Like many things in life, you only get one shot to make an impression before the public can turn on you. Is this the case with another Alien title by Sega?
Of course the elephant in the room is Alien: Colonial Marines by Gearbox Software, which was successful from a sales standpoint but was not received well by critics and gamers a like. Rightfully so, as it played and looked like an outdated mess. Now, here comes The Creative Assembly tasked with not only creating a new game, Alien Isolation, but doing much needed damage control. The Creatively Assembly have been making games since 1989 and recently have been the studio behind the strategy franchise Total War.
Today, we had a chance to play some of Alien Isolation and unfortunately it did not put our minds at ease over our previous concerns. From a time standpoint, Alien Isolation takes place in the year 2137, which is 15 years after Alien and 42 years prior to Aliens. Players will be taking on the role of Amanda Ripley who hasn’t seen her mother since she disappeared on her 10th birthday. Volunteering to search the Sevastopol for a possible flight recorder of her mother’s ship the Nostromo, Amanda realizes the ship has been infested with an Alien.
What we saw today was not a bad game but rather one that is hamstrung by it’s own timeline and original set pieces. While we know the game is supposed to have a dated look and feel, we wonder if The Creative Assembly has over done it. This is a survival horror stealth game so no one should expect to see players equipped with a vast array of weapons as if they were playing a comparable game like Dead Space.
In the section we were able to play, the Alien could not be killed. Therefore it made little sense to do anything but stealthy move along, press X when prompted, and then carefully get out of dodge as soon as the shit hit the fan. Maybe this is what Alien fans have been clamoring for and we’ll be proven wrong. However, we were left feeling this was a game which easily could’ve been released mid-console cycle of the last gen and not something we’re being delivered in 2014.
