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Alien: Isolation

Started by El Unicornio, mang, January 15, 2014, 12:02:26 PM

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El Unicornio, mang

After the disaster that was Aliens: Colonial Marines, it looks like there might be a new Xenomorph game to get excited about. This one is a completely different type of game though. It's based more around Alien than Aliens (even down to the 70s style sci-fi spaceship interior), there is only alien in the entire game and no weapons. Might not sound that exciting, but looking at these 8 mins of gameplay footage, this one looks like it could be a very creepy and atmospheric survival horror game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbv9rs9bVOE#t=444

As a fan of horror games, I like the direction they're taking with this. My main concern is the fact that it's a big budget game that's going to be made to last eight hours, and the leaks that there's allegedly going to be quite a bit of shooting through clones and soldiers for a lot of the game.

I think it's very hard to sustain people's horror for a long period of time, unless the general story is hugely great.

I don't know. I'm so skeptical about this game. I think if it was a three or four hour game, maybe at a smaller price, it could be genuinely amazing. But the triple A type games will go for 8 hours and will sell for full price, and horror above all needs to be clever and so perfectly calculated to keep you going for that long. And there's never really been a good Alien game. I've ordered in Alien: Infestation for the DS which is actually supposed to be great, but I don't know. I am just so skeptical about all this.

I love Alien, but honestly, I also know a lot about Alien, which means that me playing the Alien game won't be as scary as playing the exact same game but with a completely unknown antagonist. Like, if the alien was GENUINELY "ALIEN" in all senses of the word.

I don't know. I'm going to remain incredibly skeptical of this until I can read some reviews. I hope it suceeds though, because a big publisher are making a huge budget survival horror game that seems inspired a lot by smaller indie titles like Amnesia and such is such a good thing, but if they have attached superfluous unnecessary stuff like combat with humans, then I'm worried. I just feel it's better to make smaller more cohesive stuff, cut anything that they find unnecessary and just keep the good stuff, it'd cost less to develop and you could charge less, and make a good profit on it.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on January 15, 2014, 12:02:26 PM.... It's based more around Alien than Aliens (even down to the 70s style sci-fi spaceship interior), there is only alien in the entire game and no weapons...

The team has access to material relating to the first film in 20th Century Fox's archive – this contains a lot of material (e.g. various designs)  that wasn't used in the film itself and which hasn't been seen outside of the studio – and have licensed the soundtrack, which has been expanded on. So there's quite a bit to get excited about!

They did trial having a gun in the testing, but the team noticed testers preferred running away. Crafting items and defensive measures will be part of the game, so there could well be weaponry, however, they're pushing it as a non-combat focused game.

One thing that does sound interesting is that the alien is meant to learn your tactics as the game progresses...

El Unicornio, mang

Quote from: Bored of Canada on January 15, 2014, 12:22:12 PM
As a fan of horror games, I like the direction they're taking with this. My main concern is the fact that it's a big budget game that's going to be made to last eight hours, and the leaks that there's allegedly going to be quite a bit of shooting through clones and soldiers for a lot of the game.

I think it's very hard to sustain people's horror for a long period of time, unless the general story is hugely great.



There was an Alien game for the Spectrum/C64/Amstrad which I remember being quite sophisticated for the time

http://www.compmike19.com/id565.htm

I get what you mean about wondering how this one will hold interest. Possibly there will be some mini-games and puzzles littered throughout the storyline to add variety?

Quote from: Ignatius_S on January 15, 2014, 12:28:11 PM
The team has access to material relating to the first film in 20th Century Fox's archive – this contains a lot of material (e.g. various designs)  that wasn't used in the film itself and which hasn't been seen outside of the studio – and have licensed the soundtrack, which has been expanded on. So there's quite a bit to get excited about!


Nice!

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Bored of Canada on January 15, 2014, 12:22:12 PM
As a fan of horror games, I like the direction they're taking with this. My main concern is the fact that it's a big budget game that's going to be made to last eight hours, and the leaks that there's allegedly going to be quite a bit of shooting through clones and soldiers for a lot of the game....

Although there were quite a few leaks, we have no idea how good the sources were – there's been a lot more information in the last week and the team are pushing something rather different to initial reports. I guess we need to wait and see!

Quote from: Bored of Canada on January 15, 2014, 12:22:12 PM....I don't know. I'm so skeptical about this game. I think if it was a three or four hour game, maybe at a smaller price, it could be genuinely amazing. But the triple A type games will go for 8 hours and will sell for full price, and horror above all needs to be clever and so perfectly calculated to keep you going for that long...

