Alien Isolation

- Reviewed on PS4 -

Alien Isolation released on October 7th, 2014. 

"In space no one can hear you scream". 

This phrase is the famous slogan of the Alien Movie (and franchise as a whole). For Alien Isolation, this slogan / phrase fits tremendously as well. 

This review WILL have Major Spoilers so keep that in mind before continuing...

Let's start off by saying, this game is BY FAR the scariest game I have ever played in my life (as of writing this blog post)! 

Creative Assembly (makers of Alien Isolation) took the stress level past 100 on this title. Not only do you play the beginning of this game with barely any weapons, but the actual Alien (the Xenomorph) does not even show up until about an hour or so into the game! 

The story begins with Ellen Ripley's daughter, Amanda Ripley, being invited to go to Sevastopol (a space station) because crew have found evidence of Amanda Ripley's missing mother, Ellen Ripley (star of the Alien movie series). 

Now (SPOILER) obviously Amanda does not find her mother anytime throughout the game, however she does find a dark and terrifying experience coming her way. 

When leaving the Torrens (Amanda's Spaceship she Lived In), a huge explosion occurs causing Amanda and her crew (consisting of an Android named Samuels and a human named Taylor) to become separated and inside the Alien infested Sevastopol. 

This is where the game goes into true horror. I found myself very worried whenever I was alone and nowhere near human life inside Sevastopol. 

But like mentioned earlier, the Alien does not show up right away. Creative Assembly did a great job introducing the key mechanics of the game while keeping your heart pounding faster and faster. 

Alien Isolation is a true Stealth Horror Game. Personally, I don't like Stealth that much in Video Games but due to my love of the Alien Movie Series, I was willing to go through with it for this horrific (in a good way) experience. 

You can go in, all guns a blazing, but it is not recommended, especially in the beginning where you don't have the (SPOILER) Flamethrower or even Molotov Cocktails. 

The Xenomorph is afraid of Fire and NOTHING else, so whenever I was out of ammo for my Flamethrower or out of my Molotov Cocktails, my heart / stress started to get worse and worse. 

Even with playing the whole game on the Easiest difficulty, like I did, the game was still stressful and hard to complete. Alien Isolation is 12-15 hours long and will keep new players on the edge of their seats the entire time!

The Xenomorph can be a hard enemy to simply just avoid, however as you progress through the game, you will eventually get a Motion Tracker. 

This little piece of equipment will eventually become your best friend and it will help you complete your mission(s) through Alien Isolation. 

However, keep in mind that in this game, the Alien is not your only enemy. 

In Alien Isolation there is also Facehuggers (Baby Aliens), Working Joe Androids, Other Humans, and of course the Xenomorph himself. 

I found all these enemy types to be very effective and within this game I found that each enemy type had their own section (mission) sprinkled throughout this 15-hour game. 

One part (mission) would have only Facehuggers, while another would have just the Xenomorph, and then there would be combinations of enemies in one section. 

For example, there would be human enemies but also, they would be accompanied by the Alien. 

Creative Assembly also made the Alien look / feel like a true threat to not only me as a player, but to other enemies within the game as well. 

Like the human enemies for example, the Alien would not just target me when combat ensued, it would also attack and kill other humans besides me. 

One mechanic I truly liked (but also hated because of the horror aspect about it), is the hiding within Alien Isolation. I can't tell you how many times I hid in a little cabinet type structure or even the vents from not only the Alien but the Androids as well. 

Creative Assembly added a feature where you can peak around the corners and peak within your hiding spots. I thought this helped out a lot with the horror aspect of this game. 

Story telling is wonderful throughout the game, you wake up as Amanda Ripley inside the dormitories of the Torrens and you and your crew finally reach the destination of Sevastopol. After all things go horribly wrong, you find yourself trying to escape Sevastopol. 

Let me tell you something, the stress levels I had while playing this game was horrific, especially (SPOILER) when I had to get the power back on and backtrack in the game room / living room of the Sevastopol station.

I played the ending of this game during the day and my heart still was beating out of my chest. This is obviously horrific for me to experience but that is / was Creative Assembly's job to do, scare and stress out their players. 

One big problem however with Alien Isolation I had / experienced was the combat. 

More specifically using the Flamethrower on the Alien (Xenomorph). 

I found myself using so much flame rounds and the Alien, who was supposed to flee away from the fire, would just run through the flames and still kill me, defeating the whole purpose of the Flamethrower. 

I had / have my Alien Isolation game updated to its newest update and it still had that problem. 

Input delays on using the batons and aiming was also noticeable but not as bad as the previous problem with the flamethrower. 

Human enemies also were able to notice me through the walls and I was playing on Easy mode! 

Obviously, this might just be me and my skill with the combat, but the fact it happened throughout the whole entire game, that killed a little bit of the fun to be honest. 

Alien Isolation is a must play for fans of the Alien Movie Series, and I believe Creative Assembly did a great job putting players into the Alien Atmosphere and Culture. 

I highly recommend this game especially because this is by far (as of writing this blog post), the scariest game I have ever played / completed!

Pros: 

    - Stays True to the Movie Series 

    - Horrifying (In a Good Way)

    - Great Story

    - Great Atmosphere and Graphics

    - Loveable Characters 

    - Great Voice Acting

    - Excellent Sound Effects

    - Great Combinations of Weapons / Tools

Cons:

    - Glitchy Combat

    - Not that Many Different Enemy Types

    - Easy Mode is not Truly Easy

My Rating for Alien Isolation (on PS4):

4 / 5

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Disclaimer

All Reviews, Ratings, Pros, Cons, and Opinions Shared on this Blog (Press A Reviews) are my (Connor Butler) own Thoughts and Feelings.