Alien Isolation - Review
Alien Isolation is a game all about the fear and tension of being hunted, you are Amanda Ripley the daughter of Ellen Ripley and the only survivor of the Nostromo and you have spent years searching for your mother. So when you are informed that the flight recorder from the Nostromo has been found and sent to Sevastopol station, the search begins anew.
Once you arrive at Sevastopol station, things don’t look all the good, the station is a wreck, something has happened to it and upon your attempt to enter the station you are separated from your team and find yourself alone. The early moments of the game build tension here like no other game has before it, there are no interactions with anyone for a while and each time you hear a noise you find yourself looking for the source. When you first meet up with another human you are given a brief rundown of what has been going on. It seems something is on the station and it is hunting everyone.
From here on out you need to be careful in everything you do, shining a flashlight is a great way to find hidden spaces, or supplies but it can also attract unwanted attention. The attention can come in many forms, but by far the most formidable is that of the Alien itself. The first time you encounter the Alien you have nothing, not even the motion tracker, the game here is its most terrifying, but not because you have nothing but simply because you have no idea of what is happening. Once you obtain the series staple motion tracker, you are given a little bit of a chance, you can now use it to determine if there is anything around you. Of course the tracker only shows distance from you, not height or depth so you still need to be vigilant.
Thankfully, Amanda is not without her skills, as a mechanic she can build a range of items to help her out, something’s are very useful like a medpack, other items such as the smoke bomb or flash grenades are only helpful against the right enemy. It is this scavenge nature that you need to embrace when playing, because supplies are not abundant, in fact most of the time you wish you had more of them. No time does it become more obvious once you acquire the flamethrower, the only weapon capable of keeping the Alien at bay.
As you move around the station you will see just how bad things have become here, which is to say pretty bad. The station is falling apart, from time to time the station will actually shake, with dirt and debris falling around, creating noise and kicking up clouds of dust that cause you to cough. Even the most simplest of hallways can be a trap waiting to happen, so you need to take care. Amanda is not a soldier, she is not a trained killer, she is someone out of her depth and doing her best to survive and the game plays on that very motif really well, but the game draws itself out a little to much, by around the last third of the game, you are able to hold the Alien off and take out most of the other opposing forces with some effort and the sense of tension the game has been building since the first moments on the station are just washed away.
There are few instances where story helps break things up, including a flashback but for the most part there is very little progression for Amanda. The other characters that you interact with are a little hit and miss, some of them feel really well done, whereas others are only fodder for the Alien. The Alien is of course the star of the show here, not only does the AI of the Alien feel like its hunting you, you can’t even relax to much when hiding, but it feels alive. When you see it down a hallway and its coming towards you, you hear the thump if its feet on the steel floor, the tail as it is dragged across the items around it and its breathing and screeches to really make you tense up. Each of these add up to be something of truly terrifying proportions but as I stated before, once you get the flamethrower, the tension and fear is not as prominent.
Thankfully the Alien is not the only element that looks and feels authentic, the entire station feels lived in, even in its broken state. The computers are very retro, but they fit the theming of the station. The tools, lights and even the doors are all pulled from the movie universe so anyone who knows Alien will feel right at home here. The sounds of the station are authentic, with beeps and what not, the let down here is the music for me. As with all games music can make or break the tone of it, sadly here the music is a little overplayed at points, but as music is subjective your millage of it may vary.
Overall Alien Isolation is the game that Alien film fans have been wanting for a while, it delivers on the suspense but sadly it can’t maintain it for the length of the game. Fans will enjoy the experience of being hunted by the Alien but while it may not live up to what was promised, it is certainly one of the best gaming experiences you can have.
The Score
9.0
Review code provided by Sega
The Pros
+The most authentic Aliens game ever
+The game keeps the tension almost the entire game
The Cons
-The tension does get lost towards the end though
-If you don't like the movies, or scary games, this is one to avoid