Okay boys and girls. Here are my initial impressions of Alien: Isolation! To start things off, and to be all fair and full disclosure, I played the game for about 2.5 hours this evening. Given, the game time according to howlongtobeat suggests its roughly 14.5 hours long - I feel like thats probably enough time to justify a small writeup. The game isnt bad. So to start things off, this game takes place between the first and second movies. The story surrounds Ellen Ripleys daughter, Amanda, and the vessel that Ellen landed on at the end of Alien. The game really wants you to know that this is a continuation of the film, essentially, as the old school 20th Century Fox logo pops up within the first few seconds of loading up the game. Its a really cool idea and immediately took me back. It sounds dumb, but some of those 80s and 90s logos get me going. The game starts up, you get some story, and youre suddenly in control of Amanda. This is where the fun? begins. So I take control of Amanda for the first time, get dressed (no guys, I couldnt find a mirror) and find myself on a ship. Apparently Ive just woken up from cryosleep - or whatever they call it in the Alien franchise - and, as we all know from many scifi films, you have to do that naked. Why? IDK. Its just a thing. Anyway, I wake up, find some clothes, talk to a few people, and realize that I have no freaking idea where Im supposed to go. Now, unlike my recent excursion into Shadows of Morrdor which left me with a bazillion places to go, I literally had no indication as to where to go. I walked around for what seemed like 15 minutes until I happen to stumble across the correct area and the story progresses. I cant say that I minded much as I was just getting used to the game - I simply chalked it up to my complete ignorance. So cutscenes, on another ship, falling down holes, making some curative items (because for some reason I decided to walk right into a live electrical wire) and then...um...WTF AM I SUPPOSED TO DO! I literally wandered around for 20 minutes with zero clue as to where I was supposed to go. I went back and forth between several areas about 3-4 times before I realized that (because someone on Twitch told me) I was supposed to press a button in just about the smallest button prompt area Ive ever seen. The entire time Im telling this person that Ive already done this. I go to the spot, move Amanda around, and BEHOLD! Ugh. Now to be fair, thats probably my fault, but just ugh. Thats 20 minutes of my life that Ill never get back. I dont need my hand held to play games - so Im going with the word probably for a reason. I doubt Im the only person in the world whos gotten extremely frustrated here. In an effort not to tell ANY of the story lets move on to graphics and sound. The graphics look great. Not 10/10 great mind you, but the cutscenes are awesome (minus this weird video stutter from time to time). Character models look good, etc. Nothing that shouldnt be expected out of the current gen. Hell, the voice acting is great too. Pretty high production quality there. However, when you mix the two together things look a little less than stellar. Lip syncing, for instance, is pretty laughable. Thats never really bothered me, but I noticed it for sure. Also, character animations in general can be pretty bad. There were several instances of people standing in weird positions, a few people just seemed to jitter up and down for periods of time, etc. Its not enough to take you out of the creepy environment - but it seems odd. Maybe they spent a bunch of money on the voices and not enough on modeling. IDK. Its whatever. So lets talk about the environment. Given that presumably all of the game will take place on the ship I was on this evening, its pretty damn creepy. The ship is inhabited by other very frightened and desperate humans, androids (according to reviews as I have yet to see one), and at least one alien. In 2.5 hours of playing I have yet to actually see an alien, but Ive seen a tail shoot through someones gut - thats enough for me to know its lurking. The music/atmospheric creaking/explosions all sounds great. I was playing in a dark room with headphones and I will admit that I was a bit weirded out most of the time. Not scared mind you, but I dont know that Ive been legitimately freaked out by a game since Silent Hill 2. It is a game based on several movies that Ive seen 10 times a piece, so I kind of know what to expect. Thats not to say that it wont be scary to some - Im probably just desensitized. I could definitely see it creeping out quite a few people. The single most annoying thing I noticed within a very short amount of time with the game is how damn noisy Amanda is. She walks loudly, she crawls through ventilation shafts loudly, and oh boy, does she run loudly. It sounds like a damn stamped when you run. GOOD LUCK with that is all I can say. Given that the game is 90% stealth? Best stick to walking unless you know exactly whats going on around you. Its not even that I dislike that its easy to make a sound that attracts enemies, its simply that the excess noise takes away from the experience IMO. Maybe Im just crazy, but oh god does she sound ridiculous when she runs. It sounds like I hate the game at this point, but I really dont. Theres going to be a lot of backtracking which I typically dislike, but you are stuck in a ship. There are only so many places you can really go in a ship - so I get it. The story seems intriguing enough (Its freaking Alien for christs sake), and I can definitely say that its the best Alien game Ive ever played. The nostalgia for GOOD Alien movies, the atmosphere, the fact that it pays homage to retro games regarding the requirement to explore/saving (if you die you return to your last save spot, and there is no saving on the fly), and the fact that its a survival horror game in the purest sense will likely hold my attention past the due date on my rental. Am I going to buy it? No. Truth be told Im really just here for the story. All of my complaints can be easily addressed by patches - and there will likely be a few. If you are a die hard Alien fan I would suggest a buy. If youre like me and simply want to see how it all plays out, I would suggest renting it. If I had to give it a number after 2.5 hours, Id go with a 7ish out of 10. Not amazing like some of the review sites would have you believe, but definitely not bad. If you dont like stealth games, survival horror, or the Alien movies? Stay far, far away!
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 04:00:33 +0000
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