The critically-mauled game has been accused of false advertising in a Californian court.

The disappointing Aliens: Colonial Marines is now the subject of a class action lawsuit, with both Gearbox Software and Sega accused of misrepresenting the game to consumers with false advertising.

The lawsuit, filed yesterday in a Californian court and spotted by Polygon, alleges that the final game “bore little resemblance” to the early footage of the game shown in demos and gameplay trailers.

“Each of the ‘actual gameplay’ demonstrations purported to show consumers exactly what they would be buying: a cutting edge video game with very specific features and qualities,” reads the claim filed by law firm Edelson LLC on behalf of plaintiff Damion Perrine.

“Unfortunately for their fans, Defendants never told anyone–consumers, industry critics, reviewers, or reporters–that their ‘actual gameplay’ demonstration advertising campaign bore little resemblance to the retail product that would eventually be sold to a large community of unwitting purchasers.”

Another complaint to the UK’s Advertising Standards Agency has previously forced Sega to add disclaimers to the game’s trailers stating that the footage shown in commercials was not indicative of the final product.

Other sources told GameSpot earlier this year that Gearbox neglected development on Aliens: Colonial Marines in favour of Borderlands 2, the company’s own IP.

Gearbox President Randy Pitchford has acknowledged the criticisms. Responding earlier in the year on Twitter, he called the complaints “fair” and said the studio was “looking at that.”

“Lots of info to parse, lots of stake holders to respect,” he added.

The long-delayed Aliens: Colonial Marines finally launched this year to a largely negative reception. In the wake of its release annoyed ex-developers expressed their frustration with the way the title was handled, and reported that much of the game was outsourced to other studios.

The Wii U port of the game, once promised as the definitive version, was also cancelled.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot