Aliens: Colonial Marines was hyped as a game for the fans, transporting you to LV-426 and making you feel like you're living the direct sequel to the beloved film. When players actually got their hands on it, however, the general reaction was less "screams of approval" and more "wails of despair." Good thing then that TemplarGFX has taken it upon themselves to overhaul the game from top to bottom, improving everything from texture resolutions to enemy behavior.
"TemplarGFX's ACM Overhaul" is available now on ModDB, and if you've got a PC copy of the game still sitting on your digital shelf, I'd highly recommend giving it a try. Improvements including new particle effects, dynamic shadows, and animation tweaks make this version stand above its vanilla counterpart visually, but where things get really interesting is in how it improves the Xenomorph behavior.
Headshots are the only way to take Xenomorphs down quickly. All Xenomorph types are faster and more damaging. Their trademark acid blood is now a potentially deadly hazard instead of a sizzle sound effect and dissolving animation. In wave-based scenarios, far more Xenomorphs spawn than in the base version of the game. Last but not least, the creatures now make decisions 500% quicker (save for Soldier types, which calculate new actions a staggering 1000% faster), making them more adaptive and dangerous foes.
Considering the extent of TemplarGFX's work, which also includes weapon balancing, updating friendly AI, and more, this might be the version of Aliens you were hoping for. It might even mostly undo the damage done by the letdown of the original release. Mostly.
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