Alien Isolation Review

[Saltyie]

Hey guys/gals, this is my first ever review! If you have any suggestions for improvements or just general feedback, be sure to leave them below! 

 

I feel compelled to write a review for Alien: Isolation after seeing a few reviews tearing it apart for its long running time, and 'unfair' difficulty, but also reviews praising it for its challenging difficulty, and for being longer than 6 hours. I know of a lot of people that are unsure on whether to buy it due to its split reviews, so I'd like to give my opinion on the game too, as a fellow PSNPer. 

 

 

Alien Isolation takes place after the events of Ridley Scott's Alien (the movie!). You play as Amanda Ripley, the daughter of Ellen Ripley (the protagonist of the movie). It's been 15 years since the events of Alien, and Amanda is still looking for her mother. A ship finds the Nostromo's (The ship from the film) flight recorder, which could contain the whereabouts of Amanda's mother. It was taken to Sevastopol, a space station in the far reaches of space. Naturally, Amanda wants to go to Sevastopol, and view the flight recorder so she can get some closure. That's how the story begins, but not how it ends. I don't want to spoil too much of the story, but Isolation does everything an Alien film could possibly do. It uses every trick from the book, and then some. 

 

The story does have a bit too much is going on at once, subplots open and close all over the place, and I feel some of the subplots are there just to get Amanda into these dream scenarios with the Alien. The Alien isn't the only threat on the station, there's the paranoid humans and the creepy working Joe androids that still go about daily business on the station, being controlled by an A.I (what could go wrong?). Despite many Alien films ending on cliff-hangers, Isolation's ending is very underwhelming, and wasn't satisfying in the slightest. The story is the weakest part in Isolation, its gameplay is where it shines.

 

Isolation is in the 'Survival Horror' genre, which means limited supplies, and maximum spooks. While the first hour of the game builds up tension, once the Alien is revealed, the game never lets up in making you feel in danger. Imagine the classic survival horror game, where you run into a room with a save station, and lots of supplies. Naturally, you'd think that because of the save station and supplies present, the game is letting you take a breather. In Isolation, while rooms like this exist, sprint around in circles, and the Alien will come bursting out the vent, and will probably impale you with its massive spike thing.

 

Supplies are used for the crafting system, where you can craft a few gadgets from a menu. This system is very reminiscent of The Last of Us’ crafting system. I played through the game on the hardest difficulty (hard mode), and I have to say, the game didn’t feel very punishing. I had an abundance of supplies, and didn’t use most of the gadgets like the noisemaker or flash bang, because the best course of action is to either wait for the Alien to crawl into a vent, or sneak through while it’s in another room. Even if I was low on supplies, the game would place a convenient Molotov before any major areas, which many ‘survival’ horror games are guilty of doing. This detracts from the survival element, because I never felt like I needed supplies desperately, or that I’d have to rely on my own skills because I couldn’t make a flare.

 

A few hours into the game, you get the flamethrower, which can be used to scare the Alien back into the vents. While you can craft a Molotov to use to the same effect, my flamethrower never ran out of juice throughout the entire game. It honestly feels pretty cheap, like a get out of jail free card, because if you mess up, you can just shoot some fire and try again.

 

Some might argue that Isolation needs some forgiveness due to its punishing save system. If you didn’t know, Isolation doesn’t have an auto save feature, you have to manually save at designated points throughout the game. If you die you’ll restart at your last saved spot. Many have said that this is too punishing, considering the Alien can insta kill you, but I felt that it was perfectly balanced. Never was there a moment where I had to go for 30 minutes without a save station, but there are also moments where you’re desperately searching for one.

