Alien: Isolation

[FROST1]

My first impressions from A:I so far. BUT, no matter how the following may sound to you, under the bottom line I really enjoy the game(I’m just 5-6 hrs in anyways, so it’s way too early for a fair review)

PS: I wrote the following to a friend on Facebook

"So, I’ve played another 3~4hrs last evening and to be honest, my impressions are quite mixed so far.

Pros:

-it just looks great, absolutely nothing to complain in this department

-character design; I really like the cast of NPCs and myself(Amanda Ripley)

-sound and music; those put you right back in the original movie

Cons:

-the controls in the options and in the crafting/inventory menu are really a pain for mouse and keyboard players

-as of yet I’m not really scared by the Xeno; maybe I’ve already seen too much preview material and ingame footage, or it has to do with the fact, that I’ve seen the movies an approximate bazillion times already, idk

-from a graphics POV the faces from the human NPCs aren’t exactly terrific, but at least they do their job and have enough personality to evoke the intended emotions in the player(their design is great, they just aren’t very well rendered in the game)

-I already find it a bit boring(uneventful; ~5hrs in)

-the ingame UI is very subtle -which is usually a great thing-, but in the case of A:I it’s a bit too barebones, or at least not very pleasing to use because of that.

-there are parts in the game where the Xeno’s whereabouts are definitely(!!!) scripted

Even though I have more to complain about A:I, than I have to praise -in regards of the mere number of headwords- those things that I like in the game are counting much more for me. I think I can already say, that A:I is more of a great experience in terms of its atmosphere, than a great game, in terms of its mechanics. From a gameplay perspective it’s not a very exciting game; no fancy crafting system, no RPG elements and not as scary as people imply. But maybe it’s going to be more exciting later down the line; I do hope so ofc.

I’ll keep you updated on my experiences with the game."

How authentic is Alien: Isolation?
http://www.pcgamer.com/how-authentic-is-alien-isolation/

[FROST1]

I pretty much share his opinion a 100% (see post above)

//youtu.be/TyWW6Qf4ZHI

[FROST1]

A couple ingame impressions. Part 1

[FROST1]

A couple ingame impressions. Part 2

[FROST1]

A couple ingame impressions. Part 3

[FROST1]

A couple ingame impressions. Part 4

[FROST1]

A couple ingame impressions. Part 5

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A couple ingame impressions. Part 6

[FROST1]

I don’t get, why post 3 and 5 wouldn’t show the preview pics, but the links to the full size pics are functional. Though you would’ve to click them twice.

[iwound]

i got this same time as driveclub. i mainly play driveclub as this gets a bit monotonous.
go here get that then return and get told you wasted your time. im enjoying the stealth but not the chores when nothing is on the map.
too frustrating for little gain except move a little forward or in this case back the way you came.

But those environments are great for just checking out all the cool stuff that you cant interact with.
story is weak. crafting is a pain in the ass. its a love/hate with this game.

[FROST1]

[QUOTE=iwound;513089]i got this same time as driveclub. i mainly play driveclub as this gets a bit monotonous.
go here get that then return and get told you wasted your time. im enjoying the stealth but not the chores when nothing is on the map.
too frustrating for little gain except move a little forward or in this case back the way you came.

But those environments are great for just checking out all the cool stuff that you cant interact with.
story is weak. crafting is a pain in the ass. its a love/hate with this game.[/QUOTE]

I can only agree with your reply. They just perfectly captured the look of the original film, and expanded greatly on it, but from a gameplay standpoint the game is not really my cup of tea; but then again, I think the whole super-stealthy genre is not my thing. I haven’t played A:I since a week now and I’m not really looking forward to finishing the game, because for me it’s more of a chore, than fun. I can not say, what they should’ve done with game, but the look and atmosphere is only half the rent. At the point where I am now you can still don’t do much more, than just looking at the beautifully designed and rendered environments and hide when you hear the Xeno approaching. That’s not really much, considering that the crafting system is also very, very poor. And the most frustrating thing is, that the Xeno is sometimes definitely scripted, and when he’s not, he definitely kinda knows where you are, even if you hold sill for 5 minutes on one spot. That’s not the kind of dynamic AI I was expecting, since they praised this particular mechanic so high; and then it’s just like every other enemy AI out there.

