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I’ve looked up many definitions of the word tense in many dictionaries and not one of them mentions Alien Isolation; they should do.
Alien Isolation is set between the Alien film and its sequel; 15 years after Alien and 42 years before Aliens to be precise. You play as Amanda Ripley, daughter of Sigourney Weaver’s character from the films. Amanda has been troubled with not knowing what happened to her mother. All she knows is that her mother set the self destruct mechanism onboard the Nostromo spaceship and in order to get some closure, Amanda needs to know why. And it just so happens that the flight recorder from the Nostromo has been found and is currently on the Sevastopol space station. Amanda is off to collect that flight recorder and get a whole lot more than she bargained for. Why read about why the self destruct mechanism was triggered when you can experience it first hand?
Alien Isolation is a survival horror game and it doesn’t take a genius to work out what the main risk to your survival is. Not surprisingly, things go pear shaped almost immediately and Amanda finds herself separated from the rest of the crew, a little isolated if you will. Clearly things aren’t well on board the space station, warnings and messages are scrawled on walls, the place could do with some tidying as well as some general maintenance and it’s all a tad quiet. If you have seen Alien then you’ll instantly appreciate the effort The Creative Assembly have put into the setting. Quite simply it’s like being on set and the graphics are excellent. And of course, if you are familiar with the film then you are familiar with the alien and just how unfriendly it can be. This knowledge alone is enough to put the player on edge and the dim corridors, steam emitting from pipes and flickering lights does little towards helping you relax. A light bulb blowing was enough to make me need a change of underwear and I hadn’t even seen the alien yet. This game oozes with Alien atmosphere and it does it brilliantly.
The star of the show doesn’t make an appearance right away but it is most certainly worth the wait. The difference to most games is that the Alien is hunting you down rather than the other way down. It’s not an obstacle you come across on your way to your destination, it is looking for you, it is stalking you and it really, really wants you to see the Game Over screen. You can hear it thumping about in the air vents above; you pause. It stomps about some more before also pausing. Has it come down or has it just stopped? You have no idea. Nothing has happened yet and already I’m intensely nervous. You see the Alien coming down from the vents in a scene reminiscent of the film. It slowly stands up and raises his head to look for you and that’s when you realise you have been frozen to the spot in full view... RUN.
That’s the first mistake made. Amanda is knocked to the ground in an instant and the Alien is on all fours ready to pounce like a cat. And he/she/it doesn’t hesitate to do so. You are treated to a lovely close up of that distinctive double mouth, drooling with excitement. Game over.
Okay, let’s try sneaking instead. Like many video game characters, Amanda can crouch walk. It hurts my knees but fortunately I have never had a reason to do it in real life. Crouch walking is quiet but naturally slower which is inconvenient when you want to get to safety fast. The temptation to run when the alien is out of sight is strong but with heightened senses, the alien will hear you run so you’d best be sure of where you are running to.
To compliment the stealthy approach, Amanda can hide under tables, in small storage compartments and in lockers. Whilst the temptation is to stay hidden forever, it doesn’t make for much of a game. Hiding in a locker and seeing the alien come into the room looking for you is quite an experience. The alien comes into the room and is clearly looking for you. He/she/it sniffs the air. You hold your breath and you also press the button to make Amanda hold her breath. Truly nerve wracking stuff and not always successful; hiding is never a guarantee and you can find the locker door ripped opened or find yourself pulled out from under the table.
It can be very unsettling when you lose sight of the alien. You know it is on the ground, you know it is looking for you but you don’t know where it is. This is where the infamous motion tracker comes in handy. It only reads in the direction it is facing so there will be lots of spinning on the spot. It does offer a little reassurance when you see the dot isn’t there or is at the furthest edge of the range. And then panic is instantly reinstated when you realise it is now almost upon you.
The encounter with the alien is a game of cat and mouse but unlike in most game, you’re the mouse. It is the most tense and nerve wracking experience I have ever put myself through. The sound of the door closing behind you is enough to make you jump. But is that the door closing or is that the sound of the door opening again? Hiding from the alien does give you a great opportunity to marvel at the creature and the AI it has been gifted with. Graphically it is very impressive but the star of the show is the AI. You can see the beast looking for you and trying to work out where you are. At times it gives up and goes back up into the vents but this is just an illusion, it’s not gone away as you may just find out when you carelessly walk under an open vent. The most impressive part is the element that maintains the tension; the alien doesn’t follow a scripted path. In the majority of games with stealth, the enemies follow a set path you can learn. The alien is too smart for that. It goes into a room but doesn’t always exit out of the other door, sometimes it will double back on itself, sometimes it won’t. Sometimes it will turn off down into the adjacent corridor, sometimes it won’t. It also doesn’t have the same entry point each time you attempt the section which is incredibly unsettling. You approach the area a little wiser this time but the alien doesn’t appear from the same vent as it did the last time and suddenly all that wisdom is redundant. The encounters with the alien are incredibly well done and the fact you can’t kill the beast enhances the tension no end. So tense you consider quitting in order to ease the stress but you can’t as deep down you are thoroughly enjoying it.