 

 

 

The Alien itself is terrifying. In the early hours, I was seriously wondering if I’d be able to beat the game, because the Alien was just too scary. The atmosphere really goes hand in hand with the Alien, Sevastopol’s old crumbling station only adds to the spookiness. About mid-way through the game, Isolation decides to focus on the Androids, with their slow walking, and rubber necks. While still definitely creepy, it lost some of the scare factor, because the gameplay strategy turns from hide from Alien, crap yourself, repeat, to aggro android and walk around cupboard to get to the other side of him. Even when Isolation decides to go back to the Alien, I didn’t find it as scary. Maybe because the game wanted you/Amanda to become a pro at Alien hiding, it kind of numbs you to shitting yourself after a while.

 

Isolation’s audio is great. From the Alien’s heavy footsteps, to the banging of the vents as you walk under them. One area where the audio suffers is the guns. The revolver and Shotgun sound like pea shooters, especially considering the rest of Isolation’s audio is top-notch. And yes, the beeping of the heartbeat monitor tracker thing is still as scary as in the film.

 

 

 

Overall, Alien Isolation is a good game. Amanda’s journey to Sevastopol is great, but can sometimes be repetitive due to its long running time (In the original film, the Alien was only on screen for 8 minutes!), and can sometimes be ‘run here, fix this, run here, open that, run here, restart generator’ with Aliens.

 

The characters are a wasted potential, most just show up and die, and even though the game’s story is alright, the characters could’ve been better. The save system is fine, the graphics are ‘next gen’ enough, and Alien gameplay is great for most of the game. You’ll get 60% of the trophies from a standard play through, with the remaining being difficulty and collectible related. There is a trophy for completing the game without dying, but I found that you could easily get it by reloading right before you’re about to die.

 

 

Alien Isolation gets an 8/10 from me. It goes a bit flaccid in some parts, and is more of a horror game than a survival horror game, but it’s still an excellent package, with a long running time. The only great Alien game, what the fans deserve after the many disastrous Aliens games in the past.

 

8/10

 

[platinumplayer12]

great  review     going to buy this when i have some spare money 

[SuffyZorugelion]

I got the game and have been playing it abit but didnt beat it yet. It got alot of mixed reviews, but so far I've personally been enjoying it!

[Conker]

review, can't wait till i get this game, it gonna be so much Fun

[xVolloxx]

Just Started playing the game yesterday and i'm loving it ! 

Which is surprising considering i don't really like horror games all that much 

mainly because i haven't played any true horror games since Silent Hill 

the whole presentation & sound design is top notch !

 

Great review by the way !

[damon8r351]

This game isn't connected to Colonial Marines in any way, is it? Is it a sequel to Colonial Marines, or a separate game that's set in the Aliens universe?

[vJRae]

Picking this up very soon, looks like a great game! thanks for the review.

[Saltyie]

This game isn't connected to Colonial Marines in any way, is it? Is it a sequel to Colonial Marines, or a separate game that's set in the Aliens universe?

Completely separate. I believe they actually made Isolation canon, as a direct sequel to Alien (they did the same for colonial marines, but revoked it's canon status at launch).

[damon8r351]

Completely separate. I believe they actually made Isolation canon, as a direct sequel to Alien (they did the same for colonial marines, but revoked it's canon status at launch).

 

Good to know. The only thing that would keep me from this is the fact that I need to play Colonial Marines.

[Carville87]

Great review hopefully it's the first of many

[Gatatog]

Completely separate. I believe they actually made Isolation canon, as a direct sequel to Alien (they did the same for colonial marines, but revoked it's canon status at launch).

 

Even if they were both related directly to the movies, this game takes place 15 years after Alien (the first movie) and Colonial Marines is set shortly after Aliens (the second movie). Since the two movies are set 57 years apart, Colonial Marines doesn't take place until around 42 years after the events of Isolation.

[YoChiink_]

Great review, still dont want to pay full ptice for this might pick it up when its on sale during christmas time

[Sikatiiker]

It was fun to read this, I guess I'm like at the half way through the game and I really enjoy it. There's one thing I'm pretty disappointed in and it's the Alien AI walking by without noticing me if I'm crouched at the corner of the room. Anyway I guess it's because I'm doing it on easy and hope it's gonna change. Great review!