s, but the "uncanny valley" issues were myriad. Plus, the voice acting was, for me, like fingernails on a chalkboard. It was SO awful.
Games have gotten a lot better about that in recent years, but you still can have issues with it.
Take Hudson for example. his rant was funny and cool at the time and it has become cult. ANY attempt to recreate or capitalize on it TODAY will simply be an embarrassing failure, because the cult will read as cliché.
Unfortunately, most game makers don't realize this, which is why game stories are so awful, in general. I'm HOPING that Gearbox have been able to restrain themselves with ACM and I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt, but it IS a concern.
(And I really don't understand the big deal about the graphics. I have no problem with what I have seen. The game looks FINE. In defense of the devs, people have to understand that certain types of gameplay features directly limit what you can do with graphics on any console system. It's even worse when you're trying to get the same code to cooperate across all platorms.)
The pics I've seen of the graphics do look fine, or at least good enough to support an otherwise good game. I think a lot of the former production issues can be minimized by solid gameplay. Unfortunately, too many licensed games rely on the strength of the license itself and its mere trappings to win people over. Like an attractive person who doesn't think they need to try to also be charming because the exterior packaging has already won you over.
So, you end up with yet another mediocre licensed property that, as described above, ends up being little more than a humdrum game wrapped in the thin veneer of the property you already like. "But...but it's a shooter...where you can shoot aliens with a pulse rifle! Cool, right?" Yeah, you know what? There's a DOOM total conversion that I can play for free if I want that.
thumbsup
