Alien and I are not the best of friends. I remember watching the films when I was younger and kinda enjoying them. I also remember watching Alien v Prediator and kinda not. I have always been quite snobbish when it comes to films like Alien. ‘Steven Spielberg said he makes the movies he loved as a kid, I make the movies I love as an adult,’ said Woody Allen. I have always stood by that sentiment, for better or worse. .. probably worse… and although Spielberg didn’t make Alien, I just always categorized it in that place. I probably shouldn’t be reviewing Alien: Isolation, but Andy doesn’t have a Ps4… he’s a PC snob. Fucking snobs!
I did my homework and got into the Alien world… and it was quite fun. Alien: Isolation is quite fun. There, I said it. But it’s also quite frustrating, quite inconsistent and quite long-winded. If only it had stuck to the quite fun.
The game takes place between the first and second Alien films. You play as Amanda Ripley, daughter of the film protagonist. You have been informed that the black box has been found from your mother’s ship, the Nostromo , and you have been invited on a journey to collect it. However, when you and your landing party get to the Sevastopol (I assume this is some kind of Siege of reference) things go south pretty quickly and you are left… isolated… on a massive ship. With crazy androids and a malevolent and slightly stalkerish xenomorph (look at me using the Alien lexicon)
It is when you are isolated that the game works well. Darkness surrounds you, eerie noises fill the void and the sense that you can be one-hit killed within a few seconds is genuinely unsettling. In the beginning you are constantly on edge because you don’t know when or where the Alien will appear. However, as the Alien becomes overused this tension fades into annoyance. When you are constantly surrounded by hostiles you are never given the chance to relax. If you never get the chance to relax, then you are never given the thrill of full throttle tension. Alien: Isolation overplays the Alien card and the game suffers for it.
It is also too long and it gets to the stage where you are spending a lot of your time just walking or trying to open doors. Instead of condensing the game into 8-10 hours of tension packed goodness, The Creative Assembly has stretched it out to a tedious 20. This means that for large parts of the game you are doing things that are not very enjoyable. You are playing filler and it very much feels like it. The game also feels quite rough at times. Animations blink, lines are jagged and the voice work can seem out of sync with the action that is taking place. It feels like the White Album of video games. Someone should have recommended a good editor.
But Alien: Isolation still has quite a lot to like. It’s beautifully atmospheric, whether that be the Alienesque set design, the sound or the lighting. Amanda Ripley is an interesting character and fun to play with. The tension (when used properly) is tremendous and there is definitely a lot for stealth fans to enjoy in the game (the saving system will please/enrage a lot of people). The disappointing thing is that the game is good. It could have been great.
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