Alien: Isolation

I don't like having to play through the same 20 minutes over and over and over again only to get by killed by the alien every time.

Boring. Not scary at all.

:P

The game is very serviceable to fans, so that's good. It has some intense and iconic moments too. I liked how it escalated things as well. I was interested in it because I like deep space movies without pew pew lasers and the original movie as well and it's an OK game at that. Still, there's a few things to be warned before buying: - It has 3 gimmicks: stealth, repetitive puzzles and basic combat. The puzzles are the worst, it's just very easy mini-games that you have to repeat endlessly throughout the game and they get old fast. - The maps are smaller than they'd seem. You have a few areas and you back track to them many times. - It's very glitchy, specially with the sound. This affects both your ability to hear the alien and to understand what the envioremental storytelling is saying (you turn your head a bit and those who were speaking next to you start sounding like they're 3 rooms away). Some sound fx can get stuck playing too until you change areas. - The AI is not that good. The alien is a glorified roomba moving around randomly. He's tethered to you in a way, since he's always around wherever you are even if there's some shit going on in a different part of the area. He doesn't have a patrol pattern but he doesn't make sense either so it's frustrating sometimes because he'll check a room where you are and when he's about to exit he'll spin around and go back to explore the room again. Still, it's easy to lose any respect for the alien specially when you get armed as you can shoo him away (with moderation, ammo against the alien is scarce). He's also supposed to be extra-aware but you can walk by him no problem. Humans on the other hand will shoot you if they see you from another ship that's behind a fog curtain and you're in a room with the lights off under the table. - Get it on discount. And play the game first before considering the DLC. If you LOVE the mechanics then by all means buy the DLC otherwise I wouldn't bother.

I played on Steam and finished it, 30h of gameplay. I can't understand why the game have so much positive review. The atmosphere is well done, but that it. Everything else is dull. You'll crouch, crawl and sneak from the start of the game until the end. The story is uninterested an expected in the Alien universe. Since the start, you'll follow a straight line until the end of the game, no exploration. The game is slow, you'll always sneak, the game is about stealth, there is no action, no planning, no strategy or tactics, or puzzles. You slowly move between locker to locker and under desk, waiting the Alien to return to the vents. The Alien since you first encountered it will follow you, doesn't care if you move between the station using a train or elevator, he will be there always on top of you in the vents. Another annoying thing is the ambient sound, at first it is great it helps with the atmosphere, then you'll realize it is just annoying, there is so much sounds at the same time in some scenarios, even sometimes when the Alien is not there, and you double-check with the sonar device there is a sound like the Alien crawling in the vents. (I don't know if this is a bug). The goal is power thing on. That is it. You'll move from a different location in the station, just powering things up, until the end. When you turn something on, suddenly something else lose power, or you need to turn on to advance in the game. You can't kill the Alien, the only weapon you use is the Flamethrower. If you use something else, it will make too much noise and the Alien will come down and will kill you. From time to time you shoot the pistol (To Android or some other humans) but is not need, you can sneak and pass the threat. The end of the game, is just dull.