I love
survival horror.
I love the first two
Alien movies.
Combine those two
together, and we get Alien Isolation.
This game is a wish
come true for me.
When I first saw
Alien a few years back, I thought about how great it would be to have
an Alien survival horror game.
Of course, the Alien
Resurrection game on PlayStation is a survival horror, first person
shooter, but I was thinking about more of a survival horror game with
similarities to the first Alien film.
Then in 2014, Alien
Isolation was officially announced as being in development by The
Creative Assembly with Sega publishing it, and I could not be more
excited.
Alien Isolation
was released on October 7, 2014 for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4,
Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC.
The story is an
interquel of Alien and Aliens taking place 15 years after Alien, and
42 years before Aliens.
The protagonist is
Amanda Ripley, daughter of Ellen Ripley.
Yes, Ellen Ripley
has a daughter.
In the special
edition of Aliens, one of the re-inserted deleted scenes shows Carter
Burke giving Ellen Ripley information on her daughter.
It reveals that
Amanda had died two years prior in her 60's.
In Alien Isolation,
Amanda is in her 20's, and she is searching for information about her
mother's disappearance.
The Seegson
Corporation's Sevastopol Station has received the flight recorder of
the Nostromo (the ship of the first Alien film on which Ellen Ripley
was one of the crew members), and it is wanted by the Weyland-Yutani
Company.
Amanda is offered to
be apart of the team sent by the Company to retrieve it.
Once they
reach Sevastopol, however, it's obvious that something has gone
horribly wrong.
The entire game is
in the first person view of Amanda Ripley.
Like most current
video games, the left stick moves Amanda, and the right stick moves
the camera.
Pressing the left
stick has her run while pressing the right stick makes her crouch.
There is a lot of
crouching in this game because in many situations with enemies, it's
best to not let them see you.
Running is not
advised when enemies are anywhere nearby.
The more noise you
make, the more likely you'll get caught.
This is especially
true on harder difficulty levels.
The main enemy in
this game is, not surprisingly, the alien.
You'll be doing
everything you can to avoid being caught by it.
You can't kill it,
and you'll automatically die when it catches you.
Some people who play
this game say that they don't find the alien scary after seeing the
Alien films.
I understand that
some people are easily desensitized.
I'm the same way
with certain aspects of horror particularly when it comes to jump
scares and showing blood and gore.
For me, though, I
still find the alien frightening somehow.
I don't think it's
just one thing about it that makes me uncomfortable.
It's the
combination of how it's created with the facehugger and host, kills
the host when its born, has acid blood, has sexual overtones in its
design, and other aspects.
Facehuggers also
make an appearance.
As I said in my
review of Alien Resurrection on PlayStation, I hate facehuggers.
They always disturb
me.
Similar to that
game, facehuggers will jump onto the screen if you don't kill them in
time.
This time you
automatically die if a facehugger jumps on the screen because Ripley
will die anyway from the chestburster.
There are also
android and human enemies.
The androids are
known as Working Joes.
They are Seegson's
humanoid synthetics, but they're not sophisticated like the
Weyland-Yutani androids.
They have hairless,
sleek rubber skin, no gestures or facial features, glowing eyes, and
deep, distorted voices.
These guys are
creepy as hell.
I'm still debating
which is worse: the alien or Working Joes.
I've always wondered
if robots could ever make good horror.
Ever since the
original Terminator film, I've been thinking about this.
The T-800
endoskeleton chasing after Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese towards the
end scared me a little bit.
The Working Joes
in Alien Isolation prove that robots can be terrifying if done right.
The enemies that I
don't find terrifying are the hostile humans.
They're more of a
nuisance than anything.
If they see you,
they'll shoot you, and it pisses me off.
They're not scary.
They're annoying.
Unlike the alien,
facehuggers, and Working Joes, there is nothing disturbing about the
humans.
They're just
willing to harm you for no good reason, which drives me nuts.
The game claims that
they're just trying to survive.
How are they just trying to
survive when I'm not doing anything to harm them?
They know I'm human
just like them also trying to survive, but they think it's necessary
to shoot me.
When people are in a
survival situation, it's very crucial to work together, and not kill
each other.
If I attack them
first and they started shooting then that's understandable.
Or, they could
possibly shoot first out of panic.
It also makes less
sense when they start shooting me, half of the time the alien comes
after them.
I would think that
they would take into account that the more noise they make the more
likely they'll attract the alien's attention, and be even more
hesitant about shooting me.
At least, they
should not shoot me to prevent the alien from attacking them.
When the alien
does go after them, I cheer on the alien because the humans frustrate
me so much.
