Skip to main content

First DLC for Aliens: Colonial Marines is just ‘another bughunt’

Aliens: Colonial Marines
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Come February 12, Aliens: Colonial Marines will burst onto store shelves like a gore-slicked xenomorph from the chest of John Hurt. This being 2013, it seems a foregone conclusion that the game would eventually see additional downloadable content, and while the assumption has long been in place we hadn’t seen any official confirmation of such until this morning.

The first DLC release for Aliens: Colonial Marines bears the title of “Bug Hunt,” and is slated to appear at an as-yet-unrevealed point in March. There’s currently no information on Bug Hunt’s price tag, though the announcement also details the game’s season pass which indicates that Bug Hunt should set you back $10 if purchased by itself. Whether or not the DLC is worth that amount of money is another question entirely. “Bug Hunt will throw players into an all-new multiplayer mode where they have to take on waves of increasingly difficult enemies in three brand new maps based on environments from the Aliens film.” reads the official announcement from publisher Sega.

Recommended Videos

Based on that description, it appears that this DLC is the Aliens: Colonial Marines equivalent of Gears of War’s fan-favorite Horde mode. As fans of that franchise will attest, joining forces with pals to fight off increasingly larger waves of enemies is a tense, satisfying experience that drives the human brain to constantly seek higher scores. The effectiveness of Bug Hunt should only be enhanced by its subject matter: The creatures in Aliens: Colonial Marines are not just fast and equipped with caustic acid blood, they can also climb along walls and ceilings. This should prevent human players from setting up viable chokepoints – a commonly used strategy in Gears of War – and with enough affection and care put into the design of the Bug Hunt DLC this multiplayer mode might just replicate the tension of its theatrical inspiration.

Then again, maybe the Bug Hunt DLC isn’t for you. Maybe you’re one of those people who hates playing multiplayer. In that case, the silver lining here is that Sega announced the Aliens: Colonial Marines season pass alongside the Bug Hunt DLC. Featuring a $30 price point regardless of platform, the announcement claims that this marks a 40-percent reduction on the costs you’d face by buying the Aliens: Colonial Marines DLC piecemeal. While we’ve yet to hear official word on any of the DLC packs beyond Bug Hunt, this pricing scheme indicates that there will likely be several more DLC packs popping up at some point in the future.

Finally, a few moments after all of the above information was issued to the public, Sega also announced an agreement it has signed with Walmart, giving the mega-retailer the ability to reward those who either purchase or pre-order Aliens: Colonial Marines with a totally gratis copy of the Bug Hunt DLC. 

Earnest Cavalli
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Earnest Cavalli has been writing about games, tech and digital culture since 2005 for outlets including Wired, Joystiq…
Topics
Steam delists hundreds of adult games
Steam Games

Why it matters: Vague policies on platforms like Steam risk chilling developer creativity, especially for indie creators tackling edgy themes, while raising broader concerns about content freedom in gaming amid global regulations.

The news: Valve quietly updated its Steamworks guidelines to ban content violating payment processors' rules, targeting "certain kinds" of adult-only material that's not properly labeled or age-gated.

Read more
Loved Expedition 33’s combat? You should try this indie rock RPG
An evil corporate throne room in Fretless.

It's been over a month since I finished everything there was to do in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and yet I still found myself craving more. I had my qualms with what direction the story took in the final act, but the combat had me hooked and never let go. The satisfaction of mastering parry timing and crafting the perfect build with the Pictos and Luminas was more than enough motivation to finish the story and take down every optional challenge the world had to throw at me.

While I could go back and mess with the difficulty modifiers for a new challenge, I instead found a hidden gem of an RPG that scratches that same itch for tactical but reactive combat, but with a few unique twists that have more than filled that void.

Read more
How long is Donkey Kong Bananza?
Donkey Kong and Pauline blast the enviornment in Donkey Kong Bananza.,

We only had to wait one month after the Nintendo Switch 2 launch to get our first shiny new 3D platformer. However, it isn't a new Mario game like you might've assumed, but DK taking center stage. Donkey Kong Bananza is all about smashing and digging your way with Pauline to the planet's core while facing off against a cast of villains. Being able to terraform the levels completely changes the pace of a normal platformer, but does it mean you can bypass everything and finish the game in a few hours? What if you are the type of person who wants to get every collectible there is? In either case, you might be surprised at how Donkey Kong Bananza actually is. After playing the game from start to finish, here's how long you can expect to spend playing Donkey Kong Bananza.

How long to beat Donkey Kong Bananza?

Read more