Alien: Isolation Review

8/10/2019 Alien: Isolation Review

1/5

Someone behind you, helping you, every step of the way.... (Alien:Isolation Peer Review)

[Caution! This article contains spoilers]

Alien Isolation marks Sega's next attempt at creating a game within the beloved Alienuniverse. Unlike the first person shooter Colonial Marines that came before it, Alien: Isolationtakes up the mantle of the survival horror genre, allowing fans of the multi-mouthed xenomorphto interact with their favorite killing machine in a way previously untouched by past games.Isolation places the player in the shoes of Amanda Ripley, daughter to Ellen Ripley from theoriginal Ridley Scott film, as she hunts for answers to her mother's disappearance while aboardthe chaotic space docking-station named the Sevastopol. Once aboard the station, all hell breaksloose, and Alien: Isolation hits full stride. Despite all of the positive remarks surrounding thegame up to its debut, the recent release of Alien: Isolation was met with more mixed reviewsthan most had anticipated. Scores on the game where either very low or very high, with manyremarks on what made or broke the game's success. To better understand both sides of thespectrum, I decided to conduct my own review, taking into account the points made by otherreviewers, while being sure to mix in my own analysis.

In reading the many reviews on this game, I noticed several repeated remarks, and afterawhile a clear list of pro's and con's started to emerge. The con's of this game have centeredmainly around the mechanics and style, complaining that the game drags on for too long, thatcertain instances come off as inconsistent or illogical, and that the Alien AI is overly difficult tothe point of frustration. Pro's, on the other hand, seem to marvel at the design and feel of thegame, applauding the way Isolation mimics the same feel presented by Scott's original film, andeven counteract many of the con's, praising the game for its length and the relentlessness of theAlien AI. With so many conflicting ideas, the question remains, "what is the deal with Alien:Isolation?"

As the game begins, players get a definite feel for the dreary confines of life in space,receiving a clear representation of the time and detail put into recreating that classic alienatmosphere. Every thing from the box-bodied computer monitors and the cosset friendlyrecording devises, to the terror beeping of the motion tracker are presented in pristine resolution,leaving fans of the classic film with much to be excited about. As the gameplay continues,gamers start to get a better since of Isolation style, showing definite inspiration from previoussurvival horror titles while also establishing itself among the pack. Many times during game playI found myself making comparisons between Isolation and horror success like Amnesia and theoriginal Dead Space. This being said, Isolation takes on its own unique fingerprint, forcing a

player to consistently think about how he/she can use the surrounding environment to survive.

This brings us to the first topic of debate, the games inconsistent and illogical style. While playing this game, I can very well state that yes, there is a lot of inconsistency within the


2/5


3/5

this might be because I was running the game on minimal pc settings on a mid-grade gaminglaptop, but I later found out that others had experience this issue, even on consoles. Once Irealized this, it was like "once you see it you can never unsee it," and I found myself annoyed thewhole rest of the game. There were a few other minor bugs and glitches; levers lagging behindafter being pulled, the alien's head phasing through the locker door as it sniffed around (that onescared me half to death), and a few others. While small mistakes in the grand scheme of things, itwould be nice if future updates fixed these problems.

Next up is the game's length. I will admit, this game is very long, longer than many others of asimilar genre that I have encountered, but given the nature of how the game is supposed to be

played, I'm not convinced this is a problem either. You can not run and gun in Alien: Isolation,and no amount of memorization is going to help you either. We are a long ways off from thedays of sneaking around as solid snake, and as I said before, you will quickly learn that enemiesin this game do not follow a linear patrol path. This will inevitably lead to much frustration,especially on hard mod, and ultimately is the main contributor to the length of the game. Whereyou able to simply sprint through most areas like a Halo Reach Speed Run, then I think you'dfind this game to be much shorter, but thankfully the game forces players to step out of thatcomfort zone. Of the reasons stated why this game suffered from a lengthy campaign, manyreviews claimed the final stretch left much to be desired. Gamespot's Kevin VanOrd complainedthat there were too many points at which the story could have ended, stating, "it's an endlessmeandering in between that proves troublesome... Alien Isolation limps to its frustrating endingafter many hours more than it can support." While I will admit that the back nine of Isolationgets a little taxing, never did I feel as if I was about to see the final scenes of the game during theinstances he was referring to. Instead I thought it successfully lead me into a feeling of "the

worst is behind you" only to replace that feeling with the unsettling reality that there was muchto be done before Amanda gets to escape. During the reactor levels in particular, I actually felt physically uneasy when I descended into the nest. Something about there being more than oneunstoppable, freakish killing machine, made my heart sink a little. Now the final few missionsdid get a little frustrating because they had you walk through a few areas twice to complete someaggravating objectives. I never want to activate another generator in a game so long as I live, butI found that most of my frustration had stemmed out of my desire to finally beat the game ratherthan from the level's design. You want to win!! By the end of this game, after besting everycrazy obstacle and watching most everyone die, you really get that desire to win. This adds anew level of tension to the final objectives that, I personally believe, produces the opposite effect

of what other reviewers described. Looking back at it, the length really wasn't all that unfamiliar,nor was the frustration at some of the missions. Dead Space 2 was crazy long, and I can't tell youhow many times I had to rage quit, especially while playing on some of the higher difficulties,

but in the end I enjoyed the overall game extremely. This is the same with Isolation. It doesn't"drag on" or "struggle forward," but instead enlightens players to the reality that "things arenever that easy." This concept and game style is not an issue, but instead an expansion on ideasthat have been continually progressing forward since the days of the first horror games.


