Alien: Isolation – review

Alien: Isolation is a first person shooter that takes place in the Alien universe and set 15 years after the first Alien film.  The look of the game is fantastic. The game play is brutally hard at times. Still, it is a great game with a few flaws.

You play as Amanda Ripley, the daughter of Ellen Ripley from the first film. She is attempting to find out what became of her mother and the crew of the Nostromo. After a space station finds the recording logs of Ellen, Amanda heads to the space station for closure. Once at the station she is greeted by chaos and finds that robots have gone rogue and there is a deadly xenomorph alien onboard.

The attention to detail is superb. The game keeps the same retro-futuristic look of the Ridley Scott film.  For all the great look of the game, there are a few things they could have improved. For example, the people look like dummies. There are also small glitches where you sometimes fall through the floors and into space, or times when the walls won’t show completely upon loading. Those rare moments aside, it is nothing short of a fan boy’s dream.

Alien: Isolation is not like most first person shooters. In this game you cannot go into situations guns blazing. Instead, you must rely on wits and stealth to get through the game and avoid the alien.  This aspect makes it particularly nerve-wracking as you creep and crawl through tunnels in an attempt to escape. The humans will shoot you without warning, robots are incredibly difficult to defeat in combat, and the xenomorph can kill you in one hit.

If you are a fan of the films, this game is a must play. It is really impressive and feels immersive in the entire world that has been created.  Alien: Isolation is very challenging and you will almost certainly die many times before completing the story. If you can slow down and be patient, it is a great game. If you get frustrated easily, it will be a nightmare. Either way, it is one of the best movie tie-in games I’ve played since Ghostbusters.