Talk:Aliens: Colonial Marines/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: TheJoebro64 (talk · contribs) 23:05, 17 May 2018 (UTC)

I've always liked Alien (not the third one or those crappy Predator crossover movies, those don't count). This looks like a very interesting article. Expect comments by the end of the week. JOEBRO64 23:05, 17 May 2018 (UTC)

Lead

• I'd link to science fiction film in the first sentence.

Done

• It was published by Sega and released for the Microsoft Windows...—I think you can cut "and released for" from this sentence, as being released is implied by "published".

Done

• Could you be a bit specific as to what a "Colonial Marine" is? Wikipedia is geared to a general audience so this could possibly confuse readers who aren't familiar with the Alien mythos.

Added fictional military unit

• ...released for the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 platforms—Similarly, I would trim "the" and "platforms".

Done

• Upon release, Colonial Marines...—"Upon release" is unnecessary because most, if not all reviews are published when the game is released.

Removed

• Do you think linking "unanimously negative reviews" to List of video games notable for negative reception would help? Most games listed there (like this one) do this.

I don't think so because the reliability and subjectivity of that article is highly questionable. While the game is certainly considered a disappointment, reviews were actually not that bad and some were even positive. --Niwi3 (talk) 20:44, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

• its technical issues—"Issue" is a WP:EUPHEMISM.

Replaced with technical problems

Gameplay

• See my note about "Colonial Marines" above.

Added fictional military unit

• Scenarios include Team Deathmatch, where both teams must kill as many opposing players as possible, Extermination, where Colonial Marines must detonate bombs in egg-infested areas protected by Aliens, Escape, which involves Colonial Marines completing objectives to reach a destination while being assaulted by Aliens, and Survivor, where Colonial Marines must survive attacks from Aliens with limited health and ammunition resources for as long as possible. The modes should be split by semicolons because each item in this is actually a complete sentence, so using commas would make the entire thing a run-on.

Done

• Alien ranks unlock new abilities for Alien characters. Such as?

Added "combat abilities". I don't think it's worth going into greater detail because they are simply a set of melee attacks, each with their own attributes. --Niwi3 (talk) 20:44, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

Plot

• prior to its arrival at...—This is a WP:EASTEREGG.

Removed

Development

• considerable amount of pre-production—If my understanding is correct, hyphens should only be used in "pre-"/"re-" words if it creates ambiguous meaning.

Removed hyphens

• view Gearbox and Timegate disagreed with. All other instances of TimeGate capitalize the G.

Fixed

• How much of the game was actually made by Gearbox is highly questioned. Questioned by whom?

By TimeGate. Fixed. --Niwi3 (talk) 20:44, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

• However, without considering Gearbox's pre-production time—See my previous comment on the hyphen in "preproduction".

Fixed

Marketing and release

• The game was officially announced—If my understanding is correct, general consensus is that official is an unnecessary qualifier. In most contexts no one will assume these things were unofficial if you don't specify.

Makes sense. Removed. --Niwi3 (talk) 20:44, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

• Colonial Marines would be released in Spring 2012 ... fall 2012...—WP:SEASON.

Fixed

• Is there a reason the Wii U version was canceled? The source seems to indicate that it was canceled in favor of Shoot Many Robots and an unspecified project, but I just wanted to double-check.

The source does not clarify why it was canceled. I suspect it was canceled due to the game's negative critical reception, but I couldn't find a reliable source to back it up. --Niwi3 (talk) 20:44, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

Downloadable content

• but it is unclear who assisted Gearbox with the development of Stasis Interrupted. Could this be worded a bit better? From my experience "it was", "it is", etc.-like statements are considered unclear.

Replaced with "but it was not confirmed if they contributed to the development of Stasis Interrupted" --Niwi3 (talk) 20:44, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

Reception

• See my comment above about linking to the list of video games notable for negative reception.

Replied above

• Electronic Gaming Monthly, the only notable publication which gave the game a very positive review—This strikes me as a bit WP:ORy and WP:NPOV. Furthermore, it is probably incorrect: The Guardian, which is certainly notable, gave the game 4/5 stars.

Removed "the only notable publication which gave the game a very positive review" part. Also, I added The Guardian review to the reviews table and to support other statements in the prose. Nice find. --Niwi3 (talk) 20:44, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

• Per Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Titles#Major works: "Online magazines, newspapers, and news sites with original content should generally be italicized".

Done

References

• All good.

Miscellaneous

• Just as a general note for the entire article: I noticed instances of both American and British variants of English being used (i.e. "per cent" and "cancelled" but also "criticize" and "license"). I know this probably wasn't intentional, but I'd pick one or the other.

Went for American English because it's an American game. For some reason, I thought "cancelled" was American English. --Niwi3 (talk) 20:44, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

Expect a completed review by Monday. JOEBRO64 22:37, 21 May 2018 (UTC)

@Niwi3, that's it. A few blips here and there, but overall this is a well-written and thoroughly interesting read. Nice work. JOEBRO64 00:41, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

@TheJoebro64: Thank you for your review, really appreciated! I'm currently at work now, so I'll address the above issues once I'll get home. Regards --Niwi3 (talk) 08:53, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

I have addressed all the issues and left some comments above (some of the issues were fixed by Popcornduff, who copy-edited the article). Let me know what you think. Thanks --Niwi3 (talk) 20:44, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

@Niwi3: Alright, looks good! Passing. JOEBRO64 21:11, 22 May 2018 (UTC)