For fans of the Alien movies, Gearbox’s long-awaited gaming ‘sequel’ to action-packed classic Aliens was seen as a potential must-buy. But now, as Hudson might say, it sadly appears to be more a case of “Game Over”.

The initial flood of review scores and articles that have greeted the title’s launch today have been overwhelmingly negative, with criticisms of the game’s repetitive nature, unimaginative design and troublesome mechanics rife.

IGN have bemoaned its “bog standard run ‘n’ gun action”, CVG say it’s a textbook example of “how to waste a great licence”, and the Telegraph dismiss it as “not just a poor Aliens experience, but a poor game”.

Even more damningly, Eurogamer handed it an abysmal 3 out of 10 and called it: “one of the most glitchy mainstream releases of this hardware generation”. To add to the sense of indignation, the site also reports on worrying claims that primary development on the title was outsourced to another developer altogether, with Gearbox only responsible for the multiplayer component.

Further controversy has also now arisen after Jim Sterling of Destructoid, who awarded the game a scathing 2.5 out of 10, took to Twitter to proclaim: “That good looking demo of Colonial Marines they kept showing at events? Not part of the game. It was entirely contrived, and basically a lie.”

We’ll bring you more on those claims, and any response from Gearbox or publisher SEGA, as the story develops.

UPDATE

SEGA has now officially responded to the accusation above, with producer Matthew Powers saying that the game was primarily developed by Gearbox, while acknowledging that other studios “helped on the production of single- and multiplayer”. Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford has also revealed that TimeGate studio contributed 20-25 per cent of the game’s overall development time. For the latest report at Eurogamer, head here.