Alien Isolation Review


Its been along time since the original Alien movie came out and Alien Isolation pays tribute to the Ridley Scott classic film. In 2013 Aliens Colonial Marines was released and was a disappointing tribute to millions of fans around the globe. However Aliens Colonial Marines was centered around action and large hordes of enemies, whilst Alien Isolation is centered around the unstoppable force that is the Xenemorph. The game used the original movie as its structure and then it went on to build something intense and a

Hiding won’t always help.

The environment is built around the 1979’s vision of the future and so is the technology, this doesn’t just honor the original but it also adds intensity and the feeling of hopelessness. Along with the incredibly primitive technology there are some incredibly primitive acting enemies that base their decisions on Apollo’s Security, Survival, or hunger, these are how the enemies that inhabit the ravaged Sevastopol Station think: There is the androids, that unlike the Weyland  Yutani models are basic and look like plastic models, despite their appearance these enemies are ruthless and it will take everything in the players power to kill them. Next there are the survivors, these are just other humans that have survived the initial Xenomorph attack. Despite the fact that their primary directive is not to kill they will fight for their lives so it is best to listen to them before you make any sudden movements. Finally there is the star of the show, The Xenomorph which will hunt the player down no matter what. It is essentially immortal as it cannot be killed, it can only avoided it, and it is this mechanic that really makes the player fear for their very lives.

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There are hacking mini games in this game, and no, they are not that fun.

The gameplay is as intense as it is frustrating. This is because the Xenemorph has a constantly developing AI allowing it do adapt to the immediate situation, this means you have to be on alert constantly which heightens the scare factor vastly. This is when the game begins to get frustrating because even if you are hold up in an impenetrable hiding spot the alien will detect you and launch a head on attack leaving you helpless.

The working joes are very durable.

On paper Alien Isolation is the Alien game everyone has been waiting for. But despite the fact that there are times when you heart is pounding in you chest and the Xeno is standing mere inches in front of you, these parts only make up a small amount of the game and the other times you will be fighting synthetics or looking for a lever to turn on the power. The first 6 hours of the game are intense and exhilarating but after the game begins to drag on you begin to get bored of being told to go and turn on a generator.However the developers have put hundreds of hours into the game allowing room for hundreds of collectibles in a variety of different and beautiful rooms that range from research labs to quarantine rooms. Another reward for exploration is that you will likely find upgrades for your gadgets and scrap metal to build new weapons, and this can easily get you out of a sticky situation.

Alien Isolation provides a scary experience early on, but loses sight of what it truly is toward the end. Overall, it is still a good experience and hopefully future Alien games builds on what this game did right and removes what it did wrong.