Random Video Game Review - Alien Isolation

 

There have been so many Alien games that I could do a series review of. But then again, nearly all the games based on that franchise that come out are all very different and not all are considered canon to the film series. This one is pretty unique because unlike games that have come before it, its not quite action packed with the focus being more on stealth and survival horror. It's one of a few games that has been able to make me a bit stressed on how to get around things, but I guess that's why I enjoy stealth games. Always get me thinking, and the rewards are, most of the time, worth it. So let's see how we do in this game:

Set 15 years after the very first film in the year 2137, the daughter of Ellen Ripley called Amanda (voiced by Andrea Deck) has been trying to find her mother for a while and finds her big break when the flight recorder from the ship Nostromo, is located onboard a salvage ship called the Anesidora. The Anesidora hands over the recorder to the space station Sevastopol and Amanda is offered a place on the retrieval team to find closure of her mother's fate. Upon arrival, things don't look right as a single Alien has infiltrated the space station and put it out of control. It's up to Ripley and her team to find the flight recorder and get out before the Alien or hostile humans take them down. Due to the game's focus on stealth and survival, you play as Ripley and must outsmart, avoid and/or defeat enemies while completing your objectives. Objectives are most of the time just activating computers to retrieve certain items and going to a specific spot in the space station. You can run, climb leaders, go into vents and crouch behind objects where you can peek over or lean around to get a view and break an enemy's line of sight. Gunplay is a mechanic which can be used to defeat the many antagonists in the game, but there are other offensive means. The Alien however, cannot be defeated and will pop by occasionally to try and kill you so do your best to avoid it. You do get to use guns, like I said, but developers expect us the players to just evade and avoid contact with enemies at all costs. Which means that ammunition is limited, but you can still craft things such as a pipe bomb and EMPs to distract enemies when necessary. Another thing that is limited is Ripley's health, so make sure to craft and use medkits when needed. The space station is big and connected via trams, lifts and other things which may need hacking or a keycard for access. This is also one of those games where you have to find a certain thing to save your game; the thing being a terminal. Not ideal if you prefer autosave, but hey ho.

Despite the limited stuff you get in the game, this is by far the best Alien game I have played so far. It has its own identity as being more stealth and survival horror than action which is great. It's also got some good voice acting, and can be pretty terrifying even for hardcore gamers like myself. A great Alien game overall and I hope we get more like this in the future. 9/10