Alien: Isolation

[Peter]

Good intentions, and a step up from a generic shooter, but yeah, doesn't look too great. Actually, maybe that isn't even entirely correct to say. Looks like it could be a fine game, but there's nothing very surprising or captivating on display here. And it doesn't feel very Alien. Shouldn't be able to escape a xeno by hiding behind a crate. I guess that's the problem with trying to build gameplay systems around Alien, when the thing that makes the xeno scary is its mystery and unpredictability. It's not a 'logical' creature that patrols and follows its senses and whatnot. It doesn't play by the rules. The horror of the xeno is that there's no escaping or outsmarting the thing, and that doesn't translate to good gameplay. Also explains why devs usually go the action shooter bug-hunt route with this franchise, I guess.

Gotta give credit where it's due, the aesthetic is very nice. Love the big chunky retro feel of the ship and equipment.

I must say, though, that it's quite disheartening how similar this looks to Routine, in gameplay and in aesthetic. I'm glad an AAA dev is taking ques from interesting stuff that indies are doing (I mean, on the plus side, this certainly looks to be about as 'horror' as mainstream "survival horror" has gotten in a long, long time), but I'd be pretty pissed right now if I was one of the people working on Routine or (to a lesser extent) SOMA.

Conflicted on this one. They seem to mean well, moreso than devs have with this franchise in a while at least, and are drawing from good inspirations, but it just doesn't all click into one coherent thing, and most importantly, doesn't feel very Alien. Still early days I guess. We'll see how it pans out. As far as modern AAAs go, this looks like a relatively interesting one, but yeeeeaaaaahhh, idk.

 

[Darth Roxor]

And it's officially disappointing.

Is it? I dunno. The moment I read "survival horror", I immediately pictured Dead Space-esque over-the-shoulder shootin' action with horrible controls in a corridor where you can't see shit. First-person view and supposedly only one alien from which you can only run is already sort of an incline. I don't mind Amnesia-in-space, as long as it's well done (although the same could be said for a well done Dead Space, but I believe the no-guns formula is much more fitting to the subject matter).

Including Ripley's daughter is fairly idiotic, though, I agree. And the final part of the 'gameplay' trailer, when the player HIDES BEHIND A BOX to hide from the alien made me go . But then again, "work in progress", huehuehue.

 

[Monad]

Looks sexy to me. You guys shit on stuff way too much.

 

[Caim]

Including Ripley's daughter is fairly idiotic, though, I agree. And the final part of the 'gameplay' trailer, when the player HIDES BEHIND A BOX to hide from the alien made me go . But then again, "work in progress", huehuehue.

But didn't we already see from Colonial Marines that the Aliens aren't clever enough to use existing terrain to ambush the player, instead running down hallways to french you a new hole in the back of your head?

 

[Morgoth]

But didn't we already see from Colonial Marines that the Aliens aren't clever enough to use existing terrain to ambush the player, instead running down hallways to french you a new hole in the back of your head?

Newfags cannot into facts.

What has CM to do with Creative Assembly?

 

[Caim]

But didn't we already see from Colonial Marines that the Aliens aren't clever enough to use existing terrain to ambush the player, instead running down hallways to french you a new hole in the back of your head?

Newfags cannot into facts.

What has CM to do with Creative Assembly?

Both are working with Aliens and are getting shit for it on the Codex.

 

[Morgoth]

Only shit people like you shit on good stuff.

 

[Zewp]

I'm cautiously optimistic. It looks shit, but a lot less shit than I was expecting.

 

[ghostdog]

It looks like shit I could play.

 

[crufty]

wish i had time to play this shit

reminds me of doom 3 though

 

[Drakron]

Shouldn't be able to escape a xeno by hiding behind a crate.

Ripely was alone with one in a shuttle and the alien shown not much sense of detecting her, there is no way to tell how the xenomorphs "see", they can detect sound and movement but as eyesight is concerned they dont see to be very gifted on that area.

Also they are animals, clever but still animals ... otherwise the moment he detected Ripley on the shuttle he would have killed her instead of doing fuck all (maybe he was really sleepy), also "playing dead" works with animals and even humans, the whole "perfect killing machine" still have flaws and you have to one of those fanboys to argue otherwise.

 

[Psquit]

The problem with that is that aliens drag bodies to their hives to consume or to infect people.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Shouldn't be able to escape a xeno by hiding behind a crate.

Ripely was alone with one in a shuttle and the alien shown not much sense of detecting her, there is no way to tell how the xenomorphs "see", they can detect sound and movement but as eyesight is concerned they dont see to be very gifted on that area.

