Reviews// Alien Isolation

Save points are few and far between and have to be activated manually. After investing time and effort to progress, the threat of losing it only heightens the tension when figuring your next move. However the placement of save points really is truly painful. Having a sizeable trek and time spent hacking just to reach an encounter, repeated deaths quickly tip the scales from tension to irritation, followed by a cold acceptance as you go through the motions again and again.

To spoon salt into the wound, there are instanced of no-fault death. So while the alien sticks its proboscis up against the grille of the locker that you’re hiding in (you, holding your breath and pushed back in a corner), be resigned to the fact that your travails to get from A to B via repeated visits to lockers and hidey holes will culminate in being dragged from said nooks without fault or any possibility of escape. This isn’t tedium, not tension. This is Alien Isolation’s downfall.

To give the proceedings some context, the background to all that’s unravelling aboard the station comes foremost from the non-threatening inhabitants through cinematic cut scenes and in-game dialogue. This can be fleshed out by logging in to terminals and pouring over memos and voice records.

The cinematics, however, tear you from the immersion of the game. Moving from first- to third-person, they’re populated by stiffly animated waxworks that don’t know the term “lip sync”. It’s such a disappointment, as the intro and loading scenes ooze polish, with their low-res, degraded video tape presentation. In fact, apart from the nitpicky lack of dirtiness and frankly rubbish character visuals and animation, visually it’s about as polished as it gets. The audio hasn’t a single downside. The tension is amplified thanks to some wonderfully-orchestrated incidental work. Layer that with an expert blend of ambient engine hum, sporadic mechanical and electronic clattering, not to mention the utterance of the alien, and you’ve got a soundtrack that hits the brown note.

What Alien Isolation delivers is something of a rollercoaster in terms of both tension and gameplay. As the intensity builds and retreats with just the right cadence, the frustration oscillates violently. On the whole, it’s one of the most terrifying games you’ll play, but this is too often ruined by the frustration of trial and error and resentment born from the roll of a dice. It utterly blunts the experience.

If you can picture a game that blends the tension of Doom III, the horror of Dead Space and the stealth and crafting of The Last of Us, then stamp it with most iconic sci-fi horror brands ever made, then you've got a good idea what you’re in for. Throw Dark Souls’ brand of 'difficulty' in there and you've nailed it. To fans of the latter, Alien Isolation’s random, instant death is probably a warm comforting blanket for you. To the rest of us, it’s frustration incarnate. Alien Isolation is the greatest Alien game released - better than even the C64, US version of Aliens! But its flaws punch a hole right through its heart.


Pros
+ Video game terror redefined
+ Spectacular realisation of the Alien universe
+ Good craft/stealth action
+ Excellent audio

Cons
- Disappointing character cinematics
- Gameplay tipped toward “luck” than “judgement”
- Crucified by poor save points and no-fault instadeath

SPOnG score: 7/10