When I was playing isolation, I was so immersed into it. That when my dog was sleeping next to me on the floor. She sneezed, I nearly shat myself from that. That's fucking immersion.
Jason-Christopher Davis The funny part is I think this is creative assembly's first to second attempt at a first person game and my god did they nail it.
They were all fans of the films and put as much love and attention to detail in it as possible. Just compare that with other triple A titles, and you can see the huge difference being a fan and loving what you're doing makes.
3 years later, and over 250 hours of game play, I'm still screaming when that alien finds me. Nightmare mode virtually eliminates lockers and air vents as hiding spots because that's one of the first places the alien checks... every SINGLE time.
Gotta disagree a bit on the Alien AI. It's not so much that it just follows you. It's more than it adapts to your strategies. For example, the more I hid in lockers, the more it noticed. Instead of just walking away, it started investigating the locker I was in, and the more I hid in a locker when it was around, the quicker it would go to the locker and longer it would take as it investigated the locker. Believable? Not quite, but it IS smart.
Anthony Serocco he was talking about the fact that the AI was literally rubberbanded to you and always stayed in close proximity to you for no reason (thank god one guy released a mod that raises the maximum distance the alien can be away from one)
@@gmgmaker9289 there are two AI systems in this game. One knows exactly where you are, and hints to the alien (the second AI) your presence in that area but never wherr you actually are, also when you play the game at snail pace the alien will come after you more often.
@@felipearenasbarr In all fairness, I understand the argument for the AI to be "glued" to the player character, but there has to be a timer on that, cuz otherwise there are certain areas that will completely shut down player movement. I started playing this game on Nightmare from the get-go, and though I died a couple of times, it was still manageable... ... that is until I got to a level where the Alien spawns early into it, and the entire design of the area was so claustrophobic that there was no way for me to get through it. I exhausted every possibility and resource for almost 4 hours (over the course of 3 days) and was essentially stuck on that level because the Alien did not explore anything else except my general direction. I then stopped playing because of it. This video does motivate me to replay it though, and I'd like to end on the note that if the player character is hiding for too long, maybe the Alien could actually explore different areas. That would allow players to escape such pitfalls when they occur.
I actually liked the saving system. In an age of gaming where we usually get an autosave every few seconds, or checkpoint after checkpoint, it was a smart decision to only employ manual saves at the scarcely placed savepoints. As a result, every time I find one its a small victory, a relief, a time to breathe. It would've been so easy to add a save system that allows you to save at any point but I'm glad it turned out the way it did. It adds an extra dimension to the already intense gameplay. Sure, it can get frustrating when grabbing parts for your items and collectibles, then trying to fulfill an objective and not get killed while trying to make it back to the savepoint, but it's part of the games charm. It's one of the main reasons you are nervous going around every corner. It's the reason you are extra cautious even when you don't need to be. Being able to save your progress at a whim would practically take away everything that makes the game what it is.
Aegix Drakan Ink ribbons are not that big of a deal, especially playing on the easiest or hardest difficulty (they practically hand you them on the easiest difficulty, while still being manageable on very hard runs).
**spoiler alert** The reason the Alien is almost always in your vicinity is because, den den derrrr, there's more than one of them. In fact, there's a shit ton of them. Great game. Scared the shit out of me.
IIRC that only makes sense in the games closing section when you enter the core and accidentally release them all, prior to that only 1 was loose, rest were in the core locked up.
Okay, about the xenomorphs "dying too easily in Aliens". In the first movie the crew of the Nostromo weren't soldiers. They weren't armed with high powered rifles loaded with armor piercing bullets. They were space jockeys hauling ore from an asteroid mining operation in deep space. They were totally ill equipped to fight a xenomorph. Their flame throwers weren't even actual weapons. They were jury rigged welding torches or something. The colonial marines went there with the specific intention of wiping out the xenomorph nest, and did so with the equipment necessary to do so. I guarantee you're going to do a lot more damage to a xenomorph with an M-60 loaded with armor piercing bullets than you will using a can of Raid and a Zippo as a make shift flame thrower. And the xenomorphs still overwhelmed the marines and killed damn near everyone, so what is everyone really complaining about?
It wasn't just armour piercing bullets, they were using explosive bullets. But that isn't the point, it turned individual xenomorphs into significantly less of a threat. You can't deny that because of Aliens, almost every comic/game/novel set in the alien universe uses large quantities of xenomorphs to make them seem more threatening whereas if no sequels were made the extended universe would probably have focussed on just a few aliens being an extreme threat in most stories. I can't help but think that adding a queen xenomorph makes this worse too, since now lots of people think they're all just mindless drones being controlled by the hive mind instead of extremely intelligent hunters.
@@a_cats My point still remains however. There is a world of difference between a bunch of civilian haulers being hunted by an alien species they've never encountered before, and an entire platoon of space marines armed to the teeth setting out with the expressed purpose of wiping out the xenomorphs. One xenomorph, or even five xenomorphs, wouldn't be any challenge to a platoon of space marines armed with high powered machine guns loaded with armour piercing/exploding bullets. they didn't continue the "more = better" trend in everey movie. In Alien 3 it was only one xenomorph hunting and killing the huimans, because their weapons were primitive and thus one xenomorph was all that was needed to be a credible threat. In Alien vs Predator there were multiple xenomorphs because Predator tech is so advanced there needed to be more xenomorphs to make it a challenge to the Predators. In Alien: Resurrection the humans were badass mercenaries and thus better equipped to deal with the xenomorphs than a bunch of civilians.
@@Thundarr100 I'm not denying that marines would be better at killing xenomorphs to ordinary people. I'm saying that because of Aliens, xenomorphs are typically portrayed as swarms of individually weak monsters and that really takes away from the horror in my opinion. The movies generally didn't fall victim to this much - it mainly impacted the extended media, including video games, which is why it was brought up in this video.
@@a_cats And it depends on the video game in question. If it's a video game where you're playing as a space marine sent to kill xenomorphs, then it would make perfect sense that your chatracter would be armed to the teeth and you would be gunning them down by the dozen. If your character is a space trucker sent to investigate an alien transmission, then only having a single xenomorph makes sense. The former would be a straight up adventure crawl type game, like the Aliens arcade game that I spent rolls of quarters on back in the day. The latter would probably be more like the Friday The 13th video game that came out a few years ago (and I have sitting in my XBox One right now).
Well you can't spell ignorant without IGN. but the fact the alien rubber bands you did piss me off, and makes no sense if you've moved 20 stories away from him in the lift. It would have made a great multiplayer mode too, okay it would be a $60 game of hide and seek, but it would have been cool either way!
The game's difficulty curve is exactly proportional to how often the Alien is close to you. At the beginning you barely see the Alien at all, but by the end you're basically sharing a sleeping bag with the fucker. I think the Alien paying attention to only you is fine for that reason. It's a bit contrived, but it's justified in gameplay.
JrIcify The alien(s) do(es)n't just pay attention to you, if any human enemies shoot their guns or are in the path of the alien(s) they are dead within seconds
***** Of course, that's how I dealt with most hostile humans. What I mean by paying attention to only you is how the alien is only ever in the part of the ship you are.
This was a game that felt like the first movie. It was a love letter to fans of it and really shows just how possible it is to actually make a great Alien game if you, ya know, TRY. Looking at YOU, Gearbox!
The Alien license produced mutants and abominations generally so.. Isolation was a surprise. Amanda Ripley was a solid protagonist and the Alien was actually a dangerous antagonist.
Shame no one is actually buying it, meanwhile Call of Duty Advanced will go on to sell 12 million copies while Alien Isolation will probably never break a million combined platforms
"That is not dead which can eternal lie." I still dream that one day, I'll get to witness the cold unholy claws of Visceral tear their way out the still-breathing body of EA.
I want them to make a predator version of this game imagine this but in the jungle trying to avoid a predator stalking you while also dealing with government agents/South American rebels.