Joining your fan club are humans and aliens. The humans aren’t hunting you down but they aren’t pleased to see you. Naturally they have faced the same terrors as you and are acting out of survival. They tend to ‘hunt’ in packs but aren’t too much of a concern. The androids on the other hand are a right pain. They tend to go about their business but whenever you enter into a restricted area (which seems to be the whole space station) they come to remove you and do so with determination. There is something eerie about them. They have an expression less face (they are simply worker synthetics), the eyes glow red to indicate their displeasure with you and they are like a man on a missions as they head towards you. They explain you shouldn’t be there or explain the dangers of running but do so in a calm voice which seems at odds with the situation. They are also damned awkward to stop. They pose a very different threat to the alien but no less of a threat, especially given their numbers.
Amanda isn’t totally helpless though and has numerous toys to aid her survival. She has a handy wrench which can be used for its intended purpose as well as being a melee weapon. I wouldn’t bother trying it against the alien; the creature doesn’t even pause to laugh. You’ll get a hit in with the android but chances are they will catch the follow up blow and then you are in trouble. It is very useful against humans though. There are some traditional weapons although no pulse rifle. Like the wrench, very useful against humans but completely pointless against the alien. They are useful against the androids and it is nice to see the yellow liquid spilling out of them but it takes many shots to stop them. The weapons are also noisy and the alien is attracted by noise, not that the other humans seem to have realised this yet. EMP mines and pipe bombs are the tools to use against androids. There are also smoke bombs which I found of little value but the best of the lot is the noise device. Set one of these off in a room and the alien will head to it allowing you a brief moment to head the other way. Where they become really useful is against the humans. At one point I was crouched down behind a box, 3 humans looking for me. It would have been 4 but one met my wrench earlier. The alien was also about somewhere naturally. The humans were together so taking them out one by one wasn’t an option. I tossed a noise box in their direction and I instantly hear stomping. The alien thunders past me; screaming and shouting is the next sound to be heard followed by silence. You can’t help but smile at your devious actions.
The gadgets are crafted from components found. You are never going to be overloaded with components so you need to keep a watchful eye on your inventory. Bullets are also not in plentiful supply. The game does force you to explore which can be hard to bring yourself to do when you simply want to get to your destination. Exploring leaves you in the hunt longer than you would like. There are audio logs to listen to and computer files to read which add fill in the blanks of what happened on the space station before your arrival.
It is thoroughly tense, incredibly atmospheric and the alien is brilliant. I’d give the game 10 out of 10 at this point. And then you pick up the flame thrower and things change. The alien doesn’t like fire and suddenly you almost feel cocky. No more sneaking around, you can just blast some fire at the beast and it will be off as quickly as it arrived. Obviously this kills a lot of the tension since you no longer feel vulnerable. The developers probably had to mix things up but it has come at the cost of some of the tension that was so great in the first half. They have been wise enough to make sure the game isn’t a constant survival against the alien but it is a constant survival.
If I was to be picky then I would say the story isn’t great but I wouldn’t say any of the alien films had a great story as such, it’s all about the survival against a ruthless killer. The missions do tend to boil down to errands for others or you’ll spend a lot of time powering up doors to proceed but you do need a purpose for moving about the space station. There is also no checkpoint system; instead you rely on save points which can lead to some excessive repetition if there has been quite a time between saves although the random approach of the alien can help with that.
None of those niggles really matters when the atmosphere and tensions is so well done. The graphics are excellent, the audio is too and both add a lot to the overall atmosphere. If you are familiar with the Alien films then you’ll see some familiar sights, visit a very familiar location and see some familiar faces, tall and small. It’s just a shame the high tensions couldn’t be maintained but that’s not to say you are going to feel relaxed often. The one time I relaxed I jumped out of my skin as the alien impaled Amanda from behind. I had no idea it was even there. I’ve completed the game now and I’ve learned to breath again.
8
I also played the Crew Expendable DLC. This has the original cast in a little mission involving trying to trap the alien. You can choose who you wish to play as but for me, it seemed right to go Ripley senior. It’s short and sticks to the same formula as the main game. It is a nice touch but more of a piece of fan service than anything else.
