As an environmental artist working on Gearbox’s direct gaming sequel to James Cameron’s classic Aliens movie, Chris Neely is unsurprisingly chipper when we caught up with him. Each heavily accented Texan word is punched out like rapid fire as he shares with us why he thinks Alien: Colonial Marines is the most authentic Aliens experience ever.

“We didn’t want to just make a movie game that rides on the success of the movie. We wanted to contribute something. If you look at every alien movie, you learn something more about the characters, about humanity and about the biology of the aliens – these horrid perfect beasts – and so to be a true spiritual sequel we had to contribute something to that lore.”

Aliens: Colonial Marines has players enlisting as a member of the Marine Corps rescue team arriving at Hadley’s Hope, 17 days after Ripley and the Colonial Marines investigation team sent out a distress signal and were declared ‘overdue’ in the 1986 blockbuster.

Hudson: Seventeen days? Hey man, I don't wanna rain on your parade, but we're not gonna last seventeen *hours!* Those things are gonna come in here just like they did before. And they're gonna come in here...
Ripley: Hudson!
Hudson: ...and they're gonna come in here AND THEY'RE GONNA GET US!

“You get to play at the front line and you’ll get to see how the stories played out for the characters you fell in love with. There's some new stories that will generate from that and there’s some new mysteries that you may not even have been considering. If we made it ad verbatim, it wouldn’t make for a great game. All the aesthetic choices and design concepts you see in the movie go into this new beast but if we play it safe and don’t offer anything new, it’s just another Aliens game. We’re adding to that whole bible of Aliens knowledge – it was our duty to expand that in order to make this a legitimate spiritual sequel."

Featuring all the iconic kit from the movie including flamethrowers, pulse rifles and motion trackers, as well as authentic locations such as Hadley’s Hope, the Sulaco and LV-426, Aliens: Colonial Marines promises to be an emotional experience. “We made a decision early on that we wanted this to be a rollercoaster ride, but you can’t have the knob all the way up to 10 or you’re just gonna get numb. It’s this great collaboration between all the disciplines; level design, gameplay design, lighting and art to craft an entire level and to build up tension so then when all the aliens come out it has a lot of value. It’s that contrast to the lulls. You have expectations and then those expectations are flipped on their ear and that can’t be achieved unless all the disciplines are working together" dramatically explain Neely. "Lighting shows the aliens shadows or picks out air ducts that can be jumped into. We don’t just dump the aliens on you right away! You’re gonna get scared, you’re gonna feel tense and you’ll think “We’re ready for it!” Then it won’t be there and when it is there it’s up right in your face. Crafting each level so the entire game reaches this crescendo is a big task.”

With his words still thundering out at top speed, when talking to Chris it’s hard not to be sucked into his giddy enthusiasm as he bounces his chat about the movies and the game like a verbal squash ball; clearly there he has a genuine love of and passion for the franchise. “I loved Aliens 3! I think it was a great addition to the story and a ballsy move to shift people’s expectations. I loved the way it went back to Ripley’s story when it’s her struggle and she’s the lone fixed figure between this beast and all humanity. It pivots on her but we’ve still got these characters and we’ve had a taste of this universe and we’ve had this survival horror and this action adventure ride that’s fun! Other movies are emotionally long but Aliens is fun. In the same great spirit of Ridley Scott – OH MAN! We’ve gone there! Well, I thought Prometheus was really ballsy. It added a layer of realism like it’s not just this one action figure alien, it’s this DNA, this idea and ultimately, it’s the nature of human selfishness that manifests into this thing that kills without consciousness to survive. The engineers came from a place where they self-sacrifice to order to make life but yeah, we’re WRONG because we have these selfless ambitions. This alien DNA is a tangible thing that ultimately is more realistic because that’s the nature of nature if you will. To do that 20 years ago would have blown people’s minds but now that’s acceptable, with social consciousness in general, we can understand that and grasp that now.” Wildly laughing, Neely admits “This game is made by complete and utter geeks who can quote the whole all the movies and will spot if something doesn’t look right. This truly is a labour of love – that’s the origins of why this game was made. Alien inspired a generation of game makers and film makers – it’s been imitated by every successful sci-fi video game franchise there is. It’s a huge responsibility to faithfully emulate that legacy.”

The movie has done more than just inspire parts of the game. Gearbox were given complete access to 20th Century Fox’s blueprints, all the concept art, even the studio’s audio files for pulse rifles to inform and help them create the most authentic game version possible. “We’re using the Fox Archive sound footage so it’s absolutely genuine, legitimate! The voice actors – the characters you love, those guys are in this game” shouts Neely! “I’ve poured over schematics and blueprints because I’ve always wanted to go through Hadley’s Hope as a space marine; I don’t wanna go through some cheap ass imitation, I want the real deal! You get to see there’s the aliens they killed in the big battle, there’s the grenade that went off with Vasquez and if you go into the room where Ripley slept, you see the two Facehuggers in the exact spot where they were shot – everything is there down to the last detail!”

It’s not just the detail that’s important but the mood. Fans of the franchise will most certainly be expecting the same, eerie and claustrophobic atmosphere they get from watching the movie when playing the game. “We realised to successfully convey the light and the mood we were going to have to design our own tech so we made our own engine to make this happen. I’ve become a student of Cameron’s lighting because, like a blur on your memory, people really associate the movie with blue. If you actually break down a frame though – take the med lab for example - sure there is blue but there’s pinks and complimentary colours. Then if you look at the scene as a whole, it kinda bounces out as white. If you just put a gel over a light that’s blue, it would look kinda cheap and artificial and we had to convey that in a 3D space but still keep those colours that people remember whilst balancing them out so it doesn’t seem tinted. The contrast between the sterile human technology and the human infestation areas that are so totally jacked up that you don’t wanna go in but cha got to y’know is exiting! The thing about this game that stands it apart from all other alien games is that it’s bringing new things in but we get to show you what the Sulaco and Hadley’s Hope is in its final state. You will get to see what became of the atmospheric processers and all of that – we get to contribute to all these mysteries. We can share the final resting place and what transpired there and make it feel like you’re really there.”

Aliens: Colonial Marines is out on 12th February on PS3, Xbox360 and PC.