Alien: Isolation Review

ALIEN:
ISOLATION

Let’s Play Hide and Go Die!

Consoles: Xbox 360 & One, PC, PS3 & PS4
Release Date: October 8th
Developer: The Creative Assembly
Publisher: Sega

In Space, no one can hear you scream! The tagline behind the 1979 Ridley Scott film Alien. There have been numerous games surrounding the Alien franchise from arcade platform titles to first person shooters. Alien: Isolation is the latest in a trial set of making a good alien title. This game has been in development for a while, but the real question is does it make us scream for joy or scream to turn it off!

STORY
The story takes place 15 years the film Alien and 32 years before Aliens. You play as Amanda Ripley, daughter of Ellen Ripley, who is now looking into the disappearance of her mother. She is approached by synthetic Christopher Samuels and tells her that they have found a flight recorder of the Nostromo and could possibly lead to the whereabouts of her mother. As Ripley prepares to make her space voyage to the Nostromo to find her mother, you could only imagine all the things that could go wrong. From the first space walk to the rolling credits there is nothing but bad luck and fear.

GAMEPLAY
Alien: Isolation is very different from its’ predecessors. While AVP and Alien: Colonial Marines was a run and gun title, this is a run and hide survival game. If you don’t you will DIE! The alien is a one hit kill so there is no safety net. Later on in the game you will get weapons that can help defend you from the likes of the Xenomorph, the synthetics, and other survivors. This game is all about stealth and smarts. You can hide in numerous places from boxes, cabinets, or vents. Hiding is a temporary solution so you have to keep moving. The game also has a crafting system that lets you create health syringes, noisemakers, or flares. You also get a helpful motion tracker but comes with a catch. It doesn’t tell you where the creature is facing. So be observant or die.

If you own a Kinect or microphone the game adds a new level of gameplay. The alien is extremely sensitive for your actions and with those microphones the alien can hear you breath, dogs barking or any outside noises that can give you away. I keep mentioning death, because you will die a lot even at times you didn’t even except and you think you are safe to save you will die. That is something that is interesting; this is not an auto saving game you have to find save stations. Which take about 3 seconds to activate. So it can become challenging but in the end worth it.

Ripley phone home!

GRAPHICS
This is a superb looking game, I got to experience it on PS4 and it looks hands down gorgeous. It really feels like it came out of Ridley Scott’s set. The sounds are all there and atmosphere looks as sterile as a hospital. Fog is constantly around you, things creak, shadows are portrayed from the lights, and it constantly makes you stay on your toes as you run from the creature. The world is gorgeously scary and it is something that I am willing to explore.

FINAL THOUGHTS
The game takes about 15 hours to complete and has a few extra modes to keep you entertained as well as some collectables to find. You get to experience a truly terrifying game that can either make you mad and piss you off or can rope you in with constant self achievements. This game is a great step in the right direction of making a fantastic Alien game but has some flaws from the difficulty for some players. At times cut-scenes have some frame rate issues but in gameplay it doesn’t. These things can be fixed updates but if you are fan of the Alien franchise and love survival horror games this is a title for you! Alien receives a 4.5 out 5.