Alien Isolation is set between the Alien film and its sequel; 15 years after Alien and 42 years before Aliens to be precise. You play as Amanda Ripley, daughter of Sigourney Weaver’s character from the films. Amanda has been troubled with not knowing what happened to her mother. All she knows is that her mother set the self destruct mechanism onboard the Nostromo spaceship and in order to get some closure, Amanda needs to know why. And it just so happens that the flight recorder from the Nostromo has been found and is currently on the Sevastopol space station. Amanda is off to collect that flight recorder and get a whole lot more than she bargained for. Why read about why the self destruct mechanism was triggered when you can experience it first hand?
Alien Isolation is a survival horror game and it doesn’t take a genius to work out what the main risk to your survival is. Not surprisingly, things go pear shaped almost immediately and Amanda finds herself separated from the rest of the crew, a little isolated if you will. Clearly things aren’t well on board the space station, warnings and messages are scrawled on walls, the place could do with some tidying as well as some general maintenance and it’s all a tad quiet. If you have seen Alien then you’ll instantly appreciate the effort The Creative Assembly have put into the setting. Quite simply it’s like being on set and the graphics are excellent. And of course, if you are familiar with the film then you are familiar with the alien and just how unfriendly it can be. This knowledge alone is enough to put the player on edge and the dim corridors, steam emitting from pipes and flickering lights does little towards helping you relax. A light bulb blowing was enough to make me need a change of underwear and I hadn’t even seen the alien yet. This game oozes with Alien atmosphere and it does it brilliantly.
The star of the show doesn’t make an appearance right away but it is most certainly worth the wait. The difference to most games is that the Alien is hunting you down rather than the other way down. It’s not an obstacle you come across on your way to your destination, it is looking for you, it is stalking you and it really, really wants you to see the Game Over screen. You can hear it thumping about in the air vents above; you pause. It stomps about some more before also pausing. Has it come down or has it just stopped? You have no idea. Nothing has happened yet and already I’m intensely nervous. You see the Alien coming down from the vents in a scene reminiscent of the film. It slowly stands up and raises his head to look for you and that’s when you realise you have been frozen to the spot in full view... RUN.
That’s the first mistake made. Amanda is knocked to the ground in an instant and the Alien is on all fours ready to pounce like a cat. And he/she/it doesn’t hesitate to do so. You are treated to a lovely close up of that distinctive double mouth, drooling with excitement. Game over.
Okay, let’s try sneaking instead. Like many video game characters, Amanda can crouch walk. It hurts my knees but fortunately I have never had a reason to do it in real life. Crouch walking is quiet but naturally slower which is inconvenient when you want to get to safety fast. The temptation to run when the alien is out of sight is strong but with heightened senses, the alien will hear you run so you’d best be sure of where you are running to.
To compliment the stealthy approach, Amanda can hide under tables, in small storage compartments and in lockers. Whilst the temptation is to stay hidden forever, it doesn’t make for much of a game. Hiding in a locker and seeing the alien come into the room looking for you is quite an experience. The alien comes into the room and is clearly looking for you. He/she/it sniffs the air. You hold your breath and you also press the button to make Amanda hold her breath. Truly nerve wracking stuff and not always successful; hiding is never a guarantee and you can find the locker door ripped opened or find yourself pulled out from under the table.
It can be very unsettling when you lose sight of the alien. You know it is on the ground, you know it is looking for you but you don’t know where it is. This is where the infamous motion tracker comes in handy. It only reads in the direction it is facing so there will be lots of spinning on the spot. It does offer a little reassurance when you see the dot isn’t there or is at the furthest edge of the range. And then panic is instantly reinstated when you realise it is now almost upon you.
The encounter with the alien is a game of cat and mouse but unlike in most game, you’re the mouse. It is the most tense and nerve wracking experience I have ever put myself through. The sound of the door closing behind you is enough to make you jump. But is that the door closing or is that the sound of the door opening again? Hiding from the alien does give you a great opportunity to marvel at the creature and the AI it has been gifted with. Graphically it is very impressive but the star of the show is the AI. You can see the beast looking for you and trying to work out where you are. At times it gives up and goes back up into the vents but this is just an illusion, it’s not gone away as you may just find out when you carelessly walk under an open vent. The most impressive part is the element that maintains the tension; the alien doesn’t follow a scripted path. In the majority of games with stealth, the enemies follow a set path you can learn. The alien is too smart for that. It goes into a room but doesn’t always exit out of the other door, sometimes it will double back on itself, sometimes it won’t. Sometimes it will turn off down into the adjacent corridor, sometimes it won’t. It also doesn’t have the same entry point each time you attempt the section which is incredibly unsettling. You approach the area a little wiser this time but the alien doesn’t appear from the same vent as it did the last time and suddenly all that wisdom is redundant. The encounters with the alien are incredibly well done and the fact you can’t kill the beast enhances the tension no end. So tense you consider quitting in order to ease the stress but you can’t as deep down you are thoroughly enjoying it.
