Alien: Isolation review
That damn alien haunts my dreams. It''s there, stalking me as I walk to my kitchen. I hear its cruel snarls as I leave my front door. It creeps around upstairs while I''m figuring out what to watch on TV, disturbing the creaky floorboards above. It''s fair to say Alien: Isolation has gotten into my head. Maybe it was a mistake to play with the lights off.
Spare a thought for poor old Amanda Ripley, then, who spends several hours hiding under tables, in lockers and crawling around vents just to avoid being made into alien chow. She''s not really cut out for this type of stuff, being a technician and all, but here she is nonetheless. Film buffs will know Amanda as the daughter of Ellen Ripley, the ass-kicking heroine from the Alien film all the way back in 1979, and the license this game is so beautifully based upon.
Amanda is after the flight recorder of Nostromo, the ship that went missing 15 years ago with her mother on board. Apparently it turned up at a space station called Sevastopol, so Amanda joins a team of two others to head out there and retrieve it, hoping to add some closure to her mum''s death. Things are never simple in the world of video games, though, and due to some space debris the three of them become separated in a strange dystopia where cultured society is suffering a complete breakdown.
This is where we see developer Creative Assembly''s first great achievement, a beautifully realised station that looks like it should be in the original film. This is a 1970s vision of the future, so instead of touch screens we have bulky computer keyboards, and instead of flat computers we have monitors the size of a small child. Sticking with technology seen in the movie is a brilliant decision and one that greatly adds to the atmosphere, as you get lost in a world where you always want to pay close attention to detail.
That''s because this is an Alien game unlike all others. Instead of grabbing a weapon and charging around the station like a lunatic, you''ll be slowly peering around corners and making sure you don''t make too much noise. You generally don''t want to be found, by anything, so remembering where good hiding places are will always come in handy. Even the few humans remaining on this abandoned space station have gone a bit mad, and they''re either looting for whatever valuables they can find or dashing wildly down hallways.
But you don''t care about them; you''re here to read about the petrifying beast that''s lurking in the shadows. Well you''ll have to wait a while, because the first small portion of the game is dedicated to finding out just what has happened here, before all hell broke loose. It''s a scene-setting technique used by Creative Assembly and it''s done to very good effect. Obviously we know there''s an alien in there somewhere, it''s in the game''s title! But Amanda doesn''t, and witnessing her trying to figure it out for herself makes for tense viewing.
The scene is genuinely disturbing when she does finally catch a glimpse of it. A sudden realisation that you, the player, is now in grave danger will become apparent and from there the entire dynamic of the game changes. Before you just suspected a deadly creature was roaming about in the vents above you. Now you know. And you know it''s after you.
Sections of the game where you''re being stalked by the alien can often be slow and methodical, but hardly ever boring. That''s because the creature doesn''t have a predetermined path, the alien AI has been designed to explore things on his own terms, poking his nose wherever he likes. You''ll never be able to work out his pattern of patrol, because a small noise here or there could attract it somewhere else and from there it''s all about making sure you stay out of the way.
As soon as it spots you, you''re basically dead. If it gets near you it''s a one-hit kill, and a short cinematic will show you dying gruesomely. The only defence is stealth and staying hidden long enough to make your move elsewhere. This could mean hiding in a locker for a short period, or waiting under a desk to make sure the coast is absolutely clear. This kind of gameplay won''t be for everyone and it can be tiring to feel so vulnerable all the time, but it''s rare for a game to make you feel so weak and Isolation should be appreciated for what it''s trying to pull off.
Contributing to the horror is the amazing score and terrific sound effects that''ll have you on edge after going through certain doors or corridors. This is a game you should play with the sound up, as you listen out for audio clues for potential danger and footsteps. Creeping around in the darkness never sounded better. Add to that the superb lighting effects and you have a title that looks and sounds like a next-generation game.
One lesson to be learned is that Alien: Isolation is hardcore. There''re going to be puzzles that are a struggle to solve, and recurring deaths when you''re trying to figure out how to progress through a certain section. That''s all well and good, but the need to reach ''emergency station'' save points may be too much for some. At best it adds to the thrill of the experience, as you take a few seconds to save your game while looking out for any danger. At worst it can be frustrating in the extreme, seeing a save point and dying agonisingly close to it. Losing ten minutes of your time is never much fun.
Weapons do exist but they are few and far between, meaning you have to be cautious over your ammo supply. Of course, guns have no effect on the alien, but they can help you against the synthetic workers that are still going about their duties on Sevastopol. At first your encounters with these robots are pleasant enough, they even ask if they can help you with anything. But dare to enter a forbidden area and they''ll be on your tail, still relentlessly obeying protocol. Go too near one and they''ll grab, choke and throw you to the floor. It''ll take five or six bullets to down one, so again, staying hidden is the best method for survival.
Elsewhere Amanda''s mechanical skills come in handy via a crafting system. She won''t be able to make anything too hi-tech, but collect some bits and pieces around Sevastopol and she should be able to fit together some smoke bombs or explosives. She also gets her hands on a motion tracker before too long, which tells you if anyone (or anything) is near. Use it wisely, because it''ll be your main tool for avoiding conflict or death, but beware that the alien can hear sounds from the tracker so put it away when its near. Amanda will also get to hack security systems via a series of minigames, which are enjoyable enough.
The main gripe is what happens when Amanda isn''t in the vicinity of the alien. There will be these downtime moments where she''s tasked with searching for something and only having to avoid those freaky looking androids, but those are often the weakest of the entire game. They drag on and in retrospect it might have been better to cut the game''s length - a sizeable 20 hour campaign - and loose the filler. The repetition hurts what is otherwise an epic piece of work.
As far as survival horror goes, this is right up there with the best of them. Creative Assembly has done a tremendous job of creating a picturesque environment filled with terrifying encounters that'll have you hiding behind the sofa. Everything is on point, from the music to the chilling sound effects, and even the old school gameplay features do their bit to make things even more worrying. The difficulty curve might be too steep for some, and the campaign can drag, but persist through it and you''ll be rewarded with more than enough horror thrills to fill your nightmares for weeks.