Is the new Aliens game really that bad?

Absolutely.  I'm not even going to waste my time with a review, I'm just going to share a few moments with you.

1) Truthfully, this one is all on me, but I think it was an omen.  Early on, I was simply trying to master the controls.  I was facing bullet-proof glass when I pressed the right bumper on my 360 controller to see what would happen.  In my defense, the right trigger fires your weapon, and I didn't expect similar results from the bumper as well.  That doesn't change the fact that I shot the glass and the bullet rebounded directly into my face.  My character collapsed as a stirring bit of scripted narration began and I couldn't help but laugh.

2) At one point, I crept up behind one of the aliens.  Now, one should never be able to sneak up behind an alien, but that's precisely what I did.  As if that wasn't bad enough, I then killed said alien by shooting it. 
A great many times. 
And it never reacted. 
It actually just sat there wagging its tail (I'm not making that up) while I killed it.  Yes, the AI on this game is a bit lacking.

3) A particularly difficult stretch of the game repeatedly found me being massacred by multiple aliens while a fellow soldier stood nearby, speaking to our commander on the radio.  He confidently assured the chief "We got this" while I was being ripped to shreds.  This happened several times.  After a while, it was no longer funny.

4) The graphics in this game are so lackluster that there were a couple of big moments that I failed to comprehend because I couldn't tell what had just happened.  It was kind of like trying to decipher a small child's drawing, only with sound effects.

Okay, in all seriousness, let me say this: the people who made this game dumped enough material linked to the classic movie (Cameron's sequel, not Ridley Scott's dull original) to hold my interest.  The sounds (the weapons, the motion tracker, the aliens themselves, etc.) are on point, as are the sets.  And, though it is a lousy first-person shooter, it is just good enough to allow me to continue to play.  So, in essence, it's not the worst game ever made, as many are saying, but it is a bad game that probably should have been a great game.

Now you know.