For some reason, when I first started playing this game, I thought: "Man, Razor would LOVE this!". It's a great game. I'm glad you liked it. I am curious tho. Creative Assembly is doing something very few devs are doing nowadays: Responding to fans' feedback. They are always answering posts on the "Isolation" Facebook page. Surprised you didn't mention that.
Sweet hell... May can't come soon enough. Well, except for that whole other thing that needs all that time to be able to be pulled off, but.. nevermind. Point is, the more I see about Alien Isolation the more I want to just play the damn thing.
***** I know it's out, and I know it's been out for a while. I won't have readily disposable income to get it for myself until May, hence I have to wait until May to play it.
I still disagree with the bashing on the save points, I think they're perfect for a game like this because the Alien never does the same thing in your next try, every retry will be different when the Alien is there, also it makes finding those save points more rewarding and relieving. The save points do suck with the human and android segments though, then again, the human and android segments suck and swallow ass full stop. Quick Saves would have been good yeah, but IMO it would have just been another case of tension killing checkpoints like Last of Us, the tension would be killed if you can just jump back 10 seconds before you last died and try again.
No it wouldn't. System Shock 2 is quite *literally the game Isolation is patterned after!* There are numerous easter eggs in Isolation that make veiled references to SS2. And in System Shock 2? You can save anywhere and anytime you want. Yet it's, frankly, even *more* terrifying than Alien: Isolation.
save scumming makes it easier, and checkpointing makes it tedious. so the games terror-factor isnt really related to saving. Silent Hill games had a similar save system to Alien: Isolation and it was much scarier.
***** I dunno, gonna have to disagree. I found Alien Isolation to be much more terrifying than System Shock 2. Don't get me wrong, System Shock 2 brings a similar kind of dread, But I thought Isolation was a bit scarier than SS2 mainly because the main enemy you are up against is unkillable. And I quite like the save system as well. It works well with the unpredictable AI and prevents save spamming (which would ruin the game in my opinion) Anyway I agree with most of the stuff you said in the video, but I noticed you forgot to mention the lackluster "story". Like how the game seems from the beginning like it knows where it's going, but quickly drops plot in favor of a bunch of tasks you gotta complete. I was excited to hear Amanda Ripley was going to be the main character, so I was hoping to find out more about her mother and the Alien universe as a whole.
***** Great review. By the way Razorfist, from what I read from your reactions you really seem to praise System Shock 2, (Which it deserves, it's a fucking good game) So I'm curious to know what your opinion is on Bioshock, the so-called "spiritual successor" to that game.
Saves should not be made (by the developer) a part of the gameplay. If you don't like save spamming, don't save spam. Checkpoint saves are consoley and aggravating. I want my F5.
Because checkpoints fall back into repetition and frustration. While, with quicksaves, the player has no one to blame but themselves. Not a pimple-faced dolt at a design console, putting checkpoints 9 lightyears apart.
Meh. I respectfully disagree. With quicksaving, not only do I find myself constantly and reflexively jamming the save button every 20 seconds, but I also start generally acting like an invincible idiot in-game and just running around carefree, dicking with enemies and AI patterns just for the hell of it. Save stations on the other hand, have me gnawing my nails in anxiety while I'm screaming at the save animation to go faster, all the while hearing terrifying noises behind me. Hell, I still fondly remember to this day the horror of being interrupted mid-save by a loud and unexpected tail point erupting into view from my character's chest!
I dont understand why many people seems to Think that being forced to do big parts of a game all over again if you die is scary because to me its just frustrating and not scary at all and to me its things like atmosphere, the music, the environments, the story, the characters and other stuff that is supposed to make it scary and Alien Isolation is a good game yea but it does not really have those things i mentioned compared to many way better and way scarier horror games and also many people seems to Think that the evil thing that is trying to kill you is the only thing that is supposed to make horror stuff scary but to me its only one of the many things.
Anyone tried novice mode? I wasn't a fan of the rubber banding alien ether, but finding it less frustrating now I've changed. Congrats on the hundy razor! Hopefully thousands more to come! :-)
You are one of the most intelligent and inspiring people I have ever heard! Your vocabulary usage makes me grin and have hope that others will hear the immense intelligence behind their usage and follow suite. You are in the same vein as Yhatzee from escapist in terms of creativity and use of linguistic form and creativity and i feel utterly blessed to hear such an amazingly intelligent man bare his soul for the unwashed masses! bravo good sir!
About the part where the alien is often where you are at, that is not necessarily by choice of the developer, it's completely A.I. driven and that by exactly two A.I.s. One that always knows your exact location and the location of the alien and one that never knows your precise location and is hunting you down. The first one, the director A.I. is nudging the hunter into the right direction from time to time and tells it off, when it gets too handsy with the player, so that they can have a minute or two to get their heart rate under control, as constant terror is believed to be no good.
While I can certainly see why some would find check points...jarring, they are more immersive than a quick save function. Look, when you have the option to quick save...each and every corner you turn, there is no connection to your character. He becomes a vehicle that you experience the game through. By taking out the quick save function, you are now forced to be more cautious. You are forced to weigh risk and reward knowing that you cant just immediately load up and try again. The Check Point system actually helps the immersion, putting you in the boots of the character, rather than being some ass behind a screen. I loved System Shock 1 & 2, but, I would not call either of them scary. Alien Isolation...that is scary.
Given the dev studio in question I am shocked at how well they pulled this off given their history indicates they pretty much had no experience in this kind of game.
and as a side note saving anywhere you want in games like this not only removes tension it allows players to get through the game by throwing the protagonist's corpse at the problem till through sheer amount of attempts you get through
The Alien AI was ground breaking for the time and a lot more sophisticated than you realise. Play it on nightmare then come back to me. And as for the checkpoints, I really like them. The relief you feel when you reach one is so satisfying and it helps give small breaks in the tension. It takes time to save and all the while the alien could appear. Maybe they should just remove the option to save and just have an animation that saves whenever you insert the card. I think its an effective way of adding tension. Especially when you see a save point or hear one nearby and you gamble between playing it cool or rushing over to save. I love it. What alternative would there be to checkpoints? I cant think of any that actually augment the tension like these do.
I find it hilariously awesome how prophetic your assessment of C.M. was. In riffing on all the things wrong with that game(and everything after the first movie) you described almost to a T what this game ended up being!(give or take) anyway, Awesome video man! Rock on, and God Fucking Speed!
Hi Razorfist I have got to say that your expletive laden, but critical breakdown and analysis of movies, music and video games. Always brings a wry smile as well as making me laugh heartily. So please keep your intelligent yet scathing appraisal of all of our favourite subject matter coming good sir. 😄 🍺
The AI is programmed to search for various indicators that the player is nearby, so its always searching and "listening" for the player. The issue though is that the AI wants to search everywhere it can go, including places the player isn't capable of reaching. So the developers had to link it to come search within a certain proximity of your location. If they didn't do that the player may not ever encounter the Alien while playing, or would rarely ever encounter the Alien. So its either have the Alien linked to your location or have the chance of possibly never seeing the Alien, which in an Alien game its the whole point to see it. What they should have done is instead of it being directly linked, link it to a general area the player is in. It would lesson encounters but the level of fear for the player would be far higher. Knowing its in the area but not seeing it, is more scary than seeing it every few seconds walking by. Plus they should have programmed it to sit and wait in certain areas to look and listen for targets to attack.
Scripting the game events around having the alien present in a believable and scary way is the way to go. Maybe it's not here at the moment, but you have to sneak past some human enemies and if either of you gets a shot off, alien shows up. The good missions seem to reflect that. If you're in a hive, no wonder there's going to be an alien lurking around.
And one of the most hilarious things of all, (although it may or may not make sense depending on how you see it) is Alien: Isolation, one of the best Sci-fi horror games in recent memory, was made by a company famous for it's historical strategy games.
Great review! Really enjoyed the game. It stressed me out alot, and also gave me the feeling of fighting a enemy is much faster and superior than the me. Survial horror seems to be back. The resident-evil-in-the-future save system was sometimes a pain in the ahole, but on the other hand made it much more frightening, when trying to make it to the next checkpoint. So keep up the good work and godspeed.