It makes me wonder
if the hostile humans are just there to be another type of enemy.
I understand that
this game is limited on the number of enemies it has, but this type
of cat and mouse horror game does not need a lot of enemy types.
The human enemies in
this game are not good at being scary.
What to do when
enemies are around depends on the enemy, the situation, and how much
resources you have.
This game really
puts survival in survival horror.
The tactics that are
used against enemies are hiding, distractions, and combat.
I primarily focused
on hiding and distractions, and only used combat when I really needed
to.
You'll definitely be
relying a lot on the motion tracker to know if any enemies are
nearby.
When the alien is
close by, I rely mostly on hiding.
The best places to
hide are lockers and small cabinets.
As a long as you
don't make any noise, the alien should not find you.
Nonetheless, there
are times when it will try to sniff you out while you're hidden.
You might be able to
get away with hiding under an open space such as a desk, but there is
a good chance that the alien will see you because you're pretty much
in plain sight.
Sometimes I used
distractions if I was close to a specific area that I needed to be.
Devices such as
noisemakers, smoke bombs, medkits, and several others must be crafted
using resources you find throughout the game.
The flamethrower is
good for scaring the alien away.
At some points in
the game, the flamethrower is your only defense against it.
You can't kill it so
you have to do your best to stay away from it, or keep it away from
you.
On the other hand,
facehuggers must be killed, and the flamethrower is the best way that
I know of to do the job.
For Working Joes,
they can be killed but it's not easy.
It's usually best to avoid
being detected by them just like the alien notably when you're low on
resources.
Furthermore, there
are times when you really have no choice but to kill them.
The best ways to
kill them that I've found are with the bolt gun and shotgun.
A stun baton can
also be used to immobilize them, and then hit them repeatedly with
the maintenance jack before they recover.
Pipe bombs work
really well when they're in groups.
Fire can kill them,
although it won't kill them immediately.
It will take at
least a couple molotovs or quite a bit of flamethrower fuel to kill
them.
Human enemies are
best avoided whether it's hiding or using distractions.
This is mainly due
to them having firearms majority of the time.
On occasion, I used
the maintenance jack to hurt a human enemy, or let the alien kill
them.
I quickly got tired
of dealing with them.
The horror in
this game is very well done.
It's nerve-wrecking trying to survive
against the alien and Working Joes.
I was always worried
about being caught.
When the alien is
close, it's constantly on your ass, and I wasn't confidant that I was
safe when hiding from it.
Every time I took the chance of walking
towards the goal destination with the alien or a Working Joe nearby,
I was very paranoid and nervous that it would catch me at any
moment.
Sometimes Working Joes are not hostile towards you, which
makes them even less comforting to be around because you're not
always sure if they'll attack.
They can be
hospitable one minute and deadly the next.
There really isn't
any jump scares or blood and gore.
I did jump a few
times while I was playing, but it was not due to a scare tactic.
It was usually
because the alien, facehugger, or Working Joe came out of nowhere.
These enemies
frighten me, and I did not expect them to be so close to me.
The music and sound
effects can also frighten me.
Music and sound effects are two
aspects of making a good horror game, and Alien Isolation gets them
both right.
Music creates the
mood while sound effects can induce fear.
There are times when
the music is calming, and it relaxes me.
Other times the
music is more aggressive, which makes me uneasy.
The sounds make me
paranoid.
One example is when the alien travels in the air ducts a
lot similar to the original film.
It can be heard
moving around in the ducts, and it makes me nervous.
Once I hear it
hissing, I know it's out of the ducts, and it's close by.
Then I
think I'm screwed because it might hear me trying to get away.
You will die a lot.
No matter what
difficulty level you play.
I've only played the
entire game once, and I played it on the easiest difficulty.
If difficulty levels
are provided as an option for a game, I like to play on the easier
difficulty the first time playing because I like to enjoy the game,
and not get frustrated due to dying a lot.
I still died a lot
on novice, and, from what I've read, dying is more frequent on hard
and nightmare modes.
There are no cheap
tricks to kill you in Alien Isolation.
If you die, it's
because you messed up somehow.
You will make many
mistakes that will get you killed, and you have to learn from those
mistakes to progress.
A typical
characteristic of survival horror is the limited inventory.
The inventory in
this game is limited.
There is no
inventory management like the old school Resident Evils, but you are
limited on how much you can carry of each item.
It's very easy to
have all your items maxed when there is plenty of resources lying
around.
Then later, you're
low on items in your inventory, but resources are now hard to find.
That is the name of
the game.
You have to choose
wisely on when it's best to use items.
As I said earlier,
you will be using the motion tracker a lot to detect any enemies
nearby.
