Post by Ryan_MYeah on Apr 15, 2017 20:00:51 GMT
Your move, fish.
First thing's first, the atmosphere of the game is fantastic. It's clear that the developers of the game are huge fans of the original film, lacing the game with cleverly placed easter eggs and nostalgic little callbacks, and the game absolutely nails the lived in, blue collar, retro-fi future vision of the original film. It's almost like Ridley Scott himself gave the studio meticulous notes how well the game looks, bathed in claustrophobic shadows and nerve-wracking mind-trickery, making even the sound of footsteps and clanging machinery sound threatening. The sight of a human suffocated by magazine was so ominous.
And the alien encounters, oh my lord. I can't remember the last time a game utterly terrified me the way these sequences do. The creature itself is still every bit as horrifying as it always was, looming over its space and trudging through the serpentine corridors in unpredictable manner, while you are utterly powerless to do anything to hurt it beyond momentary distractions, making all efforts to hide and move mere inches feel like mini-achievements in their own right. The trial and error experimentation can get annoying at times, especially with how punishing the game can be as you make your way between each manual save (oh, and I thought we were past the whole "Press X to not die" trend), but there's always a feeling of reward every time you find a clever new way to get past the creature.
Unfortunately, the game suffers from some serious pacing issues whenever the Xenomorph isn't the main threat. This feels like a 4-5 hour budget title stretched out and padded to justify its sixty buck price tag, and does suffer from repetition as environments start blending together after a while. The same threat of the Xenomorph isn't quite filled by the other enemies, which include this group of bandits that momentarily give you hassle, before screwing off until the last act, and the robotic Working Joe's that feel like biotic zombies. Yeah, the Joe's are creepy, but not to the same degree as the Xenomorph. Not to the level that I momentarily forgot how loudly I was yelling "Shit, shit, shit!" Not to the level of
While the game thoroughly nails it in recreating the atmosphere of Ridley's film, it forgets to give it a solid narrative to compliment it. In spite of its bowling pin set-up deaths, Scott's film was able to create characters with personality and clearly established bonds that you care for. On the other hand, Isolation is populated by one-dimensional characters, all blatant fodder for the monster with nothing to cling to, as there's very few moments where characters are allowed to sit and talk, and therefore give the story some weight. Hell, Amanda Ripley is pretty much just Ellen with a different first name. The game is built around moments rather than forming a cohesive whole, and while certain set-pieces and scenes can be good on their own, none of them ever feel like they come together, with the story dropping plot threads at random, sometimes the moment they're introduced. Also, maybe I'm nit-picking, but why would they send Ripley on this mission? Why would the company risk sending this clearly compromised woman who, like her mother, would instantly throw a wrench in the company's plans when she learned their true agenda? And that's putting aside how out there the idea was that Ripley had a daughter in the first place.
But in the end, I still enjoyed what I played, if not loving it like I wanted to.
First thing's first, the atmosphere of the game is fantastic. It's clear that the developers of the game are huge fans of the original film, lacing the game with cleverly placed easter eggs and nostalgic little callbacks, and the game absolutely nails the lived in, blue collar, retro-fi future vision of the original film. It's almost like Ridley Scott himself gave the studio meticulous notes how well the game looks, bathed in claustrophobic shadows and nerve-wracking mind-trickery, making even the sound of footsteps and clanging machinery sound threatening. The sight of a human suffocated by magazine was so ominous.
And the alien encounters, oh my lord. I can't remember the last time a game utterly terrified me the way these sequences do. The creature itself is still every bit as horrifying as it always was, looming over its space and trudging through the serpentine corridors in unpredictable manner, while you are utterly powerless to do anything to hurt it beyond momentary distractions, making all efforts to hide and move mere inches feel like mini-achievements in their own right. The trial and error experimentation can get annoying at times, especially with how punishing the game can be as you make your way between each manual save (oh, and I thought we were past the whole "Press X to not die" trend), but there's always a feeling of reward every time you find a clever new way to get past the creature.
Unfortunately, the game suffers from some serious pacing issues whenever the Xenomorph isn't the main threat. This feels like a 4-5 hour budget title stretched out and padded to justify its sixty buck price tag, and does suffer from repetition as environments start blending together after a while. The same threat of the Xenomorph isn't quite filled by the other enemies, which include this group of bandits that momentarily give you hassle, before screwing off until the last act, and the robotic Working Joe's that feel like biotic zombies. Yeah, the Joe's are creepy, but not to the same degree as the Xenomorph. Not to the level that I momentarily forgot how loudly I was yelling "Shit, shit, shit!" Not to the level of
the climax, when the final encounter audibly made me gasp from surprise.
While the game thoroughly nails it in recreating the atmosphere of Ridley's film, it forgets to give it a solid narrative to compliment it. In spite of its bowling pin set-up deaths, Scott's film was able to create characters with personality and clearly established bonds that you care for. On the other hand, Isolation is populated by one-dimensional characters, all blatant fodder for the monster with nothing to cling to, as there's very few moments where characters are allowed to sit and talk, and therefore give the story some weight. Hell, Amanda Ripley is pretty much just Ellen with a different first name. The game is built around moments rather than forming a cohesive whole, and while certain set-pieces and scenes can be good on their own, none of them ever feel like they come together, with the story dropping plot threads at random, sometimes the moment they're introduced. Also, maybe I'm nit-picking, but why would they send Ripley on this mission? Why would the company risk sending this clearly compromised woman who, like her mother, would instantly throw a wrench in the company's plans when she learned their true agenda? And that's putting aside how out there the idea was that Ripley had a daughter in the first place.
But in the end, I still enjoyed what I played, if not loving it like I wanted to.