But regardless of the fun factor of the game, one can clearly see the love and passion Creative Assembly has put into this game. You can see the amount of research they’ve done and how much they are respecting the fans and the franchise itself. Maybe I will love the game a bit more when I’m done with it.

[iwound]

Game actually picked right up halfway through when you get the flame thrower and the balance changes.
completely different. really enjoyed it.

some great moments like the army of androids and this surprised alien.
[video=youtube_share;JINEe1lI0M8]http://youtu.be/JINEe1lI0M8?list=UUAR-YGOtrKhWgrfovvqq15Q[/video]

[Runeforce]

Just played it and I love it. Truly amazing, like being in ‘The Alien’ (and ‘Alien 3’.)’ It just feels so authentic! And I loved the slow parts, the atmosphere is outstanding! I’d wish more games had the guts to do that. Rarely do I experience games where I never get fatigued, but here I just wanted to keep going. Storytelling in its very best, in interactive cinema. As you can hear I can’t get my arms down, it’s just that good! If anything, it’s over too soon.
I don’t get the reviews from IGN and Gamestop, it’s like we’ve played different games.

And thank you .FROST. for bringing this gem to my attention.

[FROST1]

…They just perfectly captured the look of the original film, and expanded greatly on it, but from a gameplay standpoint the game is not really my cup of tea…(READ FULL POST ABOVE)

I finally finished this game in last December, but my opinion(see my last post) hasn’t changed much in the end. But at least I know now what I think they should’ve done to make this game more interesting to me from a gameplay POV:

-More Xenomorphs throughout the entire game!!! I’m not talking about shooting gallery amounts of Xenos, like in the infamous A:CM, but at least enough that you could kill one of those beasts and still be threatened by another one. The idea of just one Alien would’ve been fun/made sense for a 3-5hrs game, but not for a 25-35hrs game. I mean just think about how much “fun” It’d be to watch the original Alien 10-15 times in a row.

I threw ridiculous amounts of molotows and explosives after that thing and grilled it to “death” a bazillion times, just to have this effing a-hole look after me mere 30seconds later, not crippled in the least ofc. This thing was obviously more of a T-1000 in bug format, than an actual living thing that has its limits, even if they are pretty extended. I know the player is supposed to avoid close encounters with our alltime favorite alien at any cost, and should only resort to his more, or less useless weaponry if absolutely necessary, but after a couple hours of playing hide and seek like an idiot and looking at the inside of a locker for more than half of that time, my ego and my patience couldn’t handle it anymore and the gameplay began to feel like an absolute chore for me. At the end, when they finally start to throw three(!) unkillable Xenos at you I became so mad by their scripted approach, that I actually killed my keyboard instead.

-Only one, or two climaxes instead of at least 5 of them. A little bit of coitus interruptus would’ve been fine with me, but there’s a point where it just becomes annoying and frustrating.

-A shorter game. 15hrs would’ve been long enough for a game of this type; maybe 20hrs overall, if you are more of the exploring sort, but that’d definitely enough. Since they were so true to the original movie they should’ve also considered, that Alien is a movie with a quite average play time and the DR is even shorter. A movie does not necessarilly profit from greater length and so don’t do games. J.Cameron’s Aliens is one of those rare exceptions, where more length makes a movie even more epic, yet it has also changed the atmosphere and suspense factor in some ways. Both versions of Cameron’s expansion on Scott’s/O’Bannon’s original film work in their own way, but i.e. T2’s cinema version is clearly better than the longer version with added scenes(NOT!!! an actual DR). The scenes only repeat things you’ve already seen in the cinema version and some scenes are just longer, but with no great importance for the viewers understanding, or his enjoyment of the film. And that’s more or less what also happened to A:I.

-More gameplay mechanics, than just opening and closing the most elaborate locks in videogame history. If you are a fan of lever pulling, hacking and running around from one end of a level to the other one, and then back again, in order to do so, then this game has your butt covered, but If you are not too much into this kind of gameplay, then stay the hell away from this game, since it is the absolute epitome of an effing lever pulling simulator.

Long story short; from a gameplay perspective I had almost no fun(2-3 out of 10). From a “just looking at the game’s environments and enjoying the soundtrack and the sounds perspective” this game was everything I wouldn’t even have dared to expect; a solid 8,5 out of 10 I’d say.

[Chris2]

I’ve just started this game so skipped your thoughts in case of spoilers

Quite tense so far, game looks and feels like Alien for sure, can’t wait to play some more later in week when I can!