Also they are animals, clever but still animals ... otherwise the moment he detected Ripley on the shuttle he would have killed her instead of doing fuck all (maybe he was really sleepy), also "playing dead" works with animals and even humans, the whole "perfect killing machine" still have flaws and you have to one of those fanboys to argue otherwise.

Also, Newt managed to hide from over a hundred of them for weeks, months even. But even though we don't know much about them, we do know that they're not going to be fooled by a bloody crate if they have reason to believe that there's something there in the first place. I think that's how Newt escaped their attention - they never detected her to begin with.

I also found it bizarre how slowly the xeno moved, until I remembered that it was the quadruped xeno in Alien 3 that could move with blinding speed. The humanoid xenos were always kinda slow.

For xenos to drag bodies to hives to impregnate them, there must be a queen. If there's no queen, there's little reason to capture the prey alive. Feeding may be a reason, but in all honesty we don't even know if they need to feed in the first place.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

At least Creative Assembly don't look like they're deliberately going to shit over the franchise. They're being very faithful to the original. In fact, too faithful. There's not a shred of original thought involved. Not even the setting.

The same (or better) can be achieved with a half-decent mod for almost any FPS game. In fact, it already had. The Alien Quake mod had a secret level that was the Nostromo. That was one SCARY fucking level, even with guns at your disposal and only one Alien (appearing several times) to deal with.

At best, I think this will be an above-average entry into the horror genre/Amnesia niche, but it's not going to turn any heads. Alien(s) fans would love it... which would be a first for over a decade, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Jick Magger]

Wonder what ever happened to that AvP mod on the Crysis engine.

 

[Drakron]

The problem with that is that aliens drag bodies to their hives to consume or to infect people.

The problem with that is they only did that in Aliens and off screen, in Alien someone just got facehugged and in Aliens 3 it was a dog.

People just love to extrapolate and blow things out of propositions, the Xenomorphs can cocoon sure but at the same time they have the eggs that allow opportunistic insemination to anything that comes close by.

Also poor eyesight doesnt stop them from being able to do that, poor eyesight doesnt mean they are totally blind ... they might have very poor peripheral vision and you are now trying to argue they have as good or better vision that humans because people can hide in the shadows.

What makes then fearful predators is their strength, speed and the fact in Alien and Aliens 3 they were against unarmed humans, in Aliens if not for the processing station going to blow up they could actually holed up since at that stage the Marines had wiped most of them (after all, why did Ripley just walked into the Queen's chamber unopposed?) since remember when they started shooting? Yep, they died ... a lot of them.

This is pretty much why you have 2 choices, the AvP route since Aliens happened and this is the most common taken route and the Alien route that is a unarmed civilian that is trying to survive, the problem is when people try justify that route by making the Xenomorph some kind of avatar of the God of Death and Destruction of Doom and Death thats the same shit I see with Borg fanboys (that are more annoying) were they totally blown out of proportions because fanwankery.

Its not better when "official" material goes exactly that same route so spare me of comics and novels and similar ...

Also since you want to play ... Newt, how did she survived without you know, HIDDING? Even if this is just a gameplay mechanic its not exactly unheard in the series and appears to only upset the worst kind of fanboy.

They're being very faithful to the original. In fact, too faithful. There's not a shred of original thought involved. Not even the setting.

Well shit son, its a fucking established IP ... if they were "original" when the fuck they would even use the Alien IP?

This actually pisses me off, sure its not "original" but then again what is? unless you are using the term ironical dont use it, everything have been done ... nobody is going to make some exciting new game because everything have been done and what I see is the typical bankrupt criticism taking refugee in "lack of creativity and originality" as a excuse to not saying anything now is there?

And being too faithful? I cannot give you that because you had the huge fanwank that was Colonial Marines that gone in that direction with the results we seen ... same ideas and aesthetics sure but then again, its a based on a established IP and if they want to capture the movie atmosphere them fine, if they are just REFERENCES, REFERENCES, FANWANK then its not but we still over 6 months before we can say that for sure.

At least its not yet another fucking first person shooter ...

 

[DeepOcean]

Hey, those guys in the video talked about advanced AI behaviour. Wait a minute... it's CA they are talking about.

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

Fapping cautiously.
I always liked the slow, pondering nature of Alien and hated the shooty, popcorn-munching AKSHUN of later films.
If this game manages to keep the atmosphere of the original and lets the fear build by implication rather than bore with gore and showing the alien every 5 minutes, it just might hit the spot.

 

[Darth Roxor]

i like everything that's connected to aliens and every game (even tho they weren't very cool...) but this i don like at all. Ok i get it, hiding from aliens and running from them is very logical, but this is not a movie x.x sure its gonna be scary...but also boring. If you ask me this will flop too. Because it's a game not a movie, not heavy rain...