Joining your fan club are humans and aliens. The humans aren’t hunting you down but they aren’t pleased to see you. Naturally they have faced the same terrors as you and are acting out of survival. They tend to ‘hunt’ in packs but aren’t too much of a concern. The androids on the other hand are a right pain. They tend to go about their business but whenever you enter into a restricted area (which seems to be the whole space station) they come to remove you and do so with determination. There is something eerie about them. They have an expression less face (they are simply worker synthetics), the eyes glow red to indicate their displeasure with you and they are like a man on a missions as they head towards you. They explain you shouldn’t be there or explain the dangers of running but do so in a calm voice which seems at odds with the situation. They are also damned awkward to stop. They pose a very different threat to the alien but no less of a threat, especially given their numbers.
Amanda isn’t totally helpless though and has numerous toys to aid her survival. She has a handy wrench which can be used for its intended purpose as well as being a melee weapon. I wouldn’t bother trying it against the alien; the creature doesn’t even pause to laugh. You’ll get a hit in with the android but chances are they will catch the follow up blow and then you are in trouble. It is very useful against humans though. There are some traditional weapons although no pulse rifle. Like the wrench, very useful against humans but completely pointless against the alien. They are useful against the androids and it is nice to see the yellow liquid spilling out of them but it takes many shots to stop them. The weapons are also noisy and the alien is attracted by noise, not that the other humans seem to have realised this yet. EMP mines and pipe bombs are the tools to use against androids. There are also smoke bombs which I found of little value but the best of the lot is the noise device. Set one of these off in a room and the alien will head to it allowing you a brief moment to head the other way. Where they become really useful is against the humans. At one point I was crouched down behind a box, 3 humans looking for me. It would have been 4 but one met my wrench earlier. The alien was also about somewhere naturally. The humans were together so taking them out one by one wasn’t an option. I tossed a noise box in their direction and I instantly hear stomping. The alien thunders past me; screaming and shouting is the next sound to be heard followed by silence. You can’t help but smile at your devious actions.
The gadgets are crafted from components found. You are never going to be overloaded with components so you need to keep a watchful eye on your inventory. Bullets are also not in plentiful supply. The game does force you to explore which can be hard to bring yourself to do when you simply want to get to your destination. Exploring leaves you in the hunt longer than you would like. There are audio logs to listen to and computer files to read which add fill in the blanks of what happened on the space station before your arrival.
It is thoroughly tense, incredibly atmospheric and the alien is brilliant. I’d give the game 10 out of 10 at this point. And then you pick up the flame thrower and things change. The alien doesn’t like fire and suddenly you almost feel cocky. No more sneaking around, you can just blast some fire at the beast and it will be off as quickly as it arrived. Obviously this kills a lot of the tension since you no longer feel vulnerable. The developers probably had to mix things up but it has come at the cost of some of the tension that was so great in the first half. They have been wise enough to make sure the game isn’t a constant survival against the alien but it is a constant survival.
If I was to be picky then I would say the story isn’t great but I wouldn’t say any of the alien films had a great story as such, it’s all about the survival against a ruthless killer. The missions do tend to boil down to errands for others or you’ll spend a lot of time powering up doors to proceed but you do need a purpose for moving about the space station. There is also no checkpoint system; instead you rely on save points which can lead to some excessive repetition if there has been quite a time between saves although the random approach of the alien can help with that.
None of those niggles really matters when the atmosphere and tensions is so well done. The graphics are excellent, the audio is too and both add a lot to the overall atmosphere. If you are familiar with the Alien films then you’ll see some familiar sights, visit a very familiar location and see some familiar faces, tall and small. It’s just a shame the high tensions couldn’t be maintained but that’s not to say you are going to feel relaxed often. The one time I relaxed I jumped out of my skin as the alien impaled Amanda from behind. I had no idea it was even there. I’ve completed the game now and I’ve learned to breath again.
8
I also played the Crew Expendable DLC. This has the original cast in a little mission involving trying to trap the alien. You can choose who you wish to play as but for me, it seemed right to go Ripley senior. It’s short and sticks to the same formula as the main game. It is a nice touch but more of a piece of fan service than anything else.
Thanks pb.
They did have to mix it up at some point or I'd have probably had a heart attack. I'm just not sure I was quite ready for the change when it happened.
You should look forward to it, it's a very good game. I certainly plan to go back through it again... once I'm a big brave boy.
They did have to mix it up at some point or I'd have probably had a heart attack. I'm just not sure I was quite ready for the change when it happened.