Personally, I think the bigger issue is that survival horror is a relatively niche genre, which is going to affect the market. At the moment, we don't know enough about the game and the overall design to be in a good place to comment how long playing time should be.

Quote from: Bored of Canada on January 15, 2014, 12:22:12 PM... And there's never really been a good Alien game...

Mmm, really don't know about that. The Alien and Aliens tie-ins on the Spectrum were (and still are well-regarded) – only played the latter, but it captured the feel of the film and personally would say it was accomplished a lot considering the hardware!

Hangthebuggers

I had a different Aliens game for the C64.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efolLO2zcpc

I thought this was quite nifty at the time too. A 2d first person shooter (A bit like operation wolf, you flicked between different character cameras and aimed with a cursor and when they died the screen would flicker into static on the HUD. Nice little touch.


El Unicornio, mang

I had that version too, for the Spectrum. Was pretty good. I only played the other Speccy one briefly, but I remember it was like 6 different games in one or something



Seems there were three different Aliens games released in '87, including this Japan-only one


Mister Six

Quote from: Bored of Canada on January 15, 2014, 12:22:12 PMI don't know. I'm so skeptical about this game. I think if it was a three or four hour game, maybe at a smaller price, it could be genuinely amazing. But the triple A type games will go for 8 hours and will sell for full price, and horror above all needs to be clever and so perfectly calculated to keep you going for that long.

Yeah, that's definitely my concern.

Quote from: Ignatius_S on January 15, 2014, 12:28:11 PM
One thing that does sound interesting is that the alien is meant to learn your tactics as the game progresses...

Yeaaaaahhhh bollocks. People have been saying that for years. It never amounts to anything.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Mister Six on January 15, 2014, 02:55:42 PM...Yeaaaaahhhh bollocks. People have been saying that for years. It never amounts to anything.

Nah. Plenty of games will have ways of preventing players from spamming the same tactics but the way varies.

In the last Arkham game, for instance, one of the Bane battles was very much a cat and mouse affair, where you were having to use surprise attacks - however, he would very quickly start destroying the appropriate pieces of the environment (e.g. Floor grates) to prevent repeat attacks surprisingly quickly, rather than after number of times or not at all. IIRC, the speed at which he did this would vary - it might be after the first time, it might be after the third attack - and it felt an organic experience (rather than it happening after setting off the appropriate trigger) where the boss was evolving their tactics naturally according to what you did, in a way that made sense and that was hard to anticipate.

In a lot of survival horror games, it's the lack of resources that prevents players using the same tactics. Although that would work here alone, given the nature of the enemy, it would make much more sense to have a foe that is able to adapt its approach - and it's something that makes me more interested.

Neil

Have to say that Alien Trilogy on the Playstation was all kinds of great.

Amen.

Also, that DS Alien game is pretty good, although I found the world quite depressing. Actually really depressing. I only played a few hours. It's so claustrophobic.

thraxx


Christ, that Alien Isolation game looks fucking terrifying, I was shitting myself throughout.  I'm a terrible pussy and  don't think that I could play that on my own.

lazarou

Quote from: Ignatius_S on January 15, 2014, 05:09:57 PM
Nah. Plenty of games will have ways of preventing players from spamming the same tactics but the way varies.

In the last Arkham game, for instance, one of the Bane battles was very much a cat and mouse affair, where you were having to use surprise attacks - however, he would very quickly start destroying the appropriate pieces of the environment (e.g. Floor grates) to prevent repeat attacks surprisingly quickly, rather than after number of times or not at all. IIRC, the speed at which he did this would vary - it might be after the first time, it might be after the third attack - and it felt an organic experience (rather than it happening after setting off the appropriate trigger) where the boss was evolving their tactics naturally according to what you did, in a way that made sense and that was hard to anticipate.
It's still an obviously triggered action though, just one with a small, controlled degree of randomness to it. There's a world of difference between something like that and a genuinely adaptive opponent. Almost every "learning" enemy in all of gaming has been just a little bit of scripted smoke and mirrors capable of little more than deciding which waypoint to run to, or when to perform canned reaction #2 to a specific trigger you just tripped. Most attempts at anything further have fallen on their arse when they weren't abandoned completely.

