The original Alien film is a masterpiece of cinema. A brilliant example of the wonderful marriage that exists between horror and special effects. The visual styles and themes pioneered in this film have gone onto influence countless things that have come after. It's also a period piece. The style is a prime example of a special, 1970's version of the future.
Alien, and the film that came after it, along with its crossovers, have always been an obvious choice for video games. The games that have come out haven't all been bad, but there were enough bad ones that it's become the rule for the series.
Alien Isolation the has the unenviable task of coming after all of this. Two legacies, both with plenty of bad parts but still enough good in them that people keep trying and we keep buying.
You are Amanda Ripley, daughter of Signory Weavers character from the Aliens series. Your off to a station where the black box from your mothers ill-fated ship has been recovered. Of course when you arrive the station is failing to respond to your ship. You investigate and soon find yourself stuck on the space station with a xenomorph.
The feeling is similar to Bioshock and Dead Space, at least for a while. Audio logs and diaries tell the story of the old space station in the same way as Bioshock and the plot convenes to keep you from a simple solution like Dead Space. This isn't to say the game is just that though. It has its own mechanics. For example you need a specific tool to get past some doors, and you won't find that for what feels like for too long. You can build your own tools to help at any time, but they're built in real time and as such there's tension when the Alien is around.
One of the real triumphs of the game is in the setting. An incredible level of attention has been given to the details of the environment and it shows. In addition to nailing the 70's version of the future visually the game has the same tone as the original film. What I mean is that characters act, react, and talk not like characters written in 2015 but like people living in the 1970's future of the series. It's a rare and difficult thing to capture the experience so fully. Even when the game expands the universe it all feels very natural. From the dialogue to the messages you find nothing feels 'out of place'.
So let's get to the meat and potatoes. The Alien. Once the Alien emerges and becomes a part of gameplay the game takes off. Mechanics wise, It's nothing new to gaming. One off survival horror games have had a wandering monster. The appeal here is the same as in the setting. The polish. It's done so damn well. The Alien is more than a simple walking "game over". It feels like a living threat. The creature itself is menacing in the extreme. From the way it enters doors to the way it's tail trails out behind as it leaves. Every details about the alien envolks the horror of the original film. It's not just well done, it's dead-fucking-on. I spent so many moments hidden in lockers with family photos of the former owner looking at me while a xenomorph sniffed the air because it KNEW I was somewhere close. The game creates these moments perfectly.
There are a few things that hold the game back from being truly great. For one it's buggy as hell. Early on I encountered a bug where the next line of box dialogue wouldn't trigger. Brilliantly rendered NPCs in a perfect reproduction of the Aliens universe starred at me blankly until I gave up and reloaded the save. Other times the game would have trouble loading new areas. Nothing takes you out like having the game chug as it loads a section.
The pacing is also off. While a survival horror experience such as this does need time to build the horror, it also needs to get to the horror. The alien doesn't show up for hours in and then still doesn't appear as something you need to dodge and hide from for at least another hour. During these parts there is one, and only one, correct way to proceed in a way that is counter-intuitive to the rest of the experience.
The Good:
-incredibly immersive Aliens experience
-tense, fun gameplay
The Bad:
-numerous, occasionally game breaking bugs
-the game takes forever getting in.
I hesitate here because this is where I give the final verdict on the game. I want to say that Alien Isolation gets a big recommendation for fans of the series because it looks and feels the part but there's more to it than that. I think that anyone who enjoys tense, hard, fun, and scary gameplay that delivers on the suspense needs to play this game. That is; it's a good game. So either go watch the films again, or go play it.
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