In retrospect, having recently delved into Alien Resurrection on the PS1 (by the legendary Argonaut Games), I have to say that the Alien franchise has actually done quite well on the video game front since its early days. Sure it has had a lot of mediocrity (the very first game was literally a Pac-Man clone), but also innovation and risk-taking. The second game of the franchise was a top-down management simulator where the player acted as Captain Dallas of the Nostromo trying to direct the crewmates to perform tasks to prepare the Nostromo to return to Earth while trying to keep them from panicking and getting picked off by the alien. Alien Resurrection for the PS1 steers clear of Joss Whedon's deep-fried cheeseball stupidity that was the film and is weirdly enough a far more faithful adaptation of the original Alien concept than the film it is obstinately based on (the fact it came out three years after the movie and spent a lot of time in development after two scrapped prototypes contributed to that). The aliens are not invulnerable in the game, but are definitely very deadly, being faster than the player and able to rapidly dish out a lot of damage while the player has limited health restores and ammunition. It works thanks to also ripping out large sections of System Shock 2's design document, being a first-person shooter with survival-horror elements, limited weapons, ammo, and health restores, and a very heavy emphasis on atmosphere cultivated through having a soundtrack focused on mood-setting ambient noises and a solid 3D rendering and lighting engine. Biggest fault with it is its difficulty. Despite being one of the first video games to have the option to use modern dual-stick FPS controls, the balance of ammo and health restores to frequent alien encounters and the amount of damage they dish out means its very easy to screw yourself over by letting the aliens get in one or two many hits or missing more than a few shots.
The alien has a complex a.i. behavior in alien isolation and a parenting sort of system that also gives it orders. Its a survival horror game, you arent supposed to fight the alien duh. On top of that alien isolation is a great game and so was alien versus predator and alien versus predator extinction.
Some person needs to make a farscape, sliders and firefly separate games. God bless the Malcom Reynolds and chriton characters also the sliders cue ball
James Cameron was actually very clever when he created Aliens. He knew he could not reach the level of fear and dread that Scott's original did. Instead, he made the story about redemption. Ripley goes back to the Aline threat because she must, because she needs to face her fear. This is most poignantly displayed in the Newt character- Beyond being a stand-in for Ripley's long dead daughter, Newt also represents Ripley herself. When Ripley goes back to save Newt at the end of the movie she isn't doing it just to save her 'daughter', but to save/redeem herself. It's a movie about regaining strength and power from the very thing that took it away from you. Once again, Cameron new it wasn't his strength to create a horror movie, but he is excellent at sci-fi action. He used this as an opportunity to create a very different, but ultimately important and intelligent, sequel to Alien.
Yeah, sure. And Big Macs are microwaved as a minimalist repudiation of contemporary epicurean dogma. Aliens is a dumb, shitty action movie that looks like it was filmed on a sitcom set. Where Ridley Scott spends 5 hours cultivating 'just the right consistency of condensation on the sleeping pod glass...' James Cameron says 'Fuck it, throw some glitter on it. That kind of looks like ice, right?'' It lacks the cerebral quality of the original sci-fi horror classic... and lacks the charm of other '80s action films necessary to get away with how braindead it is. Everything wrong with future Alien films...? Begins with Aliens. Every. Single. Thing.
***** To be fair I enjoyed the entire quadrilogy , even for the silly moments. Though, Cameron's Aliens has ONE moment that I call the absolute dumbest : The fight against the queen becomes ridiculous the moment they open the trap door and Ripley climbs back... While the frigging Queen has grabbed her leg ! I love Ellen but I call BS on that scene . But my favorite remains the 3rd one. It's pessimistic as all hell but I really do prefer the leaner Xenomorph and the ending...
Alright, lads, show of hands- who else would pay actual money to see Razor tear into Slender, Five Nights at Freddy's, and the rest of the pretenders to the Survival Horror throne?
I usually hate save point systems with a passion but in this game, they work and work well. There's nothing more terrifying than sneaking up to the save point with the Alien stomping around nearby and wondering if he's going to eat your face before those 3 lights finish cycling.
As someone who beat Alien isolation on hard difficulty, yes it's extremely hard and that's what made it fun. There was a point where the alien became more of a nuisance than an actual fear-inducing thing, it was that loathsome medical ward level. God I probably died a hundred and eighty times, before getting through that area.
I did enjoy Alien Isolation, but the point you make about the Alien being right where you are is spot on. The AI doesn't feel organic, you know exactly when you're safe (and the Alien will NEVER show up) and when you're in a "danger zone" where the alien is hanging around. It never captures that full feeling of the movie where the Alien could be anywhere at anytime. You know when it's near, you know when it's not. Immersion tainted. As for it being patterned after System Shock 2, I strongly disagree. SS2 is more of an FPS RPG with far more depth and far better. Alien Isolation is practically a reskin of Outlast. Granted it's longer and has a few extra bells and whistles and higher production value, but the basic set pieces of running around a particular area, avoiding an enemy, and hiding in lockers feels exactly the same.
+Cryofax Actually, I can disagree slightly. I've actually had these moments where the Alien wasn't there, I started running to a save point, then it showed up and killed me. Fantastic feeling, by the way.
+Cryofax Even on hard, the Alien's AI was predictable. I haven't played on Nightmare difficulty. I agree that the Alien doesn't act like it did in the films but its a blessing that you can't kill it because it forces you to adapt your gameplay.
Funniest review ever of my fave game ever. Glad you also liked it a lot; it was my first-ever "adult title" (i.e. not Spongebob or Lego lolol), and I'm SO glad it was! And yeah, the xeno does "adapt" to your play style, unlocking behavior trees with 2 AIs: the Xeno and a "God" AI that monitors your gameplay.
Awesome review as always razorfist.Now I just have to ask,Are you going to grace us with a retrospect of the system shock games?Yeah I know,It'll be a short video since there's only 2 games in the wonderful franchise.But I would love to see,in video format,your take on both system shock games.
Can't wait to get the game when I eventually buy a PS4. I'll look forward to this and Bloodborne. If you want good material for your next review, look into Styx: Master of Shadows. It's a pretty good Thief inspired stealth game that was overlooked when it came out last month.
I'm waiting on christmas money to buy it. It's another game in the Orcs and Men universe, I want it for that alone. Seriously the first game was absolutely incredible and to be able to play a stealth game set in that world sounds like a massive sell to me. I just wish Akail was in it. I came to really like the big guy. XD
Styx... Whoa, man...where has this game been all my life? And why didn't Steam put it in my Queue?! All I buy are stealth games! *sigh* Well, that feature _is_ new... Thanks MasterTaffer for the plug-in. *tips hat to fellow Thief fan*
Good choice waiting on a PS4 to play this. I'm not a graphics are everything type of gamer, but from the footage I've seen the lighting took a serious step down to work on decade old hardware (good atmosphere is really important for a game like this IMO).
Zelousmarineinspace No need to tell me, I'm on a 780 Ti. I know a lot of people have no desire to game on a PC though (a foolish choice IMO, but their own choice nonetheless).
Horror games don't ever work. While they may create a horrific atmosphere through their music, art design and story, gameplay will be that one element that horror struggles with. Game are like puzzles as in the player has to try to figure out a strategy in order to bypass the obstacles in order to complete the objective. And this is the mind-set that we have when playing these games. Because of this it turns monsters like the Alien into nothing more than just a plain obstacle. There is no sense of hopelessness or dread as death has no consequences other then having to replay the section again.
"Only decent horror game in ten years." I dunno, I thought Siren: Blood Curse was an excellent horror game, especially since it fixed the grievous faults of the inspired original. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth was great as well. And coughDeadlyPremonitioncough can be decently creepy when you learn to accept it. I'm being nitpicky, though. Nice review, and I'll check this out as soon as I can!
reorseX I did mention it was a remake of the original. I do think, however, that the substantial changes in story, visuals, and overall player convenience warrant enough of a modification to call it its own game.
