Yeah. I don't agree with that idea either. I prefer the notion that the xeno is an unstoppable killing machine you can't hide from, and that instances where it doesn't instantly kills its prey (like Ripley around the corner, Ripley and the alien in the rescue shuttle) is actually the Alien toying with and tormenting its prey.

But since such an overly potent foe would make a videogame heros life rather short, i'm willing to suspense my disbelief. If the game is good and the alien and atmosphere still reasonably scary, i guess im OK with the xeno not beeing the super-predator it should be.

I don't agree. I feel like thats the charm- you have to actually make your character hold thier breath and stop completely if the Xeno is near. You CAN use weapons to fend it off, at best, but it will hunt you and you can only run and hide. It's stronger than you, you can't fight it. You just have to run.


Its like a rapist. You can run, but they're generally stronger than the victim so you can't fight them.

I feel like someone should just make a Xeno mod for The Last of Us. That was a fantastic "hide and seek" system. The best thing was, if you get found, you can just fight back (in most cases).

It wasn't a 100% perfect system, but it was a lot better than what I'm hearing about for Isolation.

Edit: Now I just ruined Isolation for myself. No matter how hard I try to forget about it, I'm gonna expect The Last of Us and then I'm gonna be angry.

Here's another gameplay video that shows less of the plot that the previous one I posted. At least in the beginning; I haven't watched all of it yet. Also linked to me by Mr.Xeno.

Game is bang on the money.

Immersive. Tense. Dread inducing. And that's just the first couple of hours with NO alien sightings.

Really? Amazing? Shocker, sega gets it right

First hours are indeed very atmospheric, and once the Alien shows up.... i've just finished the first mission where you've got to deal with the xeno, and holy shit... this was tense. The fact that this game isn't babysitting the gamers (stuff like on-screen objective markers or notifications like YOU'VE BEEN SPOTTED, CHANGE POSITION DUMBASS) is awesome, it makes the whole situation even more tense not to know exactly what to do or where to go next while the monster hunts you (although the map helps).

It's really awesome so far.

It seems like IGN's the only one who gave the game a bad review. And it completely sold out on release day at my Gamestop, so it's really popular here. I'll buy it in a week or two and let you guys know what I think.

I really like that it's getting positive feedback. I'm excited to play it now.

@Dave (or whoever): Did you get DLC where you play through the first movie?

Well, i'm not Dave, but to use his words: "Immersive. Tense. Dread inducing."

The DLCs are amazing, they absolutely feel movie-like. Enviroments look great and authentic, and everyone who loves the first movie will feel home right from the beginning. They're quite short if you go straight for the objectives (assuming you don't die that often), but the level design is pretty good in both DLCs and a bit mazelike, with plenty of rooms and corners left to explore and a few audio logs and crafting stuff to collect. I haven't explored everything, because the game really dragged me in and made me to go for the objectives right away. It was really awesome and catched the feel of the first movie - there was no time to waste on sightseeing and wandering around, there was a job to be done! I was on the edge of my seat every second of the DLCs, there isn't one moment where you can relax. Two particular situations in the DLCs are especially great imo.



SPOILER



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In Crew Expendable, at one point you've got to enter the extensive airduct system from the movies (where Dallas died). The airducts are a real maze, very dark and you don't have a flashlight (well, i haven't found one, but it was much more awesome this way anyway). The player has to crawl through the ducts (illuminated only by the flickering, short-reaching light of the flamers pilot light) to reach the other side while lambert is yelling useless and confusing directions at you. And the Alien is actually hunting you in the ducts, so you better hurry up...

In Last Survivor, once you've activated the self-destruct mechanism, you've got to reach the escape shuttle within 5 minutes. And the shuttle is at the very far end of the map. And the Alien is still on the hunt. And you don't have the time to carefully crawl through the whole map again to avoid its attention. And your flamer is probably almost empty. And the corridors became a hellhole of fog, flashing lights, sirens and all other sorts of visual and audible uproar.

Brilliant!

By the way, i'm not sure how Crew Expandable fits into the movie story. You're not really playing through the actual movie storyline in that one. It becomes more of a what if-scenario after a specific point - but i've also read that this is actually some sort of partial rehash of a story fragement cut from the final movie, another attempt to trap the Xenomorph, either before or after Dallas failed attempt (but you can play Dallas in the DLC).

I want to play through the DLC just to walk around a virtual Nostromo...

@Mebber: I have so many other games to get to that I'm probably not gonna buy it till November, but goddamn that sounds cool.

One (kind of weird) tip, consider playing the game on normal or even easy on your first playthrough. It's strange, but this is the only horror game i've played so far in which switching to a lower diffuculty setting can actually result in a MORE terrifying and scary gaming experience. The game can be really though difficulty-wise, and even if this doesn't frustates you, the scare factor can kind of "wear off" if you get dragged out of the game too often by beeing forced to replay the same section over and over again. The Alien simply isn't that scary anymore if it killed you so-many times - there is a risk it becomes more of a simple gaming obstacle to overcome instead of a horrific foe imo. This way the game eventually becomes more of a very tense and good puzzle game (find out which path/strategy is the best to get through area XYZ) on hard, while the survival horror factor is pretty good on easy (which is still not a cakewalk). More "Huh, that was pretty close!" situations and less "Awww, Game Over again" moments.

I guess it depends on how good of a gamer you are, 'cause that's the opposite of what DW/Mr. Xeno said. I get the logic behind all of your opinions, though, so I'll just try it myself.

I'm probably gonna lean more toward lowering the difficulty because that's what I do in every other game that involves stealth.

Edit: SO TEMPTED TO JUST BUY THIS BUT I KNOW IM NOT GONNA PLAY IT FOR A MONTH OR TWO AND THEN THE PRICE MIGHT LOWER

Dunno, maybe you should just forget about your "games i still need to play" list (i had one too, but... well, this is an Alien game) and play Isolation right now. I mean, its an Alien game which doesn't suck and isn't just average either...

And about the difficulty setting, maybe you should go for hard the first playthrough after all. Just finished the game on normal, and in retrospect, the game became comparatively easy after the first quarter once you gain access to certain weapons and items. They make the enemy menance almost negligible.