Picture this. You walk into a room while a pack of murderous looters are just outside the door, ready to shoot you on site. There are two generators in this room that you have to activate, because you have to trip an emergency evacuation alarm to open the exit. But when you do this, you realize that you've also activated an android who will bash your skull open if it sees you, and attracted the attention of a vicious predator in the air vents above you. You sneak around, throwing a makeshift noisemaker to distract both your assailants, and frantically use a device to hack into the security system while they investigate the racket. Suddenly, the alarm trips. Lights flash. Everybody is aware of your presence. Frantically, you turn tail and run right into the hall full of looters. You think you're safe, that maybe they're gone. But what you didn't notice was the disgusting slime coming from a vent dead ahead. Before you know it, a Xenomorph snatches you up and everything cuts to black, all because you were too busy panicking to pay attention. This type of experience is par for the course in "Alien: Isolation," the new survival horror game/apology for "Aliens: Colonial Marines" from Sega and Creative Assembly. There has been a lot of talk, recently, about a revival of survival horror games. But the fact of the matter is, most horror games that attempt to breathe life into the genre stumble and miss the mark way more than they succeed. They're too focused on jump scares, or letting players shoot the enemies with a huge arsenal of weapons. Even the upcoming "The Evil Within," by the prolific Shinji Mikami, looks to make concessions towards modern AAA gaming, and to not be focused on true survival and true horror. Yet I'm happy to say "Isolation," a licensed game of all things, is the first game in a long, long time that I've felt can truly be called "survival horror." As in, you're trying desperately to survive, and dear lord, is it horrific. Part of that horror comes from the inspiration behind the game itself. It's made very clear that this game is not inspired by "Aliens," James Cameron's sequel to Ridley Scott's original "Alien", which most games in this franchise have been based upon. No, what we have instead is a quasi-sequel set after the events of the first film, when space marines weren't a thing and Xenomorphs weren't being overpowered by giant robotic suits. It's just the player, taking the role of series heroine Ellen Ripley's daughter, Amanda, one Xenomorph, and an army of assailants both human and cybernetic. She's searching for answers to her mother's disappearance after the events of the first film, and gets roped into exploring a derelict space colony formerly owned by Seegson, a second-rate corporation with big dreams and shady practices. But those answers will have to come later, with everything and seemingly everyone in the colony working together to kill her in the worst ways possible. And, y'know, the aforementioned Xenomorph doesn't help at all. Some critics have questioned the significance of "Isolation"'s narrative, and I can't see why. I would actually say this is one of the best additions to the series canon in a long while, and certainly an improvement on the narrative roadkill that was "Colonial Marines." It expands upon the "Alien" universe in a myriad of new, intriguing ways, in my opinion. The most major of these would be the introduction of Seegson, whose turbulent history and unsavory behavior is chronicled through various logs throughout the game. Theirs is a story of corporate espionage and broken promises that helps to paint a fuller picture of the effects both space colonization and the reach of the sinister Weyland-Yutani Corporation have had on humanity. Long story short? They're the cheap knock-off of their bigger and better competitor, and throughout the game, that shows in various ways that I wouldn't dream of spoiling. Another way that this expands on series canon in important ways is the development of Amanda as a character. Previously, she had been mentioned only as an already-deceased old woman in "Aliens" after her mother woke up from cryo-stasis, and thus, seemed like an insignificant footnote to the Ripley bloodline. But here, we get to see her as much younger, less dead entity. It's a good thing, too, because Amanda Ripley is one of the more memorable female characters I've played as in a video game, period. Much like her mother, she may be thrown into several horrifying and deadly situations, but she's never playing the victim. By her wits, determination, and physical strength, she always has the leg up on the opposition... it's just up to the player to figure out exactly how. Add on a fierce sense of dry wit and a rugged determination to get what she wants, and you've got one of the best characters of 2014 so far. None of the important narrative choices would matter, though, if the game itself wasn't fun to play. And in some ways, it isn't... in the absolute best way possible. "Isolation" is a brutal, unforgiving game in which players need to get used to dying, restarting, and then dying shortly thereafter. Despite the way some trailers make it look, this is not a first-person shooter. There are guns, yes, and occasionally you'll have a use for them... when they're not attracting other threats which no weapon can kill. See, this is a survival/stealth game, in which players need to stick to the shadows and air vents if they want to actually get through the whole experience in one piece. Every situation is a puzzle, in a way, and using a gun (outside of certain situations) is a form of desperate resignation, because it indicates that you can't think of any other way to solve that puzzle. And in all likelihood, there's an answer that you're just overlooking. To compensate for barely any ammo and purposefully ineffective weapons, there's a wealth of scrap materials laying around the colony to make some useful survival tools. A molotov cocktail will scare the Xenomorph back into the vents for some time, for example, and a noisemaker will make any attackers look elsewhere while you give them the slip. Scavenging for raw materials to craft new items is not a feature, it's a necessity. Having to do it in real time also adds to the tension, as you cross your fingers that won't get mauled while trying to make something to heal yourself. With severely limited slots and the requirement of total stealth to effectively craft, "Isolation" really drives home the survival aspect of survival horror, and it's a joy to experience. A tense, stressful kind of joy, yes, but a joy nonetheless. But what about the horror side of things? The game may be hard and push a focus on terse survival situations, but is it actually scary? It would be an understatement to say "yes" to that question, because "Isolation" is downright terrifying at times, and simply mildly terrifying the rest of the time. Most horror games fail to scare me these days. "Amnesia" is more frustrating than scary, "Outlast" wore out its welcome halfway through, "Slender" is a gimmicky festival of jump scares... frankly, none of these supposedly "scary" games successfully shake me up. At most, they'll just startle me for a few moments, and then I'll just go about my merry