Well its good you see it that way but still its pretty much the same game. Nothing wrong with that but I wish they'd focus on making something new instead or remaking games that arent even that old to begin with. That reminds me, I have to replay it.
To be fair, Razor even said it himself that he liked (or loved, I forget which) the plot behind Silent Hill: Downpour and that besides it's trappings, it had a very interesting rollercoaster theme in where the main protagonist's life fit the description of what was happening in real time as he was in and out of jail all his life. Btw, were you the same guy who made a comment on Sir Alonne being Artorias in an ost of Sir Alonne before?
reorseX Well, determining how much change is enough to call something a different thing than before is a difficult issue. But I understand your concerns about remakes. Just because Blood Curse was a great remake of a game that I thought was vastly underrated doesn't mean everyone should follow suit. GothaBillsAndDeath Yeah, I'm pretty sure Razor's intention for the statement was to reference the famous Alien tagline. And no, I made a comment on Sir Alonne being a fucking badass (which he still is).
I have been playing this and I must say I am enjoying it even though the Alien can get annoying and the save based checkpoint are not to my liking. The game reminds me a lot of Outlast (a game I also enjoyed) but it damn sure has deeper gameplay.
You know, there is actually only one stealth game that uses checkpoints effectively, IMO. Mark of the Ninja. Because the checkpoints are placed VERY often (usually one for every encounter you face), and when you die, you immediately reload it. It strikes a good balance by being frequent enough to not be frustrating, but also not allowing you to game the system by quicksaving every time you make an inch of progress and reloading a dozen times to make sure you nail the encounter perfectly. Aside from that one game, though I agree that checkpoints in stealth games have never actually worked.
I reckon I will buy this game when I get the chance, if only for it to be a middle finger to IGN and Kotaku. Too hard? Well considering I'm a retro gamer I don't see the fucking problem. Too long? What fucking game is long these days that isn't an RPG? This is how horror games are meant to be done, stealth like, atmospheric and shit in your pants vulnerability against an indestructible demon. Not to mention the attention to detail of the 1970s styled futuristic ship from the first movie is fucking gorgeous.
I think they went too far with making the alien impossible to kill. My problem is that you're given some serious firepower by the end. That bolt gun seems able to punch through metal up close. All it does is BRIEFLY stun the alien. It recoils, shakes it off and continues coming at you with nary a scratch. You might as well have hit it with a spitball. Now, as for the stealth issue, well...yeah.. what good is darkness to something that lives in it? In the movie it lived in the darkest recesses of the ship. If it has any eyes at all, they have better night vision than Mr. Jones the cat.
Spoilers! There are so many aliens because there were loads of them to begin with. It would be weird if there were only a single alien chasing Ripley about the station, considering how large and labyrinthine it is. However, as you know, there is a whole nest of these fuckers. I was happy to believe that there were several on each level, and the jabbering, idiot astronauts in the station simply thought that it was one. But I know there are holes with this - why wouldn't two drop down at once, for instance? But the game is definitely my GOTY, I love stealth and horror, and despite the checkpoints, this had me cringing and wincing in my seat, fully immersed.
I think the reason the Alien seems to be everywhere you go is that, the alien is not the same alien as the previous section. (Spoiler warning) Later in the game you come across a nest with more Aliens, much like an ant hive the drones are being sent out to gather resources or eliminate threats. So each section of the station has its own patrolling drone.
Only thing James Cameron did was make an action movie out of a horror movie. I don't actually believe in the whole "we must have a creature of anonymous and unknown origins" remain completely ambiguous especially one in sci-fi where experimentation and the scientific method are humanity's only defining tools (weapons) for understanding the entity. Arguably, it's with how much detail is let on that is the fundamental issue. Alien creatures will always evolve in information as we learn more on them lest we risk them becoming the same ambiguous big-bads from the last rendition.
Speaking of stealth, any thoughts on Styx: Master of Shadows? It looked fun from the trailers and many people gave positive reviews,but i'm not sure about it yet. Great review by the way. Good to see an alien/stealth game not suck. I'll buy this soon no doubt.
I was also thinking of purchasing that one, but then I saw some reviews saying that it's buggy/unfinished, so I'm holding out for a while. Interestingly enough the game is from the same publisher as Bound by Flame, so it's also a middle market game, which is surprising, because it looks pretty good for what it is.
AvP had only smidges of horror, almost exclusively thanks to random encounters with the goddamn facehugger. I quite understand, and sympathise with R.s arguments, while maintaining that, for what it was (shoot'em'up in space) AvP was rather good. Playing as Xenomorph was exhilarating. .. But that last bit got me thinking. You can play Cameron's alien/the Xenomorph, but you could never play The Alien.
![Tee Grizzley - Robbery 8 [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/34_vkNV6wrU/mqdefault.jpg)
When I was playing isolation, I was so immersed into it. That when my dog was sleeping next to me on the floor. She sneezed, I nearly shat myself from that. That's fucking immersion.
I have to play with the lights on, lol.
I play at night with only a low light lamp because I need to see my drink
The irony is that it took a developer well known for war sims to do the Alien name justice.
Jason-Christopher Davis The funny part is I think this is creative assembly's first to second attempt at a first person game and my god did they nail it.
They were all fans of the films and put as much love and attention to detail in it as possible. Just compare that with other triple A titles, and you can see the huge difference being a fan and loving what you're doing makes.
3 years later, and over 250 hours of game play, I'm still screaming when that alien finds me.
Nightmare mode virtually eliminates lockers and air vents as hiding spots because that's one of the first places the alien checks... every SINGLE time.
Gotta disagree a bit on the Alien AI. It's not so much that it just follows you. It's more than it adapts to your strategies.
For example, the more I hid in lockers, the more it noticed. Instead of just walking away, it started investigating the locker I was in, and the more I hid in a locker when it was around, the quicker it would go to the locker and longer it would take as it investigated the locker.
Believable? Not quite, but it IS smart.
Anthony Serocco he was talking about the fact that the AI was literally rubberbanded to you and always stayed in close proximity to you for no reason (thank god one guy released a mod that raises the maximum distance the alien can be away from one)
@@gmgmaker9289 there are two AI systems in this game. One knows exactly where you are, and hints to the alien (the second AI) your presence in that area but never wherr you actually are, also when you play the game at snail pace the alien will come after you more often.
@@gmgmaker9289 Oooh I need to get this mod
@@gmgmaker9289 Bro, It's a horror game, what tf do you expect
@@felipearenasbarr In all fairness, I understand the argument for the AI to be "glued" to the player character, but there has to be a timer on that, cuz otherwise there are certain areas that will completely shut down player movement.
I started playing this game on Nightmare from the get-go, and though I died a couple of times, it was still manageable...
... that is until I got to a level where the Alien spawns early into it, and the entire design of the area was so claustrophobic that there was no way for me to get through it. I exhausted every possibility and resource for almost 4 hours (over the course of 3 days) and was essentially stuck on that level because the Alien did not explore anything else except my general direction.
I then stopped playing because of it.
This video does motivate me to replay it though, and I'd like to end on the note that if the player character is hiding for too long, maybe the Alien could actually explore different areas. That would allow players to escape such pitfalls when they occur.
Hah, I had to pause it. "The Travolta reflex if you will." I laughed loud enough to wake my girlfriend up across the room, so props Razor.
I actually liked the saving system. In an age of gaming where we usually get an autosave every few seconds, or checkpoint after checkpoint, it was a smart decision to only employ manual saves at the scarcely placed savepoints. As a result, every time I find one its a small victory, a relief, a time to breathe.
It would've been so easy to add a save system that allows you to save at any point but I'm glad it turned out the way it did. It adds an extra dimension to the already intense gameplay. Sure, it can get frustrating when grabbing parts for your items and collectibles, then trying to fulfill an objective and not get killed while trying to make it back to the savepoint, but it's part of the games charm. It's one of the main reasons you are nervous going around every corner. It's the reason you are extra cautious even when you don't need to be. Being able to save your progress at a whim would practically take away everything that makes the game what it is.