You should look forward to it, it's a very good game. I certainly plan to go back through it again... once I'm a big brave boy.
Good review, sounds perfect for an Alien game.
I guess they had to have some element of fighting the Alien in the end, though. They could have gone with guns with limited ammo possibly.
I've got this waiting to play still but looking forward to it.
I guess they had to have some element of fighting the Alien in the end, though. They could have gone with guns with limited ammo possibly.
I've got this waiting to play still but looking forward to it.
I’ve looked up many definitions of the word tense in many dictionaries and not one of them mentions Alien Isolation; they should do.
Alien Isolation is set between the Alien film and its sequel; 15 years after Alien and 42 years before Aliens to be precise. You play as Amanda Ripley, daughter of Sigourney Weaver’s character from the films. Amanda has been troubled with not knowing what happened to her mother. All she knows is that her mother set the self destruct mechanism onboard the Nostromo spaceship and in order to get some closure, Amanda needs to know why. And it just so happens that the flight recorder from the Nostromo has been found and is currently on the Sevastopol space station. Amanda is off to collect that flight recorder and get a whole lot more than she bargained for. Why read about why the self destruct mechanism was triggered when you can experience it first hand?
Alien Isolation is a survival horror game and it doesn’t take a genius to work out what the main risk to your survival is. Not surprisingly, things go pear shaped almost immediately and Amanda finds herself separated from the rest of the crew, a little isolated if you will. Clearly things aren’t well on board the space station, warnings and messages are scrawled on walls, the place could do with some tidying as well as some general maintenance and it’s all a tad quiet. If you have seen Alien then you’ll instantly appreciate the effort The Creative Assembly have put into the setting. Quite simply it’s like being on set and the graphics are excellent. And of course, if you are familiar with the film then you are familiar with the alien and just how unfriendly it can be. This knowledge alone is enough to put the player on edge and the dim corridors, steam emitting from pipes and flickering lights does little towards helping you relax. A light bulb blowing was enough to make me need a change of underwear and I hadn’t even seen the alien yet. This game oozes with Alien atmosphere and it does it brilliantly.
The star of the show doesn’t make an appearance right away but it is most certainly worth the wait. The difference to most games is that the Alien is hunting you down rather than the other way down. It’s not an obstacle you come across on your way to your destination, it is looking for you, it is stalking you and it really, really wants you to see the Game Over screen. You can hear it thumping about in the air vents above; you pause. It stomps about some more before also pausing. Has it come down or has it just stopped? You have no idea. Nothing has happened yet and already I’m intensely nervous. You see the Alien coming down from the vents in a scene reminiscent of the film. It slowly stands up and raises his head to look for you and that’s when you realise you have been frozen to the spot in full view... RUN.
That’s the first mistake made. Amanda is knocked to the ground in an instant and the Alien is on all fours ready to pounce like a cat. And he/she/it doesn’t hesitate to do so. You are treated to a lovely close up of that distinctive double mouth, drooling with excitement. Game over.
Okay, let’s try sneaking instead. Like many video game characters, Amanda can crouch walk. It hurts my knees but fortunately I have never had a reason to do it in real life. Crouch walking is quiet but naturally slower which is inconvenient when you want to get to safety fast. The temptation to run when the alien is out of sight is strong but with heightened senses, the alien will hear you run so you’d best be sure of where you are running to.
To compliment the stealthy approach, Amanda can hide under tables, in small storage compartments and in lockers. Whilst the temptation is to stay hidden forever, it doesn’t make for much of a game. Hiding in a locker and seeing the alien come into the room looking for you is quite an experience. The alien comes into the room and is clearly looking for you. He/she/it sniffs the air. You hold your breath and you also press the button to make Amanda hold her breath. Truly nerve wracking stuff and not always successful; hiding is never a guarantee and you can find the locker door ripped opened or find yourself pulled out from under the table.
It can be very unsettling when you lose sight of the alien. You know it is on the ground, you know it is looking for you but you don’t know where it is. This is where the infamous motion tracker comes in handy. It only reads in the direction it is facing so there will be lots of spinning on the spot. It does offer a little reassurance when you see the dot isn’t there or is at the furthest edge of the range. And then panic is instantly reinstated when you realise it is now almost upon you.