way. Not so with "Isolation." Death is a constant threat here. The unnerving androids dubbed "Working Joes" are what really do it for me, to be honest. Their glowing eyes, expressionless faces, and vague threats freak me out, as do their ability to pursue you while on fire and melting right before your eyes. If you get anywhere close to them, they'll lift you up and start throttling you without a moment's hesitation. Quite the disturbing experience, especially when you consider that only a few things can actually do damage to them, like a shotgun blast to the cranium. They'll grab your melee attacks, walking through your flamethrower, take five or six shots to the head with a pistol... unexpectedly, the original foes that Creative Assembly are the most interesting enemies in the game, and are sure to keep me looking over my shoulders for quite a while. Thanks, guys! Which isn't to say that the Xenomorph itself isn't enough to make me yelp out loud, because it is. As I mentioned above, death is an ever-looming threat, and that's thanks to the creature. It will stomp around on the floor, go through the vents, rip you out of hiding places, and just about anything else in its power to end you. And rest assured, it will end you. Unlike the Working Joes, there's no chance for escaping this thing's grasp. Once it has you, it's over, and the amount of ways in which it can kill you is staggering. Walk under a vent with some weird liquid coming from it? You're dead. Try to outrun it once it's spotted you? You're really dead. Attempt to shoot it once it gets close enough to you? Completely and utterly dead. The only thing you can really do is use the flamethrower and molotovs to scare it away for a while, but ultimately, your best bet is to use your motion tracker and never let it even know you're there. That's easier said than done, though, thanks to the fantastic AI. As you're not the only human in the colony, the Alien will sometimes drop in and kill five or six people in a matter of seconds, then finish you off... or run away... or perhaps not even show up in the first place. 90% of the time I thought I was witnessing a triggered, pre-determined event, I was triumphantly proven wrong. The Xenomorph is dynamic and constantly moving, constantly changing up its game, and it's pretty much impossible to predict what it's going to do next. You just need to prepared when it does decide to do something, unless you want to get impaled or decapitated. These two enemy types, along with the desperate remaining humans, make the atmosphere of "Isolation" reek entirely of dread. Coupled with a ship that's always falling apart in some way, shape or form, and ominous lighting that made me genuinely afraid to go into certain rooms, the entire game is tense and terrifying, one of the scariest in years. Yet unlike most new horror games, players are actually given the chance to fight back and survive. You don't get a little lantern or camcorder, then thrown into the trenches. The controls are buttery smooth, the aforementioned crafting system works like a charm, and there's materials to be used everywhere if you look hard enough. Yes, death is a constant threat, but one that can always be avoided if you play it smart. My concerns with the gameplay are minimal thanks to all of that good stuff, but still worth mentioning. First off, the Xenomorph's movements can be wildly inconsistent. Sometimes, it chases you at a normal pace, and others, it's able to catch up from 40-50 feet away in a matter of seconds. It reminds me of the arbitrary way in which some characters in last place can suddenly pull ahead in a game of "Mario Kart," able to somehow speed up enough to leave you in the dust thanks to video game magic. Except, in "Mario Kart," you're not going to get rammed through the gut and forced to go back to the last manual save point. So while I admire the dynamic AI present with the Xenomorph, and I enjoy the sense of tension created by having no auto-saves, there are some serious balance issues that should have been addressed. Another major issue is the occasionally frustrating way in which players are lead through the game. Now, I hate hand-holding in most games, and love being forced to learn a map and explore. The thing is, the way in which players are lead through the story can be a bit confusing sometimes. In some instances, a player will have a clear blip on their radar, and then have to uncover the map as they go along towards said blip. That's fine. But then other times, players won't have the entire map yet and will be told to go places, yet they have no clue where they're going because there's no indicator on the map. Also, the different levels of maps aren't made clear in the interface, leaving it up to a player's guesswork as to which floor they're on. One might make the case that this lack of instruction makes for a more tense experience, and in some aspects, I can get behind that sentiment. At the same time, clearer directions and a better map system would have greatly benefited the experience as a whole. At least wherever you stumble next will most likely look really, really good, thanks to masterful art direction and stunning lighting. Despite some occasional sameness when it comes down to some of the predominately grey and black rooms present here, most of the colony (and other places you'll set foot on) is interesting to look at, and rendered with lovely visuals. Everything has a very nice 70's sci-fi sheen to it, what with the usage of cassette tapes and the clunky, plastic-looking structures that surround you. Simply put, it looks very much like the original film and its vision of the future, and is aided by Geiger-esque design for the Xenomorph and everything related to it. While some might say that we should be aiming to create newer-looking worlds for games, I think it's admirable that Creative Assembly tried to remain as faithful to the "Alien" universe as possible. It paid off, too, because almost everything looks gorgeous here, and it's easy to stop and just take in some of the scenery when you're not being hunted down. In the wake of the absolute disaster that was "Aliens: Colonial Marines," I didn't see this one coming from a mile away. A developer primarily responsible for strategy games trying its hand at a first-person survival horror game? I was understandably skeptical, as were most. Yet "Alien: Isolation" goes above and beyond all expectations I had set forth for it. At best, I was hoping for a mildly tense, shiny-looking game that was predominately linear and eventually turned into a form of a shooter. Instead, I got an extremely disturbing experience which is impressively open-ended and focused on stealth over brute force. For people who want to be led through a series of jump scares and then patted on the back, this is a horrible experience. But for people who want a game that demands thought and requires strategy, and features scares that will last long after the credits roll, it's a pure triumph. "Alien: Isolation" is a new benchmark in survival horror for me, and one I doubt many games will hit or exceed for a while. Even if it does make me want to throw my controller into the TV thanks to a cheap kill sometimes.
Trailer
No comments:
Post a Comment