Reminds me of Ink ribbons.
***** Oh god, don't remind me about ink ribbons. x_X
Aegix Drakan Ink ribbons are not that big of a deal, especially playing on the easiest or hardest difficulty (they practically hand you them on the easiest difficulty, while still being manageable on very hard runs).
Matthew J. Boone
>_> I'm a compulsive saver, though. I like to save every 5 steps. Having limited saves drives me nuts. XD
Aegix Drakan I can definitely understand that feeling because I'm the same way, especially when playing RPG's.
**spoiler alert**
The reason the Alien is almost always in your vicinity is because, den den derrrr, there's more than one of them. In fact, there's a shit ton of them.
Great game. Scared the shit out of me.
IIRC that only makes sense in the games closing section when you enter the core and accidentally release them all, prior to that only 1 was loose, rest were in the core locked up.
Okay, about the xenomorphs "dying too easily in Aliens". In the first movie the crew of the Nostromo weren't soldiers. They weren't armed with high powered rifles loaded with armor piercing bullets. They were space jockeys hauling ore from an asteroid mining operation in deep space. They were totally ill equipped to fight a xenomorph. Their flame throwers weren't even actual weapons. They were jury rigged welding torches or something. The colonial marines went there with the specific intention of wiping out the xenomorph nest, and did so with the equipment necessary to do so. I guarantee you're going to do a lot more damage to a xenomorph with an M-60 loaded with armor piercing bullets than you will using a can of Raid and a Zippo as a make shift flame thrower. And the xenomorphs still overwhelmed the marines and killed damn near everyone, so what is everyone really complaining about?
It wasn't just armour piercing bullets, they were using explosive bullets. But that isn't the point, it turned individual xenomorphs into significantly less of a threat. You can't deny that because of Aliens, almost every comic/game/novel set in the alien universe uses large quantities of xenomorphs to make them seem more threatening whereas if no sequels were made the extended universe would probably have focussed on just a few aliens being an extreme threat in most stories. I can't help but think that adding a queen xenomorph makes this worse too, since now lots of people think they're all just mindless drones being controlled by the hive mind instead of extremely intelligent hunters.
@@a_cats My point still remains however. There is a world of difference between a bunch of civilian haulers being hunted by an alien species they've never encountered before, and an entire platoon of space marines armed to the teeth setting out with the expressed purpose of wiping out the xenomorphs. One xenomorph, or even five xenomorphs, wouldn't be any challenge to a platoon of space marines armed with high powered machine guns loaded with armour piercing/exploding bullets.
they didn't continue the "more = better" trend in everey movie. In Alien 3 it was only one xenomorph hunting and killing the huimans, because their weapons were primitive and thus one xenomorph was all that was needed to be a credible threat. In Alien vs Predator there were multiple xenomorphs because Predator tech is so advanced there needed to be more xenomorphs to make it a challenge to the Predators. In Alien: Resurrection the humans were badass mercenaries and thus better equipped to deal with the xenomorphs than a bunch of civilians.
@@Thundarr100 I'm not denying that marines would be better at killing xenomorphs to ordinary people. I'm saying that because of Aliens, xenomorphs are typically portrayed as swarms of individually weak monsters and that really takes away from the horror in my opinion. The movies generally didn't fall victim to this much - it mainly impacted the extended media, including video games, which is why it was brought up in this video.
@@a_cats And it depends on the video game in question. If it's a video game where you're playing as a space marine sent to kill xenomorphs, then it would make perfect sense that your chatracter would be armed to the teeth and you would be gunning them down by the dozen. If your character is a space trucker sent to investigate an alien transmission, then only having a single xenomorph makes sense. The former would be a straight up adventure crawl type game, like the Aliens arcade game that I spent rolls of quarters on back in the day. The latter would probably be more like the Friday The 13th video game that came out a few years ago (and I have sitting in my XBox One right now).
@@Thundarr100 I agree, but that doesn't really contradict the point I was making?
I love how this game is able to nestle itself within the stadium sized cofines of the Alien lore without the need to change shit.
Well you can't spell ignorant without IGN.
but the fact the alien rubber bands you did piss me off, and makes no sense if you've moved 20 stories away from him in the lift.
It would have made a great multiplayer mode too, okay it would be a $60 game of hide and seek, but it would have been cool either way!
The game's difficulty curve is exactly proportional to how often the Alien is close to you. At the beginning you barely see the Alien at all, but by the end you're basically sharing a sleeping bag with the fucker. I think the Alien paying attention to only you is fine for that reason. It's a bit contrived, but it's justified in gameplay.
*****
Bless you Sir :D
"the fact the alien rubber bands you" Who says it's the same alien? The fact is, it's not.
JrIcify The alien(s) do(es)n't just pay attention to you, if any human enemies shoot their guns or are in the path of the alien(s) they are dead within seconds
***** Of course, that's how I dealt with most hostile humans. What I mean by paying attention to only you is how the alien is only ever in the part of the ship you are.
This was a game that felt like the first movie. It was a love letter to fans of it and really shows just how possible it is to actually make a great Alien game if you, ya know, TRY. Looking at YOU, Gearbox!
The Alien license produced mutants and abominations generally so.. Isolation was a surprise. Amanda Ripley was a solid protagonist and the Alien was actually a dangerous antagonist.
Still a better Alien story than what Ridley shat in the last several years.
I enjoyed Alien Isolation a lot! It definitely had some quirks, but in the survivor horror genre, it was a breath of fresh air!
I love checkpoint save systems more than saving everywhere which just makes people save scum. No real penalty of death, then.
Shame no one is actually buying it, meanwhile Call of Duty Advanced will go on to sell 12 million copies while Alien Isolation will probably never break a million combined platforms
recently announced to sell 1 million! :) I hear ya though.
Razor managed to predict Visceral's death
schmeissergod When you're working with EA, your death is never a matter of if,only when.
"That is not dead which can eternal lie."
I still dream that one day, I'll get to witness the cold unholy claws of Visceral tear their way out the still-breathing body of EA.
I want them to make a predator version of this game imagine this but in the jungle trying to avoid a predator stalking you while also dealing with government agents/South American rebels.
Alien Isolation.... Paranoia and Sheer Terror: The game.
Always nice to hear someone speak the damn truth! long life to you Razör!
For some reason, when I first started playing this game, I thought: "Man, Razor would LOVE this!". It's a great game. I'm glad you liked it. I am curious tho. Creative Assembly is doing something very few devs are doing nowadays: Responding to fans' feedback. They are always answering posts on the "Isolation" Facebook page. Surprised you didn't mention that.
Sweet hell... May can't come soon enough. Well, except for that whole other thing that needs all that time to be able to be pulled off, but.. nevermind. Point is, the more I see about Alien Isolation the more I want to just play the damn thing.
***** I know it's out, and I know it's been out for a while. I won't have readily disposable income to get it for myself until May, hence I have to wait until May to play it.
love you Decker
Holy shit I did not know you are A rageaholic fan
pro trick : you can watch series at flixzone. Been using it for watching loads of movies lately.
@Lyle Aries yea, been watching on flixzone for since december myself =)
I still disagree with the bashing on the save points, I think they're perfect for a game like this because the Alien never does the same thing in your next try, every retry will be different when the Alien is there, also it makes finding those save points more rewarding and relieving.
The save points do suck with the human and android segments though, then again, the human and android segments suck and swallow ass full stop.
Quick Saves would have been good yeah, but IMO it would have just been another case of tension killing checkpoints like Last of Us, the tension would be killed if you can just jump back 10 seconds before you last died and try again.
No it wouldn't.
System Shock 2 is quite *literally the game Isolation is patterned after!* There are numerous easter eggs in Isolation that make veiled references to SS2.
