Alien: Isolation
Sole not good review. Everyone else has said anywhere from "good" to "excellent."
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Alien: Isolation
I actually agree with that linked review 100%.Malcolm wrote: Sole not good review. Everyone else has said anywhere from "good" to "excellent."
Alien: Isolation is a beautiful game that looks and feels like the Alien universe. The story line is solid, if a bit redundant. It does follow the standard Alien themes: a Ripley, evil corporations, there's AI involved, the Alien being an ever present asshole, people doing dumb people things, a full scene on that same fucking planet with the same fucking alien ship, a synth who may or may not be on your side, and so on.
However, it's loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong. Add onto that the fact that you will die a LOT. So if you love trial and error games where you're constantly restarting...
Think of it like this: Let's say I sent you into a random office building that you need to travel back and forth through multiple times without an overall map. You've never been in there before or even seen pictures. Each level is some different business and none are laid out exactly the same. Now I'm filling the building with humans who will attack you, androids who will attack you, and an alien that is "leashed" to you specifically. Oh, and that alien has crazy heightened senses and random behavior. He hears the slightest movement and noises. And if you stay in one spot too long he will kill you. And did I mention that each level is kind of tiny, so you're going to be deciding upon sitting tight or sprinting to cover constantly.
Again, you die a LOT. Also, for those wondering, you can save, but only at specific stations, and you can be killed while doing so...
Oh, and you cannot kill said Alien. Only the flamethrower (that you get about halfway through the game), pipe bomb, and molotov cocktail are even enough to ask him to leave you alone for a moment.
This is the first game in YEARS where I actually sought out a trainer. The game is so enthralling I didn't want to abandon it, but I also didn't want to keep playing it for the next year in ever growing frustration. Thus, I found a perfect one. It made the Alien stop hunting me, except for scripted events, and he was still around. There are trainers that basically make him sit offscreen the whole time, but I found this one to be a lot more fun. He was like my pet. He'd attack aggressive humans for me. He still did scares in various ways, but I still played for HOURS after turning this trainer on. It's a long fucking game.
There's some crafting of devices and you'll collect parts around the station. There's also some FPS moments, but they are extremely brief. This is a hide and seek game, not a shooter. The weapons are all fine, but I have no idea what the EMP Mine is supposed to do. I used it multiple times on androids and it didn't do shit.
This game won Game of the Year at multiple outlets, and I get that, but I have a hard time recommending it. If you like survival horror games where you're playing hide and seek with an unkillable monster in areas you're completely unfamiliar with for a long, long, long time, this is the game for you! This could genuinely the best stealth survival horror game in history, no joke. Apparently, that genre is not for me.
Still, what a gorgeous fucking game, and easily one of the most successful of all time to immerse me in the universe of the source material. I just didn't realize I was signing up for hide and seek with the greatest seeker of all time.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”