5 Games That Definitely Did Get a Graphical Downgrade
Aliens: Colonial Marines
There’s a lot that can be said of Colonial Marines and it’s failures, but it’s worth remembering that one of its biggest early controversies was that it took a significant graphical downgrade compared to its original “demo” footage. Shown at E3 2012, the first offering of the game was lush with small touches and effects that brought the legendary horror property to life. The lighting of corridors and space facilities was haunting and atmospheric, and the unnatural alien constructs that crawled along walls were terrifyingly well made.
This, and much more, were entirely lost in the final release. Environments, characters and the effects that once brought them to life were now flat and emotionless, with a drop in quality few could help but point toward as misleading marketing. Worse still, developer Gearbox admitted to this fact, with then president Randy Pitchford issuing an acknowledgement of the discrepancy. Pitchfork has since defended the discrepancy as a common strategy among publishers to sell their titles, but few were willing to accept what they saw as a deception and a betrayal.