And in System Shock 2? You can save anywhere and anytime you want. Yet it's, frankly, even *more* terrifying than Alien: Isolation.
save scumming makes it easier, and checkpointing makes it tedious. so the games terror-factor isnt really related to saving. Silent Hill games had a similar save system to Alien: Isolation and it was much scarier.
*****
I dunno, gonna have to disagree. I found Alien Isolation to be much more terrifying than System Shock 2. Don't get me wrong, System Shock 2 brings a similar kind of dread, But I thought Isolation was a bit scarier than SS2 mainly because the main enemy you are up against is unkillable.
And I quite like the save system as well. It works well with the unpredictable AI and prevents save spamming (which would ruin the game in my opinion)
Anyway I agree with most of the stuff you said in the video, but I noticed you forgot to mention the lackluster "story". Like how the game seems from the beginning like it knows where it's going, but quickly drops plot in favor of a bunch of tasks you gotta complete. I was excited to hear Amanda Ripley was going to be the main character, so I was hoping to find out more about her mother and the Alien universe as a whole.
*****
Great review. By the way Razorfist, from what I read from your reactions you really seem to praise System Shock 2, (Which it deserves, it's a fucking good game) So I'm curious to know what your opinion is on Bioshock, the so-called "spiritual successor" to that game.
Saves should not be made (by the developer) a part of the gameplay. If you don't like save spamming, don't save spam. Checkpoint saves are consoley and aggravating. I want my F5.
I don't see how quick saves don't break immersion but checkpoints do
Because checkpoints fall back into repetition and frustration. While, with quicksaves, the player has no one to blame but themselves. Not a pimple-faced dolt at a design console, putting checkpoints 9 lightyears apart.
Meh. I respectfully disagree.
With quicksaving, not only do I find myself constantly and reflexively jamming the save button every 20 seconds, but I also start generally acting like an invincible idiot in-game and just running around carefree, dicking with enemies and AI patterns just for the hell of it.
Save stations on the other hand, have me gnawing my nails in anxiety while I'm screaming at the save animation to go faster, all the while hearing terrifying noises behind me. Hell, I still fondly remember to this day the horror of being interrupted mid-save by a loud and unexpected tail point erupting into view from my character's chest!
I dont understand why many people seems to Think that being forced to do big parts of a game all over again if you die is scary because to me its just frustrating and not scary at all and to me its things like atmosphere, the music, the environments, the story, the characters and other stuff that is supposed to make it scary and Alien Isolation is a good game yea but it does not really have those things i mentioned compared to many way better and way scarier horror games and also many people seems to Think that the evil thing that is trying to kill you is the only thing that is supposed to make horror stuff scary but to me its only one of the many things.
Well what you could do is my it that you can’t save if you near the alien
Here is the real solution, give the option for both forms so both sides can be pleased.
The locker's make sense..you must secure everything in a ship because waves and such... especially in zero gravity
Love this game, been waiting over a decade for a great scary stealth game, pretty much since The Haunted Cathedral in Thief 1, Dam im old.
Anyone tried novice mode? I wasn't a fan of the rubber banding alien ether, but finding it less frustrating now I've changed. Congrats on the hundy razor! Hopefully thousands more to come! :-)
Loved the IGN bashing Razor. Astounding how they say this game is "too hard" yet constantly remind you they are professional gamers....lol
Part of me wants to see a horror game, simular to this, of The Thing.
You are one of the most intelligent and inspiring people I have ever heard! Your vocabulary usage makes me grin and have hope that others will hear the immense intelligence behind their usage and follow suite. You are in the same vein as Yhatzee from escapist in terms of creativity and use of linguistic form and creativity and i feel utterly blessed to hear such an amazingly intelligent man bare his soul for the unwashed masses! bravo good sir!
About the part where the alien is often where you are at, that is not necessarily by choice of the developer, it's completely A.I. driven and that by exactly two A.I.s. One that always knows your exact location and the location of the alien and one that never knows your precise location and is hunting you down. The first one, the director A.I. is nudging the hunter into the right direction from time to time and tells it off, when it gets too handsy with the player, so that they can have a minute or two to get their heart rate under control, as constant terror is believed to be no good.
While I can certainly see why some would find check points...jarring, they are more immersive than a quick save function. Look, when you have the option to quick save...each and every corner you turn, there is no connection to your character. He becomes a vehicle that you experience the game through. By taking out the quick save function, you are now forced to be more cautious. You are forced to weigh risk and reward knowing that you cant just immediately load up and try again. The Check Point system actually helps the immersion, putting you in the boots of the character, rather than being some ass behind a screen. I loved System Shock 1 & 2, but, I would not call either of them scary. Alien Isolation...that is scary.
Sanguinem De Let's not forget that quick saves encourage the mentality of fuck it throw the character's corpse at the enemy till I get it right
Given the dev studio in question I am shocked at how well they pulled this off given their history indicates they pretty much had no experience in this kind of game.
and as a side note saving anywhere you want in games like this not only removes tension it allows players to get through the game by throwing the protagonist's corpse at the problem till through sheer amount of attempts you get through
The Alien AI was ground breaking for the time and a lot more sophisticated than you realise. Play it on nightmare then come back to me.
And as for the checkpoints, I really like them. The relief you feel when you reach one is so satisfying and it helps give small breaks in the tension. It takes time to save and all the while the alien could appear. Maybe they should just remove the option to save and just have an animation that saves whenever you insert the card. I think its an effective way of adding tension. Especially when you see a save point or hear one nearby and you gamble between playing it cool or rushing over to save. I love it.
What alternative would there be to checkpoints? I cant think of any that actually augment the tension like these do.
0:38 Hey man, AVP 2000 is good...
Yes! I was expecting him to name drop it.
I find it hilariously awesome how prophetic your assessment of C.M. was.
In riffing on all the things wrong with that game(and everything after the first movie) you described almost to a T what this game ended up being!(give or take)
anyway, Awesome video man! Rock on, and God Fucking Speed!
Hi Razorfist I have got to say that your expletive laden, but critical breakdown and analysis of movies, music and video games.
Always brings a wry smile as well as making me laugh heartily.
So please keep your intelligent yet scathing appraisal of all of our favourite subject matter coming good sir. 😄 🍺
The AI is programmed to search for various indicators that the player is nearby, so its always searching and "listening" for the player. The issue though is that the AI wants to search everywhere it can go, including places the player isn't capable of reaching. So the developers had to link it to come search within a certain proximity of your location. If they didn't do that the player may not ever encounter the Alien while playing, or would rarely ever encounter the Alien. So its either have the Alien linked to your location or have the chance of possibly never seeing the Alien, which in an Alien game its the whole point to see it. What they should have done is instead of it being directly linked, link it to a general area the player is in. It would lesson encounters but the level of fear for the player would be far higher. Knowing its in the area but not seeing it, is more scary than seeing it every few seconds walking by. Plus they should have programmed it to sit and wait in certain areas to look and listen for targets to attack.
Scripting the game events around having the alien present in a believable and scary way is the way to go. Maybe it's not here at the moment, but you have to sneak past some human enemies and if either of you gets a shot off, alien shows up. The good missions seem to reflect that. If you're in a hive, no wonder there's going to be an alien lurking around.
And one of the most hilarious things of all, (although it may or may not make sense depending on how you see it) is Alien: Isolation, one of the best Sci-fi horror games in recent memory, was made by a company famous for it's historical strategy games.
He referenced Kamen Rider Decade and that makes me happy.
This game is badass. The tension you feel when the alien is up your ass 24/7 is worth it.
The old alien vs predator game was really fun.
YES! I've been waiting on this review for so long, and you didn't even disappoint in the slightest.
Great review!
Really enjoyed the game. It stressed me out alot, and also gave me the feeling of fighting a enemy is much faster and superior than the me.
Survial horror seems to be back. The resident-evil-in-the-future save system was sometimes a pain in the ahole, but on the other hand made it much more frightening, when trying to make it to the next checkpoint.
So keep up the good work and godspeed.