Be careful while
using it because enemies can hear the noise of the tracker if they're
close enough.
One time, I was
hiding from the alien in a locker.
I didn't know that
it was only a few feet away, and it came right for me when I looked
at the tracker.
Sometimes you don't
know what enemy is close because it just shows that something is
moving in your vicinity.
Not knowing what
enemy it is adds to the horror.
Something else that
adds to the horror is the manual saving system.
You have to do most
of the saving by interacting with a save station, which looks like an
emergency phone.
I've said in some of
my previous reviews that manual saving is a characteristic of making
a horror game scary because it produces more worry about dying.
Like the motion
tracker, enemies can hear you using the save system if they're close
enough.
The game will warn you if hostiles are nearby before you
save.
It makes me
nervous to save at times.
Many people,
including reviewers, have complained about the manual save system
saying that it makes the game too hard.
I really don't
understand that.
There are plenty of
chances to save through most of the game.
They made me think
that there are very few save stations, and I was surprised that there
were a lot more than I thought there would be.
I saved my game
countless times.
The people
complaining about manually saving must not have played old horror
games, or may not remember playing them very well.
The majority of
video games nowadays have autosaves and checkpoints every five
minutes, which has spoiled gamers.
Some players may be
missing save stations because they're not paying attention to their
surroundings.
Definitely pay
attention to the surroundings in this game for save stations,
resources, hiding spots, enemies in the vicinity, and objects to
interact with.
I've read some
reviews claim that there are no autosaves in Alien Isolation.
That is not true.
There are some
autosaves mostly at the beginning of each mission.
It just doesn't have
constant autosaving like most games.
In my Silent Hill:
Downpour review, I said that constant autosaving kills the horror.
I don't mind the
autosaving in this game since it doesn't occur often.
I'm happy that
manual saving is a part of Alien Isolation.
It creates more
tension, and it makes the game feel more like the traditional horror
games that I love.
Speaking of
interacting with objects, interactive objects are highlighted.
Mission objectives
are shown on screen at certain times, and they are listed on the map
screen.
The map pinpoints
the location that you need to be with a green or white circle.
There are also
on-screen button prompts.
In my reviews of
Silent Hill: Homecoming, Shattered Memories, and Downpour, I
criticized highlighting objects, on-screen objectives, and button
prompts.
I was critical of
them due to the early Silent Hill games relying on environment
exploration, and clues such as memos to figure out what to do.
With Alien
Isolation, there isn't always much time to explore that much because
you're focused on not being caught by enemies.
You're also on a
huge space station, and it can be difficult to figure out where to go
without a waypoint.
Highlighted objects,
button prompts, etc. don't bother me much here.
One flaw is that the
green or white waypoint on the map can be confusing.
No matter what floor
you're on or what floor you switch the map to, the waypoint will stay
in the exact same spot.
This confused me a
couple times when I would go the waypoint as shown on the map, but
the goal destination was actually on another floor.
A couple of other
flaws are glitches and near escape attempts.
It seems that
glitches have become the norm in video games.
Not surprisingly,
Alien Isolation has its share of them.
Some of the ones I
experienced include Ripley falling through the floor while crouched,
and one where a character freezes in place when he's suppose to be
killed.
There was also a
part when I opened a door to a long hallway (I don't remember which
mission it was), and the hallway wasn't there.
It was just outer
space.
After a few seconds,
the hallway appeared as it should.
I've read about some
complaints of the game having glitches that prevent you from
progressing.
Thankfully, I did
not experience any myself.
I've also read
complaints of the game's length, and the several near escape
attempts.
It is a long game.
There are 19
missions, and it's slower paced than most games.
It took me almost
two weeks to play it from beginning to end.
I don't mind the
game's length, and I also didn't mind the near escape attempts too
much until the end.
What I mean by near
escape attempts is that Amanda is ready to get off the space station,
but something sets her back that prevents her from escaping.
This happens a few
times.
I can understand it
as a way to make players think that they're finally getting away and
escaping the horror.
Then there is a setback, which is a good way
to lower the hopes of surviving.
The last setback, on
the contrary, kind of annoyed me.
I knew the game was about to
end, and there was yet another setback.
At this point of the
game, the very end, being prevented from escaping got a little
ridiculous.
Some think that the
ending is a cliffhanger for a sequel.
I don't really see
it as a cliffhanger.
We know from the
special edition of Aliens that Amanda survives to her 60's so she has
to survive in Alien Isolation.
I'm debating about
whether or not there needs to be a sequel.
I wouldn't mind to
see Amanda's story continue, and for a sequel to improve on some of
the flaws of this game.
