Alien: Isolation
Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 5:54 pm
Well the day finally came to see if another game could meet the expectations of multiple generations of Alien fans. So far Steam claims I've logged 14 hours in the game, but in reality its much less. I chose the hardest difficulty setting for my first playthrough and I've been taking it very slowly, searching everywhere and really soaking up the atmosphere. I love it. The ambience is like no other game I've played. When I finally came across the allien, I actually froze, cowering under a desk I didn't know what to do. I watched it slowly walk about for over a minute without moving from under my "safe" desk. This game seems to divide people. Many seem to be criticising it for things like "being too slow", "frustrating" or "the AI is too unpredictable". Really? When people use unpredictable AI as a reason to criticise a game, then something is seriously wrong with the way they experience a game. For me a game isn't about finishing. Its not about achievements. Its not about kill death ratios. Its an experience. A way of creating an environment that you cant get in the real world, and it does it brilliantly. Alien: Isolation seems to have avoided falling into the same trap as many others, but the result puts a lot of players out of their comfort zone. If you rush through this game, you will miss a lot. Not only items within the game world, but you will miss the point of the game itself. Trying to "beat" each encounter with the alien using a Super Meatboy mentality detaches you from feeling involved in the world and will of course result in frustration from being repeatedly killed. And it doesn't let you off. If you don't stop and use your brain and learn to out-smart it, you get destroyed every time. Its perfect.