Alien: Isolation

[DalekFlay]

Call me crazy but that Alien just trotting around like at the end of that video, in plain view and with some wonky animations, really kills it for me.

 

[shihonage]

Greetings Codex Dwellers,

I'm sending this message into the past to transmit my review of this game, now that it came out.

So...

It's [...] boring as shit, and filled with scripted sequences which function like a zigzagging bridge over a lava pool. They are static just like in Dead Space 2 or any other game, except they have a set killzone in which you die until you figure out the correct path through the area.

It's a jarring throwback to trial-and-error gameplay of old, minus any fun mechanics that would make it worthwhile.

Called it.

Sadly, the aesthetic achievements fail to redeem Alien: Isolation's fatal flaw: its brutal difficulty. If you’re found, you’re dead. It's as simple as that. And the game doesn’t come with any indicators of how to sneak more effectively, nor any smart level design that encourages searching for multiple paths. In nearly every bad situation, you have only one way to go, and once you figure out your path, it becomes a matter of throwing distracting gizmos and walking to your destination in the hopes that your foes have glitched into a dumb moment to allow you to pass.

The alternate, logical tack of hiding, waiting for foes to pass, setting traps, and walking along rarely pays off, because Alien Isolation’s AI offers no predictable patterns or reasonable logic. One minute, a Xeno stares right into your eyes and walks past. The next, it drops directly onto your head after your radar insists that the nearest motion is at least two rooms away. The game tries to evoke old-school challenge with elements like manual save points and dinky puzzles, but those things are mere annoyances compared to the frustration of the game's linear environments and punishingly random AI.

After wasting many long hours with try-and-try-again sequences, I'll admit I didn't actually get to the end of Alien: Isolation before writing this review. Even after dropping the difficulty to "easy," I just couldn't do it. I wanted to give the game back to the developers at Creative Assembly like a term paper, marked up with red underlines and an all-caps note that read, “TRY AGAIN.” Even in a release-now, patch-later gaming world, I worry that Alien Isolation’s woes—its broken AI, its boring levels, and its utter lack of a reasonable alert system—are too entrenched in the game’s body, eager to burst out of its stomach and unhappily surprise Alien fans.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/10/alien-isolation-review-cold-harsh-and-unforgivable/

 

[sexbad?]

I really wish that all these shitty youtubers would stop photoshopping themselves over the box art and game art in general.

This is the thumbnail I made for my review of Amnesia: A Machine for Fags. Unfortunately the 1280x720 version was lost in a hard drive failure.

 

[Morgoth]

All those flimsy whiners complaining about dying too often should perhaps go back and play more Doom.

 

[DalekFlay]

All those flimsy whiners complaining about dying too often should perhaps go back and play more Doom.

It's not about challenge, it sounds like the gameplay doesn't make that challenge enjoyable in any way.

 

[Malpercio]

Gosh, the tutorial part seems fucking long.

 

[Trash]

That's because the youtubers apparantly can't find their way out of a corridor without a quest compass.

 

[Jick Magger]

Stealth games do rely pretty heavily on memorizing enemy quirks and movement patterns, and trying to devise a suitable strategy to exploit these patterns to get past them. Having an open environment to get through also helps, because it gives the player alot of room to experiment with routes of approach. In a game like Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell, where the enemies follow very telegraphed patrol routines, getting caught is entirely the player's fault for either doing something stupid, not using some aspect of the gameplay to get themselves out, or not paying enough attention to their surroundings.

Stealth, especially when the game punishes you with what amounts to instant game overs if you're caught, does not work if the enemies patterns or routines are unpredictable. If there is nothing there to memorize or plan, or no rhyme or reason as to how easily the Alien can detect you, then any failure can't really be put on the shoulders of the player because the game inherently stops them from actually learning from their mistakes or getting better at it. From the sounds of it, this game's challenge essentially boils down to doing everything in your power to distract or glitch out the alien and hoping to god that this time around the AI's in a sane mood and actually feels like playing fair.

 

[Malpercio]

No, I mean, I'm playing the game right now and it seems fucking long.