QuoteNah. Plenty of games will have ways of preventing players from spamming the same tactics but the way varies.
Countering a player's attacks in a fairly direct sense in the short term is trivial. Creating any genuine degree of spatial awareness or believable, reactive behaviour over the course of a game? I don't see it happening any time soon. I don't think anyone's come remotely close yet, and developers have been boasting about "learning opponents" since forever.

That is astonishing. Perhaps the first time the "next generation" has struck me as being just that. The way the focus shifts between the scanner and the background, and apparently that's something you can choose too. That's the kind of attention to detail that games are going to need to have to stand out now.

It kind of follows on from my recent thought that graphics in video games hit a kind of technological peak about 10 years ago with games like Half Life 2, and everything since has just been a gradual improvement rather than a slap round the face. Nothing from 10 years ago is now difficult to play because of the graphics is what I mean, and if Half Life 2: Episode 3 was announced tomorrow and it was going to use exactly the same engine, no one would bat an eyelid.

Jerzy Bondov

Quote from: lazarou on January 15, 2014, 11:59:54 PM
It's still an obviously triggered action though, just one with a small, controlled degree of randomness to it. There's a world of difference between something like that and a genuinely adaptive opponent. Almost every "learning" enemy in all of gaming has been just a little bit of scripted smoke and mirrors capable of little more than deciding which waypoint to run to, or when to perform canned reaction #2 to a specific trigger you just tripped. Most attempts at anything further have fallen on their arse when they weren't abandoned completely.
I agree but I did find that bit in Arkham Origins quite scary. There's something to be said for gradually taking away tools just as you get confident with their use, whether it requires a lot of smoke and mirrors or not. It's sort of the inverse of the Metroid formula where you get progressively more tooled up and powerful towards the end of the game. By the end of something like Dead Space the scares have almost totally dried up because your weapons just mulch everything you see.

The Alien game looks too scary. If they brought it out on the Oculus Rift you'd have to play it in a nappy. Although I do that anyway ;-)

Ignatius_S

Quote from: lazarou on January 15, 2014, 11:59:54 PM
It's still an obviously triggered action though, just one with a small, controlled degree of randomness to it. There's a world of difference between something like that and a genuinely adaptive opponent. Almost every "learning" enemy in all of gaming has been just a little bit of scripted smoke and mirrors capable of little more than deciding which waypoint to run to, or when to perform canned reaction #2 to a specific trigger you just tripped. Most attempts at anything further have fallen on their arse when they weren't abandoned completely.
Countering a player's attacks in a fairly direct sense in the short term is trivial.

Sure, of course, they were triggered actions but the point I was trying to make that they didn't fee like they were. I do appreciate that Bane wasn't a "genuinely adaptive opponent" but the Warners team had managed to create an illusion, that in the second battle, he was to a degree – it was in stark contrast to the first two games.

As I mentioned above, survival horror games often very limited resources to restrict the player's ability to attack. There are other elements of game design that do this (or to prevent it entirely) but off the top of my head, I'm struggling to think of a game where this is done (in part) by the enemy adapting its tactics within the game.

I like survival horror a lot and incorporating such an element is something that makes me very interested. Partly, because it's a new experience and partly, it fits the concept of the enemy brilliantly – not because I think it's going to be a genuinely adaptive opponent.

Quote from: lazarou on January 15, 2014, 11:59:54 PM...Countering a player's attacks in a fairly direct sense in the short term is trivial.

I was thinking in broader terms, including many genres, than just to prevent spamming attacks. The example I gave was given because it was: a) one that I played recently and liked; b) gave the illusion that the enemy had evolved because of my actions.

Quote from: Jerzy Bondov on January 16, 2014, 01:57:17 PM
I agree but I did find that bit in Arkham Origins quite scary. There's something to be said for gradually taking away tools just as you get confident with their use, whether it requires a lot of smoke and mirrors or not. It's sort of the inverse of the Metroid formula where you get progressively more tooled up and powerful towards the end of the game. By the end of something like Dead Space the scares have almost totally dried up because your weapons just mulch everything you see.

The Alien game looks too scary. If they brought it out on the Oculus Rift you'd have to play it in a nappy. Although I do that anyway ;-)

That's a really good point about it being an inverse.

Also love the idea about Oculus Rift... I think!

Mister Six

Haven't played Origins but isn't it just the same system used in the Mr Freeze battle in Arkham City?