4/5

This leads us finally to the last topic of debate, the Alien itself. Spoiler, there isn't just one. Ofthe reviews that didn't favor this game, most all of them agreed that the alien was quote "toodifficult." The fact that it could only be dispatched by a few items in the game was commentedas being an issue alone, but paired with the unrelenting nature of the beast, critics of this gamefound more frustration in the creature's design than enjoyment. IGN's own Ryan McCafferyhighlighted this in his review, commenting on alien by stating, "And in hindsight, playing onHard difficulty which I only did because Isolation actually describes it as 'the recommendedway to experience the game' was a terrible decision. It means the Xenomorph can get youanywhere at any time, giving you no opportunity to avoid death, and run you down if it hears somuch as a pin drop. Sure, a flamethrower blast or Molotov cocktail can ward it off for a moment,

but alien- repelling resources are extremely scarce. Dont make the same mistake I did." Here,while commenting on the alien itself, Ryan also paints a picture of a game too hard to enjoy. thisis anything but the case. I have already elaborated some on the mechanics of the alien, anddespite the aggravation that it can create, and trust me it does, the alien of this game definitely

stands out among horror titles. It truly is as "artificially intelligent" as a NPC can get, proving to be a worthy advisory for any gamer hardcore or otherwise. Many times I died at the hands of thisthing, and I mean many, causing me on numerous occasion to back away from my keyboard inorder to regain my wits. The alien sensory in this game, especially on hard mode, its verysensitive, allowing for the menace to spot you a lot faster than other enemies. It is very fast aswell. If you are not close enough to an escape route, don't even bother running, because it willcatch you every time, and that's coming from experience. What actually intrigued me the mostabout the alien was not just how it reacted with the player, but how it reacted with thesurrounding environment and additional NPCs. I quickly found that the best way to clear an areaof pesky enemies was to actually summon the alien via some commotion, and sit back in a locker

or storage box as it slaughtered everyone around. The only thing harder than trying to avoid thealien, is trying to avoid it along with everyone else, so this method actually came in handy manytimes. Watching the alien skulk about, sniffing and searching for its prey was also a sight to see.This gave me chills on several occasions, especially when I found my hiding spots didn't alwayshid me as well as I thought. All of this being said, the Isolation "Alien" is far from a "perfectcreature." After playing through the entirety of the game, I was a little let down at the limitednumber of death animations that one could endure. When you die as much as I did, you see themall pretty quickly, and with how merciless the thing was in the movies, I thought they could havefit in a few more bad ass death scenes with the mix. Also there were a few time were the alienreacted "irregularly" to the weapons intended for its dispatch, e.i. the shotgun and flamethrower.Confusion and anger filled my face on several occasions after watching the alien shake off adirect flame or shotgun blast and proceed to tear into me despite the fact that in all previousencounters the attacks had successfully scared it off. Other times it would simply pause in place,requiring an additional blast in order to send it scurrying up into a vent. At first I thought thismight be another unpredictable mechanic of the game, but the way in which they happened eachtime eventually led me to believe a minor bug might be the real culprit. While these were issues I


5/5

noted, they did not happen often, did not hinder the gameplay or the title's feel, and can probably be easily fixed with updates.

The reality of this game is, for lack of a better explanation, it simply isn't for everyone. Thegame is well constructed. It provides unique gameplay and a challenge for all gamers... its a good

game, but if you aren't up for the intensity it brings, then you may not find yourself enjoying thistitle. Players unfamiliar with the horror genre may not want to start with this Isolation, whileveterans of these games who are used to the classics like Resident Evil and Fear may not beready for the newish style this game provides. I believe it is for this reason, many were not ableto grant Isolation a high score. It wasn't that the game lacked qualities of a good title, it simply

just wasn't for them. That's fine in theory, but I don't want to confuse the people out therewondering about this game, it really is amazing. Fans of the Alien franchise will find a fittingstory to the saga that brings to life everything they have come to love, while others will simplyfind a thrilling game with plenty of enjoyable gameplay to keep them hooked. While there areseveral things it could improve upon, Alien: Isolation brings revival and a fresh take on terror tothe survival horror genre and is guaranteed to scare the lights back on. I give it an 8 out of 10;Great!

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Alien: Isolation Review