One Small Step for Man, One Giant Step for Alien Kind: Alien Isolation Review

Reviewed by Arielle Danan

Watch my playthrough here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFgWlynmlfmdLUPWPylJ_TlBaG2RtHmet

I was never partial to games in outer space, simply because aliens never really caught my interest. All of the plotlines were very similar to nearly exact. Lost in space, a creature is set loose, the main character has to find, or capture said creature, characters die, ect, ect. But this game was an exception, why? Alien Isolation is created from the very good, very popular 1970’s film Alien. For those of you whom have not yet seen the movie, you might not know about what was put into the game when playing it. Take my suggestion, watch the movie before playing the game. Its like reading the book before you see the movie, there are just somethings you can’t do without, So from this point on there will be spoilers, me geeking out and references to the game and movie. You have been warned. So, in this game, alien isolation we start off from the viewpoint of Amanda Ripley, Ellen Ripleys daughter. Amanda is the same brand of kick-ass as her mother so the aliens in this game have two choices, to run or be killed. In all actuality, since im controlling Amanda’s character there was more dying and hiding on my end then anything else. In the beginning of this game you don’t really see the full glory of the Xneomorph until a few parts into the game. Is the Xenomorph scary? Yes. Frustrating to deal with? Yes. But did you see how cute its second mouth is!? No? Just me? Ok. Yes, for most the Xenomorph is a terrifying example of what made both the game and the movie Alien A masterpiece and a one of a kind creations that has been, recreated through other forms of media. The concept of “the alien” is nothing new now in the current day and age that we live in, but in the 1970’s the concept of finding an alien race on another planet was an extraordinary concept that brought fourth the idea that there could possibly be life on other planets. Now this game without a doubt does the movie justice. There will be games that I see that are created from the movie that are very poor in their attempt at a recreation, for example, Avatar…I don’t think we need to bring up that hot mess. The story in the movie Alien stayed the same and coherent. There wasn’t any creating a new character, there wasn’t a scene from the movie that was cut out in the game just to make things smoother. Everything was kept to the movies originality and succinctness, it made me feel filled with anxiety when I played the game, just like it did when I was little watching the movie. The game has so much I could delve into, the character development, gain like Doki Doki there is so much psychology to this game. In the game Alien Isolation, the game mechanics are simple when gotten used too and there are so many devices that can be used to distract enemies, and create shortcuts to get to your end goal. There are homemade bombs, nose maker, and electric rods that’ll knock the socks off of any android you encounter. Just be careful with the flame thrower androids seem to feed off of the hellish energy it delivers… So would I recommend this game? I would recommend it! If you are ready for a long adventure that can get tedious at times then get ready, put on your seatbelt, and hope that you stay on the Xenomorphs good side.