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Alien: Isolation |OT| 1 Alien. 1 Ripley. No Jonesy.

I bought this one a few hours ago on PSN and it downloaded everything within 3 hours (sweet!)

This has got to be the most tense and terrifying game I have played since Resident Evil 1 and 2. The ambiant sound is what makes this one a true horror classic, with the added fact that each sound can actually be the Alien but you will never know for sure. I am constantly on my toes, with the first hour just flipping the camera back and forth because I thought it would finally come out and kill me.

I have to give a huge thumbs up to the devs with the amount of stellar presentation going on. This looks and feels like the true Alien game we were craving for for so long. I have not encountered the Alien in its fullest as of yet, but I am already sneaking like a mouse. No.. I am sneaking like the flee on a mouse.

I am going to die, right?
 
BKliaQL.gif


Get through the fucking vent! Has anyone else had trouble with invisible walls inside vents?

I've backwards crawled out of a one way vent into regular gameplay areas and had my controls stuck as though I was still in the vent. Had to restart.
 

-Deimos

Member
Just finished the tenth mission. Goddamn.

Such a relief
that the alien is gone. But I'm guessing that won't last for long.
 
That 5.9 score just shows that it also all depends on the mood of said reviewer and whether he/she has the resilience to keep on going despite getting killed by the alien.

I feel that the majority of gamers have been rendered into a dull state with checkpoints, auto-save and manual save measures in the majority of games.

This is a true survival game where each step can be your last. You can never get the feeling of being overpowered or that you can easily run towards a room.

This game will punish you for not taking your sweet time and that is what makes it worth its while.
 

-Deimos

Member
This game deserves an award for the longest ending sequence ever. Shit, I spent 4 hours thinking the next moment must be the end, but no, just twist after twist after twist. What a game.

Halloween is off to a great start.
 

kamandi

Member
This is nice to see so many people enjoying the game. I personally force myself every time, but get bored after half an hour.
 
This is nice to see so many people enjoying the game. I personally force myself every time, but get bored after half an hour.

The atmosphere alone just captures me and makes it hard to actually quit the game. This is the first PS4 game I bought where I am in awe with the presentation of it.
 
That 5.9 score just shows that it also all depends on the mood of said reviewer and whether he/she has the resilience to keep on going despite getting killed by the alien.

I feel that the majority of gamers have been rendered into a dull state with checkpoints, auto-save and manual save measures in the majority of games.

This is a true survival game where each step can be your last. You can never get the feeling of being overpowered or that you can easily run towards a room.

This game will punish you for not taking your sweet time and that is what makes it worth its while.
About the bolded: I get what you mean, but the game also punishes you for taking your sweet time... which also makes it worth its while =).
 

EGM1966

Member
So I'm getting ready to a second run grab the apparently masses of stuff I missed first time through including Nostromo logs.

And I have a question or two I'll spoiler for those who've finished the game and may be able to advise:

Basically I'm thinking of blasting through to the beginning of Mission 16 when your torch and hacking device are fully upgraded then backtracking everywhere now that no barriers should be able to stand in my way and I have tools to fend off Alien if I need to vs being fully vulnerable - does this make sense or is there a better time to do so?

Secondly assuming the above does anyone have a view on how much the Alien and other threats continue to pop up if you backtrack? If I have to dodge 'em then fine I guess but I'm hoping that if I go off piste the Alien hunting level will drop back when I go to previously visited areas and won't really pick up again until I continue properly with Mission 16 - any chance this is true?

Any help welcome. Loved the game overall despite some frustrating moments when the unpredictable nature of the Alien AI resulted in me being unavoidably unlucky a few times and I'm keen to try and get all the Nostromo logs without a walk-through or just looking 'em up on the internet.
 

Bumhead

Banned
I didn't realise that IGN gave it 5.9, sure its buggy and maybe too long for its own good but damn that's a harsh score

I normally pay almost zero attention to review scores and certainly don't waste any of my time getting angry about them, but 5.9 is laughable for this game. Even accounting for swings in personal taste and preference, it's just a bad review.
 

Mohonky

Member
This game deserves an award for the longest ending sequence ever. Shit, I spent 4 hours thinking the next moment must be the end, but no, just twist after twist after twist. What a game.

Halloween is off to a great start.


I dont get this, and it was brought up in a number of reviews that the game seems to have what you think is the ending, but then it gets going again. I never felt like I was approaching the end till I actually hit it, never felt like the game led me on to believe I was at an end point prematurely.
 

Mohonky

Member
BKliaQL.gif


Get through the fucking vent! Has anyone else had trouble with invisible walls inside vents?

Sorry but I cant help but laugh when I see this and it gets funnier everytime, I'm just picturing someome sitting there going "no, no! Get in the vent, move for fuck sake!!!! Shit, its got me is got me arghhhh!
 

-Deimos

Member
I dont get this, and it was brought up in a number of reviews that the game seems to have what you think is the ending, but then it gets going again. I never felt like I was approaching the end till I actually hit it, never felt like the game led me on to believe I was at an end point prematurely.

I mean it in a good way. There were about 4-5 moments in the final missions where I thought the game was over before something totally fucks up and makes Amanda's life a living hell. One of the best ending sequences ever.
 

Capndrake

Member
So yesterday there was an update that made the TF2 prepurchase items tradable, is there anybody that would be willing to part with theirs? Willing to gift a cheap game in return, unless you're feeling super kind. Shoot me a PM if you're down to trade.
 

clockpunk

Member
So... my wife bought the game tonight at full RRP (£45) and after a full hour to install and update the bastard game won't start the first mission. It just says 'required content is missing', even after rebooting the XBox One, reloading save, and even starting a new game and rushing through the opening again.