Jerzy Bondov

Yes I was going to mention that. The Freeze one is actually a bit better I think, as it's in a larger environment and you have more options for attacking him and which he can learn from. However there's a Batcomputer display that pops up showing you which attacks you haven't tried, which exposes the cogs a bit too much.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Mister Six on January 17, 2014, 01:15:37 AM
Haven't played Origins but isn't it just the same system used in the Mr Freeze battle in Arkham City?

Although the idea is pretty much the same, the execution is Origins evolved it considerably. Even though they both involve the environment being damaged by the boss, they don't feel very similar to me – so much so, that, my instinctive response to your questions was 'no, they're completely different' which I think reflects my emotional response to them.

With Freeze, it's obviously straight away that using a tactic after one success go, will not work again – as well as it blatantly failing, you're told what to do. Due to how the boss battles are executed in the game, the process feels very artificial – largely due to the triggers to set off, but also (IIRC) there aren't negative consequences to speak of.

With Bane, when he starts destroying the environmental elements to prevent the attacks, it felt more of a surprise and it's possible that the bit he destroys is where you're hiding ready to pounce; if this happens, you lose a decent amount of damage. I found that sometimes, you still might be able to get the drop on him, so it wasn't as crude as once he starts doing it, you've no chance. Also, he doesn't destroy all elements systematically (i.e. he's goes round with the express intention of just destroying them – he's still primarily after you) and some can remain; it's far less likely you'll be able to use them and there's a risk as you know he may go straight for where you are.

Other aspects that I think are significant include the location, script and length. The writing in Origins is excellent – I like do like the writing (and stories) of the other too, but felt the Origins script was a real step up. When Bane comments during this battle, it felt a lot more believable (probably not the best choice of words considering what we're discussing!) than when did Mr Freeze did – I felt a lot more emotionally invested in Bane battle. With the second Bane battle, there's a very strict time limit, which ramps up the tension – as does the environment, as you're in a very enclosed setting that's a handicap to you and a benefit to your foe. With Freeze, I don't recall anything like the same reaction.

Ultimately, we're still dealing with triggers, but due to the execution with this Bane battle, I really had an emotional response, whereas with the Freeze one it was an intellectual one – I was solving a puzzle (which was being explained to me) with no pressure.

Quote from: Jerzy Bondov on January 17, 2014, 11:28:49 AM
Yes I was going to mention that. The Freeze one is actually a bit better I think, as it's in a larger environment and you have more options for attacking him and which he can learn from. However there's a Batcomputer display that pops up showing you which attacks you haven't tried, which exposes the cogs a bit too much.

Hee, those are the reasons that I preferred the Bane one! That said, I did like the Freeze one a lot.

MojoJojo

AFAIRC, you didn't get the hint list for Mr Freeze if you played on hard - or it wasn't displayed automatically anyway. Probably right about the story and build up though - I can't even remember while Freeze was withholding the cure anyway - was it just to get the man dressed as a bat to save his wife or something?

Ignatius_S

Quote from: MojoJojo on January 17, 2014, 12:20:09 PM
AFAIRC, you didn't get the hint list for Mr Freeze if you played on hard - or it wasn't displayed automatically anyway. Probably right about the story and build up though - I can't even remember while Freeze was withholding the cure anyway - was it just to get the man dressed as a bat to save his wife or something?

I haven't played it on that setting (yet – need to play through again) but like the sound of that.

In the story, Freeze had created the cure for the Joker but it wasn't working, which set up having to face off against another boss – which I think was par for the course in the first two. You go to see one boss to get something, they can't help, so it's off to the next one. As I say, I like all three stories, but feel that the bosses/villains were incorporated into the story more effectively and the script was more satisfying.

Played three hours of this today. This really is my kind of game.

Fucking hell. It takes a while for the alien to show up, but when he starts popping up in random places. Fucking hell.

I jumped out of a vent and heard my motion tracker going nuts, so I started sprinting down the corridor as I pull it out to see which direction whatever lifeform is coming from, and I totally did something that a character in an Alien film would have done.

In a split second, I half processed that there was a lot of liquid dripping down from the vent above me, but I already running in that direction with that momentum, and pulling out the tracker to give it a quick looksie and SHWOOSH.

I was yanked up into the vent by the beastie and fucking had a heart attack. The thing is so unpredictable. I didn't even realise this was getting bad reviews until today, when I saw the ones from people I don't sync up with, and I really have different priorities from the people who complained about a lot of this stuff. It's very difficult, but for me, this is just bloody lovely.

