Gearbox's Martel on making Aliens: Colonial Marines a bit of a fright

Gearbox CCO Brian Martel has said the developer is looking to scare the player a bit with Aliens: Colonial Marines, but at the end of the day, it's more of a co-op shooter than a horror title.

Speaking with the PS Blog during gamescom, Martel said as far as the game's scare tactic is concerned, it will contain audio cues which will "catch the player unaware," and will also contain some misdirection, such as drawing the eye to one spot but having the action emerge elsewhere.

"At the end of the day, with a co-op shooter it’s pretty hard to truly scare the player so that’s why Colonial Marines is more action driven," he said. "It’s not like Dead Space, which has a fright around every corner, or something like Condemned, which was pure tension throughout.

"The aliens aren’t just looking to kill you, they’re trying to propagate the species and take you elsewhere so they can get you face-hugged. That’s the threat and it forms the scary aspect of the world, and then you also need to have the high action aspect. If you watch the film Aliens, there aren’t too many scare moments; it’s scary because you know what’s going to happen if you get caught but it’s action-packed, and to make a great game like this you have to have lots of aliens, lots of stuff to shoot at.

"You need the diversity between extremely quiet all the way up to high-octane."

Martel went on to say it was also important for the team to add what he called "fan service moments," such what happened to Burke or Hudson while also adding elements for those who may never have seen the movies.

"We’re bringing something for everybody," he said.

Aliens: Colonial Marines launches in 2012 for PC, PS3, Wii U, and Xbox 360. Checkout the latest trailer for the game through here.