Waiting for a decent Aliens game is a largely pointless venture. If you’ve owned a semirespectable PC in the past ten years, you’ve probably sampled the brilliant Alien Vs Predator, but the various licence holders have simply neglected the PS2. Instead, almost ten years on from Alien: Resurrection, it’s taken an entire generation for the franchise to once again show promise. At this early stage, we only know that Aliens: Colonial Marines won’t be a dreadful game – there’s still a lot we don’t know about the premise, but we do have high expectations of Gearbox, the team behind Brothers In Arms.

There’s an awful lot to be excited about with Aliens: Colonial Marines. These first screenshots are extremely beautiful, and they evoke a simultaneous feeling of realism and horror. Seeing the motion tracker beep in a dark, empty environment, for example, is the exact type of moment that an Alien game should include. It’s a no-brainer, but as the franchise has been watered down over the years by appalling Predator crossovers, dodgy strategy games and a nasty PSP title, we’re relieved to see somebody do right by the Alien series. The videogames can be done in the exact style of the second movie; if Gearbox is smart, however, it’ll also draw inspiration from Ridley Scott’s Alien, too. Aliens was obviously the Vietnam conflict in space, but it’d be great if Colonial Marines could lace the shooting with survival horror, as well.

For now, we’re just impressed by the amount of classic moments Gearbox has crammed into a single selection of screenshots. Whether it’s the horrifying vagina mouth of the facehuggers, xenomorphs diving out of vents or marines toasting eggs with flame-throwers, Gearbox clearly has a checklist of kick-ass moments that it’s compelled to include. This enthusiasm is refreshing, as the game has been a long time coming – according to an ancient press release, Sega tapped up Gearbox in December 2006. Since the game isn’t due until 2009, we’re assuming this lengthy development period is geared towards getting everything right.

Hopefully, its love for the franchise will extend to a multiplayer of some finesse. At the moment, we’re only aware of the four-on-four versus mode – presumably involving marines – but there’s bound to be more exciting propositions. We’re hoping for a hunt mode, where one heat-packing marine has to stay alive in the face of a swarming alien horde, or maybe a crazed capture-the-flag mode involving chestbursters. Whatever it opts for, it’s bound to be a highlight of the game.

We were worried about the team aspect of Colonial Marines, but Gearbox is adamant that it is far from being Brothers In Arms in space. Instead of using tactics to mount an assault on the species, the gameplay will apparently fluctuate between different styles, as the movies did. Survival horror is at the top of our wish list. We imagine that run-‘n’-gun gameplay will inevitably dominate the experience, but Gearbox’s track record suggests that it won’t be as shallow as most FPS heavyweights.

All in all, Colonial Marines has piqued our interest. We’re a while away from a hands-on, but it looks like Sega has hit an obvious, but very important, target – it’s commissioned an Aliens game that, after so many damp squibs and poor ideas, seems to make sense. We’re hanging on to every detail with the same fevered anticipation we’d reserve for a new Alien film – for the first set of screenshots of the game, that isn’t half bad.