In retrospect, having recently delved into Alien Resurrection on the PS1 (by the legendary Argonaut Games), I have to say that the Alien franchise has actually done quite well on the video game front since its early days. Sure it has had a lot of mediocrity (the very first game was literally a Pac-Man clone), but also innovation and risk-taking. The second game of the franchise was a top-down management simulator where the player acted as Captain Dallas of the Nostromo trying to direct the crewmates to perform tasks to prepare the Nostromo to return to Earth while trying to keep them from panicking and getting picked off by the alien.
Alien Resurrection for the PS1 steers clear of Joss Whedon's deep-fried cheeseball stupidity that was the film and is weirdly enough a far more faithful adaptation of the original Alien concept than the film it is obstinately based on (the fact it came out three years after the movie and spent a lot of time in development after two scrapped prototypes contributed to that).
The aliens are not invulnerable in the game, but are definitely very deadly, being faster than the player and able to rapidly dish out a lot of damage while the player has limited health restores and ammunition.
It works thanks to also ripping out large sections of System Shock 2's design document, being a first-person shooter with survival-horror elements, limited weapons, ammo, and health restores, and a very heavy emphasis on atmosphere cultivated through having a soundtrack focused on mood-setting ambient noises and a solid 3D rendering and lighting engine.
Biggest fault with it is its difficulty. Despite being one of the first video games to have the option to use modern dual-stick FPS controls, the balance of ammo and health restores to frequent alien encounters and the amount of damage they dish out means its very easy to screw yourself over by letting the aliens get in one or two many hits or missing more than a few shots.
0:39
Can't help but notice you left out AvP 1 in your "Trash Aliens Titles."
AS YOU SHOULD.
The alien has a complex a.i. behavior in alien isolation and a parenting sort of system that also gives it orders. Its a survival horror game, you arent supposed to fight the alien duh. On top of that alien isolation is a great game and so was alien versus predator and alien versus predator extinction.
Some person needs to make a farscape, sliders and firefly separate games. God bless the Malcom Reynolds and chriton characters also the sliders cue ball
Come ON, the AvP2 game was pretty good.
A fucking blast in Multiplayer too.
I think I may re-download this game
One of my games of the year.
James Cameron was actually very clever when he created Aliens. He knew he could not reach the level of fear and dread that Scott's original did. Instead, he made the story about redemption. Ripley goes back to the Aline threat because she must, because she needs to face her fear. This is most poignantly displayed in the Newt character- Beyond being a stand-in for Ripley's long dead daughter, Newt also represents Ripley herself. When Ripley goes back to save Newt at the end of the movie she isn't doing it just to save her 'daughter', but to save/redeem herself. It's a movie about regaining strength and power from the very thing that took it away from you. Once again, Cameron new it wasn't his strength to create a horror movie, but he is excellent at sci-fi action. He used this as an opportunity to create a very different, but ultimately important and intelligent, sequel to Alien.
Yeah, sure. And Big Macs are microwaved as a minimalist repudiation of contemporary epicurean dogma.
Aliens is a dumb, shitty action movie that looks like it was filmed on a sitcom set. Where Ridley Scott spends 5 hours cultivating 'just the right consistency of condensation on the sleeping pod glass...' James Cameron says 'Fuck it, throw some glitter on it. That kind of looks like ice, right?''
It lacks the cerebral quality of the original sci-fi horror classic... and lacks the charm of other '80s action films necessary to get away with how braindead it is. Everything wrong with future Alien films...? Begins with Aliens.
Every. Single. Thing.
***** To be fair I enjoyed the entire quadrilogy , even for the silly moments. Though, Cameron's Aliens has ONE moment that I call the absolute dumbest : The fight against the queen becomes ridiculous the moment they open the trap door and Ripley climbs back... While the frigging Queen has grabbed her leg ! I love Ellen but I call BS on that scene . But my favorite remains the 3rd one. It's pessimistic as all hell but I really do prefer the leaner Xenomorph and the ending...
Are you going to review the Evil Within, aka outdated horror game tropes: the game?
He was. wasn't worth the review (Pissing in the Livestream V).
I like how Yatzee put it "Wait, I know that voice...RESIDENT EVIL 4! WHY THIS DECEPTION?!"
ShadowChozo Huh he talked about it? I only heard from twitter updates what his impressions were.
***** he put in his "Top 5 worst turds of 2014" video, check it out
Aliens vs Predator 2 was legit. Anyone who says otherwise never played it.
Alright, lads, show of hands- who else would pay actual money to see Razor tear into Slender, Five Nights at Freddy's, and the rest of the pretenders to the Survival Horror throne?
There have been a small handful of good AvP games, but ya none have managed to capture the feeling of the first film until now. Can't wait to play it.
Giger is pronounced GEEGER. Jesus Razorfist. (Cough, otherwise, this is terrific work, as usual).
It's actually pronounced YEIGHEYEGHEEGHEHEIRRE.
SilentTree I tried to pronounce that, and wound up sounding like an '83 Chevette that won't turn over.
*****
Or you know, the Irate Gamer.
I usually hate save point systems with a passion but in this game, they work and work well. There's nothing more terrifying than sneaking up to the save point with the Alien stomping around nearby and wondering if he's going to eat your face before those 3 lights finish cycling.
As someone who beat Alien isolation on hard difficulty, yes it's extremely hard and that's what made it fun. There was a point where the alien became more of a nuisance than an actual fear-inducing thing, it was that loathsome medical ward level. God I probably died a hundred and eighty times, before getting through that area.
I did enjoy Alien Isolation, but the point you make about the Alien being right where you are is spot on. The AI doesn't feel organic, you know exactly when you're safe (and the Alien will NEVER show up) and when you're in a "danger zone" where the alien is hanging around. It never captures that full feeling of the movie where the Alien could be anywhere at anytime. You know when it's near, you know when it's not. Immersion tainted.
As for it being patterned after System Shock 2, I strongly disagree. SS2 is more of an FPS RPG with far more depth and far better. Alien Isolation is practically a reskin of Outlast. Granted it's longer and has a few extra bells and whistles and higher production value, but the basic set pieces of running around a particular area, avoiding an enemy, and hiding in lockers feels exactly the same.
+Cryofax Actually, I can disagree slightly. I've actually had these moments where the Alien wasn't there, I started running to a save point, then it showed up and killed me.
Fantastic feeling, by the way.
+Cryofax If you're playing on the PC someone made a mod to fix this. www.moddb.com/mods/unpredictable-alien-mod/downloads/unpredictable-alien
+Cryofax Even on hard, the Alien's AI was predictable. I haven't played on Nightmare difficulty. I agree that the Alien doesn't act like it did in the films but its a blessing that you can't kill it because it forces you to adapt your gameplay.
Took 20 hours to finish.
FML
That dev team will make many great games.
Lmao I burst out laughing when he did the gaming journalist impression. "It'zzz tooo fuckin haaaard!"
Points for the use of "non-euclideon".
That description is magical.
Funniest review ever of my fave game ever. Glad you also liked it a lot; it was my first-ever "adult title" (i.e. not Spongebob or Lego lolol), and I'm SO glad it was! And yeah, the xeno does "adapt" to your play style, unlocking behavior trees with 2 AIs: the Xeno and a "God" AI that monitors your gameplay.
7:01 I ain't gonna lie, that scared the sh*t outta me.
Lol
i loved how this dude used decade and dark decade you earned a sub!
Awesome review as always razorfist.Now I just have to ask,Are you going to grace us with a retrospect of the system shock games?Yeah I know,It'll be a short video since there's only 2 games in the wonderful franchise.But I would love to see,in video format,your take on both system shock games.
Great game. What an experience.
Anthem is so godlike, wonderful video as always
Can't wait to get the game when I eventually buy a PS4. I'll look forward to this and Bloodborne.
If you want good material for your next review, look into Styx: Master of Shadows. It's a pretty good Thief inspired stealth game that was overlooked when it came out last month.
I'm waiting on christmas money to buy it. It's another game in the Orcs and Men universe, I want it for that alone.