At the same time, I
got what I wanted from Alien Isolation.
It terrified me, it
used more traditional aspects of survival horror than most recent
games in the genre do, and Amanda finds some information on what
happened to her mother.
Of course, I know
where Ellen Ripley is during this time, but I was interested in what
Amanda is led to believed.
I'm also concerned
that Sega would want the sequel to be more pleasing to gaming
audiences instead of being a good horror game.
For example, the
follow up could have more combat and faster pace with the intent of
widening audiences.
That happens a lot
with survival horror franchises, and it usually alienates many fans
causing sales to decrease instead of increasing like the publisher
had hoped.
They could also take
away the manual save system, and just have autosaves since so many
people complain about it.
I don't like that
idea because manual saves are good for horror as I've said many
times.
Maybe easy
difficulty levels could have autosaves while harder levels have
manual saves.
Current reports of
an Alien Isolation sequel is that The Creative Assembly is discussing
it.
If Sega decides not
to produce a sequel, it won't bother me too much.
The replayability in
Alien Isolation is pretty good due to the difficulty levels and extra
content.
There are five
difficulty levels: novice, easy, medium, hard, and nightmare.
Novice and nightmare
were actually added in a recent software update for the game.
The only extra
content that comes with the game is survivor mode.
It is a challenge
mode with a time limit where you must escape the alien with the best
time possible, and you'll receive a score at the end.
There are
optional objectives as well to increase your score.
The problem with
survivor mode is that it only comes with one map.
There have been a
few more maps released in a couple add-on packages, but you have to
buy them separately.
That is one of the
reasons why I don't like DLC.
Something else I
don't like about DLCs is day one DLC like Crew Expendable and Last
Survivor.
Both of which were
pre-order incentives for Alien Isolation.
I didn't pre-order
it, but I was able to get the Nostromo Edition with the Crew
Expendable voucher code.
I haven't made time
to play it, but it's really neat that it takes place during the
original film with most of the original actors providing their voices
for their characters.
The issue is that
it's very short.
From what I've seen
of gameplay footage, it can be played in 20-30 minutes.
The same goes for
the Last Survivor add-on.
I think they
could have been extra content already a part of the game when it was
released instead of DLC.
I think Alien
Isolation is a great game even with its few flaws.
It has traditional
aspects of survival horror including very limited resources, little
combat, slow pace, and manual saves.
It relies very much on music,
sound effects, and being hunted by very strong, disturbing enemies to
terrify players.
It doesn't have hordes of 20-50 enemies attacking
you, no upgrade system, no partner that's always following you, and
it's not a shooting gallery.
It is just true
horror.
It is one of the few
modern horror games that has many similarities with the video games
of the golden age of survival horror (1996-2004).
The Evil Within
is another video game in the survival horror genre released around
the same time as Alien Isolation.
I've seen several
articles on video game news sites saying that The Evil Within is a
return to the roots of survival horror.
I just don't see it.
I like The Evil
Within because it's a very fun game.
It just isn't the
old school survival horror that I know and love from the early
Resident Evils (pre-RE4), Silent Hill 1-4, Fatal Frame, Dino Crisis,
and on and on.
The Evil Within is
the same survival action with horror elements that we've been getting
since Resident Evil 4.
Alien Isolation is
closer to the roots of survival horror than The Evil Within.
The two most
important recommendations I have for anyone playing Alien Isolation
is to be patient and play any of the easier difficulty modes first.
This is a long, slow
paced game.
It's also not an
easy game even on easier difficulty modes.
Take your time to
figure out how to survive and complete objectives.
You may have to look
up written guides or gameplay footage on occasion because you might
get stuck.
If you're tired of
playing or the game is frustrating you, quit playing for while
whether it's for a few hours or a few days.
The game is really
difficult on hard and nightmare modes, which is why I suggest playing
novice, easy, or medium first.
I know some people
like the go straight for the harder difficulties for the challenge,
but I would highly suggest to make an exception for this game.
I have yet to play
it on hard or nightmare mode, but I've read many comments that both
of them can enrage you.
The difficulty can
also be changed while you're playing.
If the game is too
easy or too hard on the difficulty you're playing, don't be ashamed
to change it.
I would recommend
this game to anyone who likes old survival horror games, and the
Alien movies particularly the original film.
Whether you should
buy or rent depends on your preferences in games.
The good news is
that the price has dropped some, and it will drop more as time goes
by.
If you want to try
it, but there are things about it that you're not sure if you'll like
then I would definitely suggest to rent it.
I got it at full price
soon after it was released, and it was well worth it to me.
I would say that
Alien Isolation is one of the few great survival horror games that
has come out in recent years.
