Alien Isolation, Review

Alien Isolation

Alien Isolation, for me, was my favourite game of 2014. Alien isolation is bursting with atmosphere with environments faithfully recreated in a retro fashion in keeping with the original movie by Ridley Scott. The soundtrack to the game is absolutely brilliant, dynamically changing when you encounter the Alien itself and calms in moments of respite. Rarely has a games musical fruition played such an integral role in raising my heartbeat or lulling me into a false sense of security just to be pounced on and killed by a Xenomorph.

There was an overriding sense of genuine care taken by the developers The Creative Assembly and published by Sega. After the disgrace that was Alien: Colonial Marines, it seemed as though fans of the franchise would never get the game they deserved. That was however, until, Alien Isolation arrived! The game itself has some of the best graphics of any available on console and PC with some of the most visually stunning and immersive environments offering a claustrophobic 25 hours of gameplay that had me glued to the TV, in the dark with my Headset on full. When you find yourself walking slowly through the medical station with bodies lying torn up all around you, with beep of your motion tracker ticking and suddenly the Alien crashes from a vent in the roof and you’re suddenly forced to hide. These moments gave me more than my fair share of scares, which is unusual.

What makes the Alien such a menacing obstacle is the non-scripted AI, meaning the Aliens movement can’t be predicted and you can try and second guess it at your own peril. There were many times I thought the Alien had gone round a corner and through a door just to do a 180 turn and come charging at me, resulting in the inevitable death scene.

The game has no automatic saves, relying on the player to reach static save points (modules on walls). This save mechanic, I feel, really added to the experience as it forced me to take my time and plan strategically, what route I planned to get to the next save point. The game does punish players for not following the rules. Running is an option but attracts so much noise the Alien will appear and will be more aggressive and actively hunt the source of noise (the player), making progression slow and painful at times. The trusty motion tracker gives an idea of distance and direction of danger but even your one saving grace has a drawback, the beeps attract the Alien and it will again hunt and kill you if not used with caution. 

The game itself was met with generally good reviews except a few stating the games length as an issue as well as the difficulty. I find it ridiculous a review would site a game being a few hours too long as an issue, that's more value for our money as far as i'm concerned. As for the static save points, that manage pace in a game where pace and planning is everything, I see no issue there either. The game is meant to played in a way that is faithful to the original movie, not some Rambo/Call of Duty fest where running and gunning like headless chickens wins the day!!