Seriously the first game was absolutely incredible and to be able to play a stealth game set in that world sounds like a massive sell to me.
I just wish Akail was in it. I came to really like the big guy. XD
Styx... Whoa, man...where has this game been all my life? And why didn't Steam put it in my Queue?! All I buy are stealth games! *sigh* Well, that feature _is_ new... Thanks MasterTaffer for the plug-in. *tips hat to fellow Thief fan*
Good choice waiting on a PS4 to play this. I'm not a graphics are everything type of gamer, but from the footage I've seen the lighting took a serious step down to work on decade old hardware (good atmosphere is really important for a game like this IMO).
DrearierSpider1 La PC mate:
No I'm not a fanboy, but the PC has the 4K resolution & (more importantly) it has OCCULAS RIFT support.
Zelousmarineinspace
No need to tell me, I'm on a 780 Ti. I know a lot of people have no desire to game on a PC though (a foolish choice IMO, but their own choice nonetheless).
The Travolta reflex.....LMAO
Nice "The Wire" reference! It's like...maybe...the best show of all time!
You didn't point at me...I...I don't know what to do with the rest of my day now.
Horror games don't ever work. While they may create a horrific atmosphere through their music, art design and story, gameplay will be that one element that horror struggles with. Game are like puzzles as in the player has to try to figure out a strategy in order to bypass the obstacles in order to complete the objective. And this is the mind-set that we have when playing these games. Because of this it turns monsters like the Alien into nothing more than just a plain obstacle. There is no sense of hopelessness or dread as death has no consequences other then having to replay the section again.
its the penumbra games with aliens
Are going to do a review or "looking back on" when resident evil 1 remake rereleases?
That opening song is fucking bad ass. I cannot find it at all on the Internet. I want to hear the full version.
I really have to stop brofisting the screen at the end or your videos....
Also, subbed.
lol nice random Kamen Rider reference. wasn't expecting that.
"Only decent horror game in ten years."
I dunno, I thought Siren: Blood Curse was an excellent horror game, especially since it fixed the grievous faults of the inspired original. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth was great as well. And coughDeadlyPremonitioncough can be decently creepy when you learn to accept it.
I'm being nitpicky, though. Nice review, and I'll check this out as soon as I can!
Blood Curse is a remake of ps2's ''Forbidden Siren'' so I wouldnt call it a new game, its more of an enhanced port.
reorseX I did mention it was a remake of the original. I do think, however, that the substantial changes in story, visuals, and overall player convenience warrant enough of a modification to call it its own game.
Well its good you see it that way but still its pretty much the same game. Nothing wrong with that but I wish they'd focus on making something new instead or remaking games that arent even that old to begin with. That reminds me, I have to replay it.
To be fair, Razor even said it himself that he liked (or loved, I forget which) the plot behind Silent Hill: Downpour and that besides it's trappings, it had a very interesting rollercoaster theme in where the main protagonist's life fit the description of what was happening in real time as he was in and out of jail all his life.
Btw, were you the same guy who made a comment on Sir Alonne being Artorias in an ost of Sir Alonne before?
reorseX Well, determining how much change is enough to call something a different thing than before is a difficult issue. But I understand your concerns about remakes. Just because Blood Curse was a great remake of a game that I thought was vastly underrated doesn't mean everyone should follow suit.
GothaBillsAndDeath Yeah, I'm pretty sure Razor's intention for the statement was to reference the famous Alien tagline. And no, I made a comment on Sir Alonne being a fucking badass (which he still is).
I have been playing this and I must say I am enjoying it even though the Alien can get annoying and the save based checkpoint are not to my liking. The game reminds me a lot of Outlast (a game I also enjoyed) but it damn sure has deeper gameplay.
8:51
I feel as that was too soon, but let’s face it they’ve been dead since they’ve put pin to paper with EA
You know, there is actually only one stealth game that uses checkpoints effectively, IMO.
Mark of the Ninja.
Because the checkpoints are placed VERY often (usually one for every encounter you face), and when you die, you immediately reload it. It strikes a good balance by being frequent enough to not be frustrating, but also not allowing you to game the system by quicksaving every time you make an inch of progress and reloading a dozen times to make sure you nail the encounter perfectly.
Aside from that one game, though I agree that checkpoints in stealth games have never actually worked.
I'd love to see a RTX upgrade to this title for next gen consoles.
Alien 3 on snes was fantastic
I reckon I will buy this game when I get the chance, if only for it to be a middle finger to IGN and Kotaku. Too hard? Well considering I'm a retro gamer I don't see the fucking problem. Too long? What fucking game is long these days that isn't an RPG?
This is how horror games are meant to be done, stealth like, atmospheric and shit in your pants vulnerability against an indestructible demon. Not to mention the attention to detail of the 1970s styled futuristic ship from the first movie is fucking gorgeous.
I think they went too far with making the alien impossible to kill. My problem is that you're given some serious firepower by the end. That bolt gun seems able to punch through metal up close. All it does is BRIEFLY stun the alien. It recoils, shakes it off and continues coming at you with nary a scratch. You might as well have hit it with a spitball.
Now, as for the stealth issue, well...yeah.. what good is darkness to something that lives in it? In the movie it lived in the darkest recesses of the ship. If it has any eyes at all, they have better night vision than Mr. Jones the cat.
Spoilers!
There are so many aliens because there were loads of them to begin with. It would be weird if there were only a single alien chasing Ripley about the station, considering how large and labyrinthine it is. However, as you know, there is a whole nest of these fuckers. I was happy to believe that there were several on each level, and the jabbering, idiot astronauts in the station simply thought that it was one.
But I know there are holes with this - why wouldn't two drop down at once, for instance? But the game is definitely my GOTY, I love stealth and horror, and despite the checkpoints, this had me cringing and wincing in my seat, fully immersed.
Their is only one until chapter 10 and this the only one you face
I think the reason the Alien seems to be everywhere you go is that, the alien is not the same alien as the previous section. (Spoiler warning) Later in the game you come across a nest with more Aliens, much like an ant hive the drones are being sent out to gather resources or eliminate threats. So each section of the station has its own patrolling drone.
Alien 3 for the SNES was awesome.
This game is completely different from system shock 1 & 2. The only similarity is that they both in first-person and take place on a space station.
For some reason I was really amused by the picture of 2 Kamen Rider Decades.
6:29
Challenge: Try not to make a border-wall joke.
Rating: *IMPOSSIBLE*
Test your might, Razorforce!
Only thing James Cameron did was make an action movie out of a horror movie. I don't actually believe in the whole "we must have a creature of anonymous and unknown origins" remain completely ambiguous especially one in sci-fi where experimentation and the scientific method are humanity's only defining tools (weapons) for understanding the entity. Arguably, it's with how much detail is let on that is the fundamental issue. Alien creatures will always evolve in information as we learn more on them lest we risk them becoming the same ambiguous big-bads from the last rendition.
The STALKER series were incredible horror games. Though I will grant the original game was released nearly a decade ago.
Speaking of stealth, any thoughts on Styx: Master of Shadows? It looked fun from the trailers and many people gave positive reviews,but i'm not sure about it yet.
Great review by the way. Good to see an alien/stealth game not suck. I'll buy this soon no doubt.
I was also thinking of purchasing that one, but then I saw some reviews saying that it's buggy/unfinished, so I'm holding out for a while.
Interestingly enough the game is from the same publisher as Bound by Flame, so it's also a middle market game, which is surprising, because it looks pretty good for what it is.
AvP had only smidges of horror, almost exclusively thanks to random encounters with the goddamn facehugger.
I quite understand, and sympathise with R.s arguments, while maintaining that, for what it was (shoot'em'up in space) AvP was rather good. Playing as Xenomorph was exhilarating.
.. But that last bit got me thinking. You can play Cameron's alien/the Xenomorph, but you could never play The Alien.
It's a great game, but good God does it comes to a fucking crawl towards the end.
You should come up with a segment called RazorFisting.