In 1979 director Ridley Scott terrified millions across the globewith his revolutionary horror film Alien. Spawning one of films mosticonic franchises in cinema history and perhaps the scariestantagonists ever created, the Xenomorph.
Besides James Cameron's sequel Aliens, nothing has since been able tofully capture the magic of the universe Scott created and even thatdid so in a very different fashion to the original film.
Now, 35 years on we finally have something that has not only capturedthe magic of the original, but does so in such a triumphant fashionthat it sets a new standard all of its own.
Set15 years after the events of Alien. Amanda Ripley, daughter ofEllen Ripley, is contacted by the Weyland-Yutani corporation and isinformed that the flight recorder of the Nostromo, the vessel EllenRipley was stationed upon, has been recovered and is aboard the spacestation Sevastopol. She is offered a place in the team sent toretrieve it in hopes that she will find closure about what happenedto her mother all those years ago.
Upon arriving at Sevastopol, Ellen is separated from the rest of thegroup after being hit by space debris and must enter the stationalone and regroup with them later. However after seeing the disrepairof the ship and meeting a crew member who only talks about a monsterthat is killing everyone aboard the ship, Ellen meets the very thingher mother did 15 years ago, a Xenomorph.
Now Ellen must regroup with her team, survive against trigger happySevastopol crew, rogue service androids and the Xenomorph and escapeSevastopol alive.
Alien: Isolation has a brilliant story to it, one that acts as adirect sequel to 1979's Alien and ignoring all other Alien cannon .It's a self contained story that both fans of the film and newcomerswill be able to enjoy equally, full of fan service but withoutneeding to be an existing fan to enjoy to it's fullest. There arevery few problems with the story, it's got plenty of twists and thecharacters are all well written and performed. Though the game is fartoo long for the story and as such there are long periods of timewhere no particularly important story is delivered to you, thereforedestroying any chance of good pacing.
The majority of the story happens at the beginning and the end of thegame, with the middle having a slump whilst it twiddles it's thumbsand funnels you through mundane tasks until the story can pick backup again later on in the game. Its a system that holds true in thegameplay too, with everything being introduced near the beginning,nothing much happening in the middle and then being challenged witheverything you have learned so far at the end.
Survival horror is a difficult genre to pull off at the best oftimes, not only do you have to balance he right gameplay mechanicsbut you have to orchestrate that with the story, presentation and ofcourse make it tense with the possibility of a scare coming from anydirection. Luckily, Alien: Isolation does this near flawlessly.
Taking cues from the likes of Penumbra, Amnesia and Outlast; Alien:Isolation is a first person survival stealth game set in a horrorstory, therefore pulling off the survival horror vibe with tensegameplay to match. Unlike Outlast and Amnesia though, in Alien youhave the ability to fight back, though it's not necessarilyrecommended you do.
The majority of the game you will be exploring dimly lit areas whilsteither being pursued either by the alien or avoiding Sevastopol'srogue android society. To do this you will crouch to avoid makingnoise, hide under desks and in lockers and rely heavily on yourfuturistic, bulky CRT motion tracker. Though expect to do plenty ofitem crafting and computer hacking to proceed because Alien is packedwith mini-games. Of course these all fit in with the theme andactually work rather well, increasing the tension even furtherwhether you're matching some icons together, pressing buttons at theright time or trying to equalise numeric pressure. Each one feelslike it fits in the universe and creates a feeling of dread that thealien could be lurking somewhere behind you whilst you do thesetasks.
The combat in the game can be handled in several ways. The best wayis to completely avoid it at all costs though there will be timeswhen combat may well be your best option. Human enemies arerelatively easy to kill assuming you shoot them in the head whilstandroids are tough no matter what you fight them with and wont godown easily; the alien...well that's another story. It cant be killedbut it can be frightened away with fire, so just because you get seenit doesn't spell certain death all the time. You have access to arevolver, shotgun, flamethrower, rivet gun and a crowbar as well asvarious craftable consumable items such as smoke bombs, molotovcocktails, EMP grenades and pipe bombs. With this arsenal you cantake down anything that comes at you, but be aware of the noiseyou're making as that could spell even more trouble. Of course someweapons aren't effective against some enemies and not to mention thatsupplies are scarce, ammo is extremely difficult to find and yourcrafting may well require some serious thought before you commit tothe build.
Enemy A.I in Isolation is also a big factor of what makes the gamefun. It is alive. Much of the pattern the A.I will follow isunscripted, meaning you could be trapped in a cupboard for minuteswhilst the Alien wanders round the room sniffing for you, or it coulddisappear into the vents and stalk you only to shoot ahead throughthe vents and lie in wait in the room you are approaching. It'snerve-racking never being able to know what's coming next, but at thesame time it's absolutely amazing.
As mentioned before, the middle section of the game takes a dipcompared to the beginning and end. It's a 15+ ride you're lettingyourself in on here and to be brutally honest that is overstaying itswelcome. Alien: Isolation is comprised of 18 missions when it couldhave done perfectly well with half of that; what was fun and excitingin the first 5 hours quickly becomes boring, monotonous andfrustrating as you repeatedly backtrack to the same areas to do tasksthat are there simply to pad out the experience.
In terms of it's presentation, Alien: Isolation has literally liftedeverything from Alien and placed it into an explorable environment.The 1970's future is alive in Isolation and it's pure retro sci-fi atit's best. All computers run on green and black CRT monitors with aDOS operating system, everything is a creamy white and made ofrounded plastic. It's the future our parents saw when they weregrowing up and it's being passed onto a new generation. Those who donot have knowledge of Alien may be a little put off by this retrofuture, but its so refreshing to see this over holographic monitors,high tech equipment and sleek sterile metal. Lo-fi is in style andAlien: Isolation rocks it.
Not only that but the lighting is absolutely fantastic. Highlydetailed environments where the sun cascades through windows and darkcorners hold the stuff of nightmares. Character models are alsolifelike and extremely well animated, with the Xenomorph actingterrifyingly lifelike in it's movement.
The audio is also stellar, with retro sound effects filling everyinch of Sevastopol alongside the creepy creaks of the expandingmetal, the sounds of the Xenomorph thrashing through the vents, thescreams of a victim a few floors below or the beautiful orchestralsoundtrack that slices through tense situations like a knife. Thevoice acting isn't phenomenal, but it gets the job done and thecharacters are at least believable, its hardly B-movie acting butit's not going to win any Oscars either.
So is Alien: Isolation the Alien game we have been waiting for allthese years? Yes it is. Is it the perfect horror game? No it is not.Should you buy it? So long as you think you can handle it.
Besides overstaying it's welcome and having a middle section that isseriously void of anything interesting, Alien: Isolation is one ofthe best horror games since the original Dead Space and the bestthing to happen to the Alien franchise since James Cameron's Aliens.If you're a fan of horror or sci-fi this game should be in yourcollection now. It's difficult, its terrifying and it's extremelygood at what it does, the only problem is that everyone will hear youscream.
Alien:Isolation - 9/10
+WellWritten & Interesting Characters
+NearFlawless Stealth Survival Gameplay
+StunningVisuals and Stellar Audio
+RetroSci-Fi
+AbsolutelyTerrifying
-TooLong
-TheMiddle Bit