Just going to play this in couple hour bursts at nights with my headphones on. Going to savour it and stagger it out.

The world building of this is really excellent. Every single computer terminal, and electronic device is just so well realised. The production design is just so lovely. I just love being in this world.



AH JESUS. AH JESUS.



NO NO NONONO

Junglist

I think a lot of people were wanting Aliens, not Alien. They wanted big feck off guns with loads of ammo and something shooty and meh. Instead we've got one of the most atmospheric, terrifying horror games of recent years, which I'd take over an FPS clone any day of the week.

glitch

I've heard really mixed reports from the SA thread about this, which I'm kind of pleased with because I really don't want to have to hook my 360 up again and lose the next few weeks playing this...

stunted

I bought Rayman Legends on the back of what I think was BOC's review and loved it. I've just ordered this and expect even greater things BoC.

Really give this a read before you jump in. It's a difficult game, which can put you off, but that difficulty is what is so unique about it.

http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2014/10/07/tips-playing-alien-isolation

My only other tip for this would be to play this in short bursts and only at nights. I can see it getting frustrating and crushing if you tried to binge your way through it. It's better to keep the tension and terror fresh. Apparently, it's quite a long game, so you probably should be staggering it. 

It's only 11 in the morning here, and I'm anxious to hop back in and play it, but it's just not the same to be playing horror games in the day. Ruins it a little bit.

Good headphones are also a pretty lovely addition if you're feeling particularly brave.

Rev

I'm not that far in, but having read some of the more frequent criticisms my position is this:  I completely agree with what people are slagging it off for, but that doesn't outweigh what it gets right.  This isn't a very good game, it simply isn't, but it's a compelling experience.

One of the main things that's being mentioned is that the enemies in it (not just the alien) seem to have almost supernatural powers of vision.  What seems to happen is that they're able to spot you from a mile away when the game wants that to happen, but if it's not forcing a particular scene on you they're dozy as balls, and you can walk right by without them noticing.  This does fuck it up quite severely, as you need to know 'the rules' in a stealth game, and a nondescript NPC seemingly being able to see through all obstacles for story purposes completely ruptures that.  Not knowing what to expect is good, not knowing what to expect because the game feels like it has to cheat isn't.

This far, the alien also feels like a bit of a jack-in-the-box.  A device, rather than something I believe is moving around out there.  That's fine in a way, but it's not what we were led to expect here.

But yes:  despite all that, it's creepy and very atmospheric.  That really does have to be all you want from it, though.

I'm sure the whole game as a whole has it's problems, but if the premise of the game is to "Put it's audience in the space of a character in the original Alien film", then it's a fucking triumphant success.

I played a bit this afternoon, but played out a life tonight, really tired, late, almost 1 in the morning. The crushing feeling in my chest as I was playing this section of this large area, with the alien relentlessly searching for you. I was utterly fucking terrified. Like, forgetting to breath stuff. Christ. This game succeeds wholeheartedly at evoking a feeling. It fulfilled it's premise. It probably will be too bloody long but the dynamic little experiences I've had have been worth the ride.

The plot is fine. But the world is amazing. And it's keeping me pushing forward, which I find a lot of horror games lack. If there's nothing compelling you to keep going, then it's flawed. You need that tension. The desire to find out what's actually going on, or to discover the world, or to just see what happens to these characters, or to finish off a story, and that creates tension, because the gameplay and terror inside you is just telling you to just hide in a cupboard.

That's why I just gave up on Outlast at the halfway point. World was boring. Story was boring. Characters were boring. Everything about it was boring. Great tricks and scary moments, but nothing compelled me to continue. The world and atmosphere of this is very compelling. The visuals. I'm enjoying uncovering the story of what's happened on this space-station, even if I'm not particularly interested in the actual main framing device of helping Amanda find out what happened to Mama-Ripley, because I know what happens to Ellen because I've seen the films.

Anyway, I'm really enjoying this game. If it's actually 20 hours like some people are saying, this is going to take me a fucking long time at my methodically slow pace.


Do you lose anything for dying? Does it require skill to get past difficult bits? Are the bits just randomly generated events and therefore all equal? Is there any reason not to just die and restart that bit? If not, then what's at stake? Your time? Does that not make it meaningless quite quickly?

I'm not trying to be a dick, just wondering. They were my thoughts when reading reviews.

I think they're fair questions to apply to a game, my favourites tend to answer those questions well.

VegaLA