User Review : Alien: Isolation

The Alien Game We've Been Waiting For?

To first answer the question that I posed: Well...that would be a yes and a no. I feel that Alien: Isolation is one of those rare instances that a developer actually tries their best at a licensed video game. Then there is the other side of the coin where I feel that Alien: Isolation has good ideas, but has a frustrating design that can lead to rage. I was very excited to finally experience this game. I, along with many other people, were looking to finally get the taste of Aliens: Colonial Marines out of our mouths. After playing this game, I think some people jumped the gun a bit with their praises and scores.

Alien: Isolation takes place on a derelict free port space station known as Sevastopol that is owned by the Seegson Corporation. Amanda Ripley is contacted by a Weyland-Yutani synthetic known as Samuels. He tells her that the flight recorder of Amanda's missing mother's (Ellen Ripley) ship was found and is being held on Sevastopol. She joins up with the recovery team from Weyland-Yutani, but when they find Sevastopol, things go awry as the station is in poor condition and she and her colleagues get stranded after an accident.

The one thing you will notice when getting into Alien: Isolation are the visuals. The environments and lighting are some of the best I have seen. The fog and smoke that is constant in Sevastopol is just as amazing. They compliment the atmosphere greatly. It often feels like you are actually in the Aliens universe. The graphics in this game were what Colonial Marines should have had.

The down side to the graphics are notable instances of screen tearing. While screen tearing is present in Alien: Isolation, it isn't quite as bad or constant. Also, while the environments are very well done, there are occasional hiccups. For example, when exiting an elevator, the doors may disappear and suddenly reappear. Another example would be that the outline of some objects can be seen, but not the object itself. A simple reload should fix the issue. I say should because I encountered a bug that I will talk about in a bit.

Sound quality is a mixed bag. First, let's get to the good. The voice acting in this game is top notch. I cannot list a single poor performance here. I give huge props to the cast for that. The other best sound quality is the music. The music is just superb. It gets everything right. I know I have said this already about the graphics, but the music makes you feel like you are in the Alien universe. With the combination of great visuals and fantastic music, I think that this is the Alien game that us Alien fans can get lost in and enjoy.

Now let's talk about the problems you will face. There's this weird detail that changes how Amanda hears what is around her when you are moving your line of sight. Sound can get muffled in the strangest ways because of that. I don't know why, but there is a significant amount of syncing issues as well. Whether you are reloading a weapon or a character's mouth isn't matching their speech, it is very glaring when sound is out of sync with what's happening.

Easily another big strength of Alien: Isolation is the gameplay. When you are trying to sneak around hostiles, the stealth mechanics do not fail. You can crouch down and move around in a smooth and controlled manner. Further, you can hide underneath tables, desks, cabinets, and lockers to evade pursuers or just take a moment to figure out what to do next. Hiding is a great mechanic in this game. Take note that there will be instances where you don't explicitly make noise, yet somehow the Xenomorph is able to know exactly where you are and kill you. So there are cheap deaths to be had.

The thing about Amanda is that she is not a trained combatant. She is, however, a resourceful technician. Crafting is something that you will be doing constantly. Medical kits, smoke bombs, flashbangs, molotovs, noisemakers, and pipe bombs are among the items you can make from various types of recovered craftable parts. Amanda will also be armed (as you progress in the game mind you) with a revolver, shotgun, flamethrower, and stun baton. Ammunition for these weapons is scarce, so conserve when you can. Amanda also has a hacking device that allows her to bypass security systems on computers and doors. There are few needed upgrades before you can hack any door and computer on Sevastopol, though.

The Xenomorph AI is not predictable. Sometimes you can get a feel with what it will do, but this thing is actively hunting for you. You have to outsmart it. Only flashbangs, pipe bombs, and the flamethrower will be enough to send it fleeing. That's right, you can't outright kill it. Another common enemy are the Working Joes. These emotionless androids are the complete opposite of Weyland-Yutani models like Bishop. They have rubber skin, glowing eyes, and lack empathy. They are Seegson owned models produced under the notion that androids are just workers, but the ones on Sevastopol are malfunctioning. They are aggressive, tough, and hard hitting. If you started this game on the hard difficulty (which is what is suggested), I recommend switching to normal. I know I had to and chances are you may as well.

However, much like with graphics and sound, there are a few drawbacks to gameplay. I am referring to game breaking bugs particularly. One major problem that happened for me was when the Xenomorph spawned from a scripted sequence, but three times in a row it did not spawn. I progressed with the mission as usual to see if anything would change, but the Xenomorph would always spawn suddenly, track me down, and then kill me. Another bug I experienced was when the Xenomorph had me cornered in a locker. It wasn't sniffing me out or anything either. It just stood there. I waited for ten minutes for it to move along, but it didn't. I was forced to reload my last save. The final game breaking bug I encountered was during a load screen. Quite literally, the loading screen wouldn't load the next mission. I waited for five minutes and then restarted my system. You may not experience these same bugs, but be warned that you may experience a few yourself.

I would like to take the next couple of paragraphs to explain a couple of things that I both liked and despised in Alien: Isolation which goes outside of the usual categories. Firstly, Amanda is a great character. Throughout the game, she evolves into a fighter and a survivor. She is tough when she needs to be and learns that in order to beat the odds of survival, you have to do whatever it takes. Amanda is one the best female protagonists I have seen in gaming. She easily tops every character in Colonial Marines.

You may have heard about there being no autosave and that is very much correct. I would say you would be saving manually at designated save points ninety percent of the time. The only exception to autosave is when there is something story related going on. The game will start you back at a certain point in the mission, but this only happens a few times. You are on your own for the rest of the game. While it may be a hindrance, I don't think it's that bad of a system. Don't get reckless or cocky and you will be okay.

The major drawback to Alien: Isolation is the mission formula. What do I mean by that? You will notice that there is a considerable amount of backtracking and sidetracking in various missions. Combine that with the manual saving at the most inopportune times and you have a recipe for resentment that eventually turns into anger. I cannot tell you how many times I thought I would be done with a mission only to have the game halt my progress by telling me that I have to do something else. One example I can share is that you are attempting to leave an area to finish a mission. Suddenly, the power goes out when you try to activate the switch needed to open a door. You already did your main objective, but now you are diverted to restoring power, still evading the Xenomorph, and then you can complete the mission. Getting a split second objective near the mission's end happens quite a bit.

I don't mind a challenge. I don't mind having additional objectives being thrown my way. What I do mind is being constantly set back by the most unnecessary and repetitive gameplay functions. It is a cheap way to lengthen the total time of a game. It more often than not feels like filler. The total time it took me to beat Alien: Isolation was around twenty-two hours. Granted, that's a plus on the content for both story and gameplay, but I feel like this could have had a fifteen hour campaign without the sidetracking and it would have been acceptable.

With that said, Alien: Isolation is not a bad game. It's not that scary, either, admittedly. It does need some patching. That goes without question. It also has some minor to major annoyances. Depending on your tolerance and patience, I would recommend picking this up; however, if anything I said here even slightly makes you apprehensive, give it a rental. Alien: Isolation is hit and miss, but it certainly succeeds a lot more than Colonial Marines does.

*NOTE: There is another mode called Survival Mode; however, it doesn't really offer much in terms of replayability unless you intend to outdo your last score.