I love this universe. But an Alien touring around a station, not catching the smell of a human hidden behind a crate 10 meters from it? Why did the Predators hunt the Aliens??? Because they were the ideal prey.
Super often we had it shown clearly in films, that even such perfect hunters as the Predators fell victim to Aliens. Whole military squads and their bases too. And here a single babe is playing tag with it well sorry im not buying it. It made sense in DeadSpace, but the Aliens are not brain less zombies but ALIENS come on bro!

Aliens will always be the best, it went in the perfect direction, altho 4 was also very OK. Alien is cult but for me a bit too archaic now, and 3 always felt like a joke to me

shame i thought it would rather be fps with survival elements not the other way around

 

[Trash]

At least Creative Assembly don't look like they're deliberately going to shit over the franchise. They're being very faithful to the original. In fact, too faithful. There's not a shred of original thought involved. Not even the setting.

Not including a pulse rifle and 'hurrah' marines is already as original as an alien game has come in decades. Cautiously optimistic.

Then again, CA.

 

[Aldebaran]

i like everything that's connected to aliens and every game (even tho they weren't very cool...) but this i don like at all. Ok i get it, hiding from aliens and running from them is very logical, but this is not a movie x.x sure its gonna be scary...but also boring. If you ask me this will flop too. Because it's a game not a movie, not heavy rain...

I love this universe. But an Alien touring around a station, not catching the smell of a human hidden behind a crate 10 meters from it? Why did the Predators hunt the Aliens??? Because they were the ideal prey.
Super often we had it shown clearly in films, that even such perfect hunters as the Predators fell victim to Aliens. Whole military squads and their bases too. And here a single babe is playing tag with it well sorry im not buying it. It made sense in DeadSpace, but the Aliens are not brain less zombies but ALIENS come on bro!

Aliens will always be the best, it went in the perfect direction, altho 4 was also very OK. Alien is cult but for me a bit too archaic now, and 3 always felt like a joke to me

shame i thought it would rather be fps with survival elements not the other way around

I think the only thing I hate more than the idea of the expanded Alien universe are the people who regard it as anything more than a fun what if story. They might as well consider Batman a part of the OFFISHUL Alien universe, considering he has fought them on multiple occasions. AvP was the worst thing to happen to both Alien and the Predator. Now because some shitty comic books were made, people regard Predators as some honourable Klingon samurai, when the original Predator was very clearly a vicious thrill killer who only ever gave people a chance to make things more interesting. How anyone could interpret the final fight against Arnold as a gesture of honour, when it was very clearly the Predator attempting to humiliate and break the helpless Arnold, is beyond me. How is honour even a thing to discuss when you are referring to a movie monster whose most notable trait is a constant stealth field that allows him to make kills without being seen?

Also, when referring to the original movie if anyone examines the Alien as an animal, however advanced, then I suspect that they never really watched the film, or they were not paying attention. James Cameron's vision of Alien, despite being very entertaining, is not true to the original at all. His Alien is not something that Ash would have referred to as the son of Kane. It was originally a parody of a human being designed only for murder and rape, but James Cameron censored out the phallic head, removed the human skull that was beneath the glass dome, and took out any implications that it was raping people. To be fair, that was probably the right call for the movie he was trying to make. I just wish that people would stop importing knowledge from later sources into Alien where it simply does not fit with the original vision.

 

[Jick Magger]

Predators as some honourable Klingon samurai.

Totally irrelevant to the current situation, but I kinda find that funny since the TNG-era Klingons are basically completely different from the TOS era, not even taking the change in makeup into account. They're a bunch of scheming bastards who'll happily slaughter the inhabitants of the planets they conquer just to make an example to the rest of the populace and keep them in line. It was the Romulans who were the proud warrior race (though more reminiscent of the, well, Romans).

At least Roddenberry had the decency to declare anything that wasn't the movies or the TV series non-canon.

 

[Drakron]

Also, when referring to the original movie if anyone examines the Alien as an animal, however advanced, then I suspect that they never really watched the film, or they were not paying attention.

Alien is in the same vein as The Thing as its a dangerous creature, it doesnt matter if its intelligent or not because it never tries to reason ... it just kills and you cannot reason with it either (they never tried) so you have to survive a vicious monster that is hunting you down to kill you.

I looked at the IGN and someone said it tracks you by 3 senses ... sound, sight and smell and someone said if you hide inside a locker he can smell you out so apparently you are never exactly safe because if you dont move he can see you, if you hide he can smell you but he also said he can lose interest and just leave the area so I am curious on how exactly this will play out, we only seen a little because there are NPCs and at least on the demo level there was one talking to her.

 

[Jaesun]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!



Please don't fuck this up..... oh who in the fuck am I kidding... :/

 

[Excidium]

Dem graphics. NEXT GEN IS NOW