Give me a torch, crowbar, and I'm ready to go. There is no need to spend 1 hour to establish there is something "dangerous" and "maybe alien" in the the space-station, because THAT'S WHY I'M PLAYING THE GAME TO BEGGING WITH.

I just meet.... Alex? Axel? And I think I was ready to meet the alien 20 minutes ago.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

[Stuff about stealth and AI]

The one error you're making in regards to Alien: Isolation is that you're assuming that there's an AI directing the Alien. As of yet we have no information that confirms or denies that.

There are people here who know CA and their "promises", for all we know the Alien might have a chance-based algorithm to determine whether it sees you or not, regardless of circumstances.

 

[Jick Magger]

There are people here who know CA and their "promises", for all we know the Alien might have a chance-based algorithm to determine whether it sees you or not, regardless of circumstances.

That...sounds like a fucking awful idea for a stealth game.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

So is rehashing the first Alien film by making the protagonist's daughter go through the same harrowing experience that her mother had, but money seems to make the world go around (and spiral into oblivion).

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Yeah, that too.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Stealth, especially when the game punishes you with what amounts to instant game overs if you're caught, does not work if the enemies patterns or routines are unpredictable. If there is nothing there to memorize or plan, or no rhyme or reason as to how easily the Alien can detect you, then any failure can't really be put on the shoulders of the player because the game inherently stops them from actually learning from their mistakes or getting better at it. From the sounds of it, this game's challenge essentially boils down to doing everything in your power to distract or glitch out the alien and hoping to god that this time around the AI's in a sane mood and actually feels like playing fair.

I'm not sure I agree with this. Just because the player is unable to plan or memorize suddenly doesn't remove their responsibility to get better. If I were to agree with your logic then any PvP game would boil down to people blaming othe... oh.

 

[sexbad?]

I still bet this will be pretty good.

 

[Grunker]

I still bet this will be pretty good.

hey maybe you could review it you know

not an insult just a suggestion

 

[sexbad?]

I'm thinking I might, as long as it's not running on one of those new engines that are incompatible with recording software.

 

[Malpercio]

Just got the

Spoiler

thing to access the elevator

So far no Alien except in 1 CS. Not particularly scary either.

I thought the game was going to be similar to CT or metroidvania/RE1-2, but it looks like it's just mission based, couple with semi-quest compass on the map that tells you where to do. Maybe things will open up once the stalker is introduced, dunno.

 

[Forest Dweller]

Gamespot review is up.

http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/alien-isolation-review/1900-6415897/

6/10

 

[Paul_cz]

I am genuinely excited. I just love Alien games. AvP, AvP 2, AvP 2010, A:CM after 8GB of patches, I enjoyed them all.
None of them were proper survival horror though. And Sterling from Escapist and Smith from RPG made me pretty damn excited about this one. I loved Amnesia and Outlast lately. Playing something similar in Alien universe...so good.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Gamespot review is up.

http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/alien-isolation-review/1900-6415897/

6/10

These days a low score from Gamespot bodes well.

 

[Malpercio]

So, I guess androids in this game do not go under the 3 laws of robotic.

Also, when does the game get... scarry? I had my meeting with the alien, but it was mostly hilarious than anything, due to the fact he glitched into the air vent I ran into and he disappeared into thin air. :<

 

[Deleted member 7219]

So, I guess androids in this game do not go under the 3 laws of robotic.

Also, when does the game get... scarry? I had my meeting with the alien, but it was mostly hilarious than anything, due to the fact he glitched into the air vent I ran into and he disappeared into thin air. :<

How are you playing this game?

 

[Talby]

I will attempt to negotiate with the alien in the name of peace in our Galaxy.

 

[Malpercio]

So, I guess androids in this game do not go under the 3 laws of robotic.

Also, when does the game get... scarry? I had my meeting with the alien, but it was mostly hilarious than anything, due to the fact he glitched into the air vent I ran into and he disappeared into thin air. :<

How are you playing this game?

Naked, and with my socks on.