The encounter with the alien is a game of cat and mouse but unlike in most game, you’re the mouse. It is the most tense and nerve wracking experience I have ever put myself through. The sound of the door closing behind you is enough to make you jump. But is that the door closing or is that the sound of the door opening again? Hiding from the alien does give you a great opportunity to marvel at the creature and the AI it has been gifted with. Graphically it is very impressive but the star of the show is the AI. You can see the beast looking for you and trying to work out where you are. At times it gives up and goes back up into the vents but this is just an illusion, it’s not gone away as you may just find out when you carelessly walk under an open vent. The most impressive part is the element that maintains the tension; the alien doesn’t follow a scripted path. In the majority of games with stealth, the enemies follow a set path you can learn. The alien is too smart for that. It goes into a room but doesn’t always exit out of the other door, sometimes it will double back on itself, sometimes it won’t. Sometimes it will turn off down into the adjacent corridor, sometimes it won’t. It also doesn’t have the same entry point each time you attempt the section which is incredibly unsettling. You approach the area a little wiser this time but the alien doesn’t appear from the same vent as it did the last time and suddenly all that wisdom is redundant. The encounters with the alien are incredibly well done and the fact you can’t kill the beast enhances the tension no end. So tense you consider quitting in order to ease the stress but you can’t as deep down you are thoroughly enjoying it.
Joining your fan club are humans and aliens. The humans aren’t hunting you down but they aren’t pleased to see you. Naturally they have faced the same terrors as you and are acting out of survival. They tend to ‘hunt’ in packs but aren’t too much of a concern. The androids on the other hand are a right pain. They tend to go about their business but whenever you enter into a restricted area (which seems to be the whole space station) they come to remove you and do so with determination. There is something eerie about them. They have an expression less face (they are simply worker synthetics), the eyes glow red to indicate their displeasure with you and they are like a man on a missions as they head towards you. They explain you shouldn’t be there or explain the dangers of running but do so in a calm voice which seems at odds with the situation. They are also damned awkward to stop. They pose a very different threat to the alien but no less of a threat, especially given their numbers.
Amanda isn’t totally helpless though and has numerous toys to aid her survival. She has a handy wrench which can be used for its intended purpose as well as being a melee weapon. I wouldn’t bother trying it against the alien; the creature doesn’t even pause to laugh. You’ll get a hit in with the android but chances are they will catch the follow up blow and then you are in trouble. It is very useful against humans though. There are some traditional weapons although no pulse rifle. Like the wrench, very useful against humans but completely pointless against the alien. They are useful against the androids and it is nice to see the yellow liquid spilling out of them but it takes many shots to stop them. The weapons are also noisy and the alien is attracted by noise, not that the other humans seem to have realised this yet. EMP mines and pipe bombs are the tools to use against androids. There are also smoke bombs which I found of little value but the best of the lot is the noise device. Set one of these off in a room and the alien will head to it allowing you a brief moment to head the other way. Where they become really useful is against the humans. At one point I was crouched down behind a box, 3 humans looking for me. It would have been 4 but one met my wrench earlier. The alien was also about somewhere naturally. The humans were together so taking them out one by one wasn’t an option. I tossed a noise box in their direction and I instantly hear stomping. The alien thunders past me; screaming and shouting is the next sound to be heard followed by silence. You can’t help but smile at your devious actions.
The gadgets are crafted from components found. You are never going to be overloaded with components so you need to keep a watchful eye on your inventory. Bullets are also not in plentiful supply. The game does force you to explore which can be hard to bring yourself to do when you simply want to get to your destination. Exploring leaves you in the hunt longer than you would like. There are audio logs to listen to and computer files to read which add fill in the blanks of what happened on the space station before your arrival.
It is thoroughly tense, incredibly atmospheric and the alien is brilliant. I’d give the game 10 out of 10 at this point. And then you pick up the flame thrower and things change. The alien doesn’t like fire and suddenly you almost feel cocky. No more sneaking around, you can just blast some fire at the beast and it will be off as quickly as it arrived. Obviously this kills a lot of the tension since you no longer feel vulnerable. The developers probably had to mix things up but it has come at the cost of some of the tension that was so great in the first half. They have been wise enough to make sure the game isn’t a constant survival against the alien but it is a constant survival.
If I was to be picky then I would say the story isn’t great but I wouldn’t say any of the alien films had a great story as such, it’s all about the survival against a ruthless killer. The missions do tend to boil down to errands for others or you’ll spend a lot of time powering up doors to proceed but you do need a purpose for moving about the space station. There is also no checkpoint system; instead you rely on save points which can lead to some excessive repetition if there has been quite a time between saves although the random approach of the alien can help with that.
None of those niggles really matters when the atmosphere and tensions is so well done. The graphics are excellent, the audio is too and both add a lot to the overall atmosphere. If you are familiar with the Alien films then you’ll see some familiar sights, visit a very familiar location and see some familiar faces, tall and small. It’s just a shame the high tensions couldn’t be maintained but that’s not to say you are going to feel relaxed often. The one time I relaxed I jumped out of my skin as the alien impaled Amanda from behind. I had no idea it was even there. I’ve completed the game now and I’ve learned to breath again.
8
I also played the Crew Expendable DLC. This has the original cast in a little mission involving trying to trap the alien. You can choose who you wish to play as but for me, it seemed right to go Ripley senior. It’s short and sticks to the same formula as the main game. It is a nice touch but more of a piece of fan service than anything else.
Alien Isolation is set between the Alien film and its sequel; 15 years after Alien and 42 years before Aliens to be precise. You play as Amanda Ripley, daughter of Sigourney Weaver’s character from the films. Amanda has been troubled with not knowing what happened to her mother. All she knows is that her mother set the self destruct mechanism onboard the Nostromo spaceship and in order to get some closure, Amanda needs to know why. And it just so happens that the flight recorder from the Nostromo has been found and is currently on the Sevastopol space station. Amanda is off to collect that flight recorder and get a whole lot more than she bargained for. Why read about why the self destruct mechanism was triggered when you can experience it first hand?
Alien Isolation is a survival horror game and it doesn’t take a genius to work out what the main risk to your survival is. Not surprisingly, things go pear shaped almost immediately and Amanda finds herself separated from the rest of the crew, a little isolated if you will. Clearly things aren’t well on board the space station, warnings and messages are scrawled on walls, the place could do with some tidying as well as some general maintenance and it’s all a tad quiet. If you have seen Alien then you’ll instantly appreciate the effort The Creative Assembly have put into the setting. Quite simply it’s like being on set and the graphics are excellent. And of course, if you are familiar with the film then you are familiar with the alien and just how unfriendly it can be. This knowledge alone is enough to put the player on edge and the dim corridors, steam emitting from pipes and flickering lights does little towards helping you relax. A light bulb blowing was enough to make me need a change of underwear and I hadn’t even seen the alien yet. This game oozes with Alien atmosphere and it does it brilliantly.
The star of the show doesn’t make an appearance right away but it is most certainly worth the wait. The difference to most games is that the Alien is hunting you down rather than the other way down. It’s not an obstacle you come across on your way to your destination, it is looking for you, it is stalking you and it really, really wants you to see the Game Over screen. You can hear it thumping about in the air vents above; you pause. It stomps about some more before also pausing. Has it come down or has it just stopped? You have no idea. Nothing has happened yet and already I’m intensely nervous. You see the Alien coming down from the vents in a scene reminiscent of the film. It slowly stands up and raises his head to look for you and that’s when you realise you have been frozen to the spot in full view... RUN.
That’s the first mistake made. Amanda is knocked to the ground in an instant and the Alien is on all fours ready to pounce like a cat. And he/she/it doesn’t hesitate to do so. You are treated to a lovely close up of that distinctive double mouth, drooling with excitement. Game over.
Okay, let’s try sneaking instead. Like many video game characters, Amanda can crouch walk. It hurts my knees but fortunately I have never had a reason to do it in real life. Crouch walking is quiet but naturally slower which is inconvenient when you want to get to safety fast. The temptation to run when the alien is out of sight is strong but with heightened senses, the alien will hear you run so you’d best be sure of where you are running to.
To compliment the stealthy approach, Amanda can hide under tables, in small storage compartments and in lockers. Whilst the temptation is to stay hidden forever, it doesn’t make for much of a game. Hiding in a locker and seeing the alien come into the room looking for you is quite an experience. The alien comes into the room and is clearly looking for you. He/she/it sniffs the air. You hold your breath and you also press the button to make Amanda hold her breath. Truly nerve wracking stuff and not always successful; hiding is never a guarantee and you can find the locker door ripped opened or find yourself pulled out from under the table.
It can be very unsettling when you lose sight of the alien. You know it is on the ground, you know it is looking for you but you don’t know where it is. This is where the infamous motion tracker comes in handy. It only reads in the direction it is facing so there will be lots of spinning on the spot. It does offer a little reassurance when you see the dot isn’t there or is at the furthest edge of the range. And then panic is instantly reinstated when you realise it is now almost upon you.
The encounter with the alien is a game of cat and mouse but unlike in most game, you’re the mouse. It is the most tense and nerve wracking experience I have ever put myself through. The sound of the door closing behind you is enough to make you jump. But is that the door closing or is that the sound of the door opening again? Hiding from the alien does give you a great opportunity to marvel at the creature and the AI it has been gifted with. Graphically it is very impressive but the star of the show is the AI. You can see the beast looking for you and trying to work out where you are. At times it gives up and goes back up into the vents but this is just an illusion, it’s not gone away as you may just find out when you carelessly walk under an open vent. The most impressive part is the element that maintains the tension; the alien doesn’t follow a scripted path. In the majority of games with stealth, the enemies follow a set path you can learn. The alien is too smart for that. It goes into a room but doesn’t always exit out of the other door, sometimes it will double back on itself, sometimes it won’t. Sometimes it will turn off down into the adjacent corridor, sometimes it won’t. It also doesn’t have the same entry point each time you attempt the section which is incredibly unsettling. You approach the area a little wiser this time but the alien doesn’t appear from the same vent as it did the last time and suddenly all that wisdom is redundant. The encounters with the alien are incredibly well done and the fact you can’t kill the beast enhances the tension no end. So tense you consider quitting in order to ease the stress but you can’t as deep down you are thoroughly enjoying it.
Joining your fan club are humans and aliens. The humans aren’t hunting you down but they aren’t pleased to see you. Naturally they have faced the same terrors as you and are acting out of survival. They tend to ‘hunt’ in packs but aren’t too much of a concern. The androids on the other hand are a right pain. They tend to go about their business but whenever you enter into a restricted area (which seems to be the whole space station) they come to remove you and do so with determination. There is something eerie about them. They have an expression less face (they are simply worker synthetics), the eyes glow red to indicate their displeasure with you and they are like a man on a missions as they head towards you. They explain you shouldn’t be there or explain the dangers of running but do so in a calm voice which seems at odds with the situation. They are also damned awkward to stop. They pose a very different threat to the alien but no less of a threat, especially given their numbers.
Amanda isn’t totally helpless though and has numerous toys to aid her survival. She has a handy wrench which can be used for its intended purpose as well as being a melee weapon. I wouldn’t bother trying it against the alien; the creature doesn’t even pause to laugh. You’ll get a hit in with the android but chances are they will catch the follow up blow and then you are in trouble. It is very useful against humans though. There are some traditional weapons although no pulse rifle. Like the wrench, very useful against humans but completely pointless against the alien. They are useful against the androids and it is nice to see the yellow liquid spilling out of them but it takes many shots to stop them. The weapons are also noisy and the alien is attracted by noise, not that the other humans seem to have realised this yet. EMP mines and pipe bombs are the tools to use against androids. There are also smoke bombs which I found of little value but the best of the lot is the noise device. Set one of these off in a room and the alien will head to it allowing you a brief moment to head the other way. Where they become really useful is against the humans. At one point I was crouched down behind a box, 3 humans looking for me. It would have been 4 but one met my wrench earlier. The alien was also about somewhere naturally. The humans were together so taking them out one by one wasn’t an option. I tossed a noise box in their direction and I instantly hear stomping. The alien thunders past me; screaming and shouting is the next sound to be heard followed by silence. You can’t help but smile at your devious actions.
The gadgets are crafted from components found. You are never going to be overloaded with components so you need to keep a watchful eye on your inventory. Bullets are also not in plentiful supply. The game does force you to explore which can be hard to bring yourself to do when you simply want to get to your destination. Exploring leaves you in the hunt longer than you would like. There are audio logs to listen to and computer files to read which add fill in the blanks of what happened on the space station before your arrival.
It is thoroughly tense, incredibly atmospheric and the alien is brilliant. I’d give the game 10 out of 10 at this point. And then you pick up the flame thrower and things change. The alien doesn’t like fire and suddenly you almost feel cocky. No more sneaking around, you can just blast some fire at the beast and it will be off as quickly as it arrived. Obviously this kills a lot of the tension since you no longer feel vulnerable. The developers probably had to mix things up but it has come at the cost of some of the tension that was so great in the first half. They have been wise enough to make sure the game isn’t a constant survival against the alien but it is a constant survival.
If I was to be picky then I would say the story isn’t great but I wouldn’t say any of the alien films had a great story as such, it’s all about the survival against a ruthless killer. The missions do tend to boil down to errands for others or you’ll spend a lot of time powering up doors to proceed but you do need a purpose for moving about the space station. There is also no checkpoint system; instead you rely on save points which can lead to some excessive repetition if there has been quite a time between saves although the random approach of the alien can help with that.
None of those niggles really matters when the atmosphere and tensions is so well done. The graphics are excellent, the audio is too and both add a lot to the overall atmosphere. If you are familiar with the Alien films then you’ll see some familiar sights, visit a very familiar location and see some familiar faces, tall and small. It’s just a shame the high tensions couldn’t be maintained but that’s not to say you are going to feel relaxed often. The one time I relaxed I jumped out of my skin as the alien impaled Amanda from behind. I had no idea it was even there. I’ve completed the game now and I’ve learned to breath again.
8
I also played the Crew Expendable DLC. This has the original cast in a little mission involving trying to trap the alien. You can choose who you wish to play as but for me, it seemed right to go Ripley senior. It’s short and sticks to the same formula as the main game. It is a nice touch but more of a piece of fan service than anything else.