Absolutely livid, XBox Support aren't saying anything, and Googling the issue does not yield any answers.

Bastard Sega have ruined out Halloween.
 
I normally pay almost zero attention to review scores and certainly don't waste any of my time getting angry about them, but 5.9 is laughable for this game. Even accounting for swings in personal taste and preference, it's just a bad review.

I just can't work it out, the sound is amazing, the story well done, the atmosphere and tension is perfect, yes it's a bit janky and maybe too long but that's where it's real flaws stop surely?
 
So... my wife bought the game tonight at full RRP (£45) and after a full hour to install and update the bastard game won't start the first mission. It just says 'required content is missing', even after rebooting the XBox One, reloading save, and even starting a new game and rushing through the opening again.

Absolutely livid, XBox Support aren't saying anything, and Googling the issue does not yield any answers.

Bastard Sega have ruined out Halloween.
It's still downloading the full game. You just have to wait a bit.
 
I love the non-checkpoint system.... except when I've gone through and collected a bunch of stuff on my way to the objective. I wish it would at least save ID tags and upgrades (until you load a previous save). I get tired of retreading areas just to collect stuff (even accessing terminals quickly just so it doesn't register as I ignored it in case there's a trophy for such a thing) only to get stabbed from behind when I'm at a terminal when it comes down on top of me/behind me =/.

But I do prefer save points to checkpoints.
 

Darklord

Banned
Awesome. I finally got my new computer and went to play this. The fucking game locks up every time on the first in-game loading screen. wtf? :(
 

Kezen

Banned
Awesome. I finally got my new computer and went to play this. The fucking game locks up every time on the first in-game loading screen. wtf? :(

Wait 2 minutes, the loading will continue. New Nvidia drivers screwed things up, CA is aware of the issue.
If you experience crashes on loading (not a freeze), disable a few of the most demanding settings until CA fixes this.
 

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
I Think I am on mission 9 or 10 now
(The Alien just chased me around the server farm)
Damn this game is fucking great, GOTY so far anyway. The atmosphere is absolutely amazing, the game doesn't feel too difficult at all once you get the hang of it. Most of my deaths have been my own fault, sure there is some randomness but that's the core of the game.

Hopefully the last sections of the game are as strong as the first sections, which was where The Evil Within fell apart.
 

Darklord

Banned
Wait 2 minutes, the loading will continue. New Nvidia drivers screwed things up, CA is aware of the issue.
If you experience crashes on loading (not a freeze), disable a few of the most demanding settings until CA fixes this.

Thanks. I left it for a while and it did unfreeze and load up properly. Phew!
 
just started playing today
shame about the janky cut scenes what a bad first impression! how can they not patch it by now?
its great but there were already two places where the game wants me to do something in a certain way and if i didnt i got punished. Since i also missed a save point, re-running a quite long tricky section only to die again, got annoying.
Making my way through multiple areas then getting told the next objective is to run the same gauntlet back again, is just... emotionally draining.
in a way its very accurate game version of watching the film for the first time decades ago: intense but not exactly pleasant.
 
just started playing today
shame about the janky cut scenes what a bad first impression! how can they not patch it by now?
its great but there were already two places where the game wants me to do something in a certain way and if i didnt i got punished. Since i also missed a save point, re-running a quite long tricky section only to die again, got annoying.
Making my way through multiple areas then getting told the next objective is to run the same gauntlet back again, is just... emotionally draining.
in a way its very accurate game version of watching the film for the first time decades ago: intense but not exactly pleasant.

How opinions can differ...

This is truly one of those games you either love or hate. There does not seem to be a perfect middle ground for it.
 

BigTnaples

Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
So I'm on M10 Genini Exoplanet Solutions.


About how far am I along?

Just got a flamethrower not too long ago.
 

Screaming Meat

Unconfirmed Member
Is the 360 version any good? I was playing this on my mate's PS3 the other night and was fairly impressed with how it ran on the old hardware. Is there much difference between the old-gen versions?
 
Is the 360 version any good? I was playing this on my mate's PS3 the other night and was fairly impressed with how it ran on the old hardware. Is there much difference between the old-gen versions?

From Digital Foundry:

Remarkably, as we saw with Bungie's Destiny, the look and feel of Alien: Isolation successfully translates over to the last-gen hardware - dynamic lighting and volumetric fog effects infuse the world with plenty of atmosphere, while environments remain highly detailed and authentic to the developer's original vision. That said, there are inevitably some significant cuts in graphical quality that eat away at the game's moody presentation.

Resolution is dropped from the native 1080p to a more manageable sub-HD framebuffer. In this case we're looking at something in the region of 1120x680 on 360 and an even lower 960x680 on PS3, with both versions sporting cheap post-process anti-aliasing solutions that miss plenty of edges while impacting texture quality significantly [UPDATE 12/10/14 09:36: Creative Assembly says that both last-gen console versions have a 720p vertical resolution, but there's definitely a significant reduction on both versions' horizontal]. The reduction in resolution means the game looks softer, while upscaling accentuates jaggies - issues that affect the PS3 version more prominently due to its smaller framebuffer.

The 360 version is better in comparison to the PS3 version.
 
How opinions can differ...

This is truly one of those games you either love or hate. There does not seem to be a perfect middle ground for it.

I don't hate it.
And yet so far I'm not yet sure I'll complete it and love it.

So I'm in the middle at the moment. I can appreciate the sound design, lighting, atmosphere, little homages to the movie (although I've no idea why Savastapol, a way station, should look apparently exactly like the Nostromo - which was a mining ship).

I'll keep going. But having read already, and heard in Angry Joe review, that it is too long by a number of hours, I'm just a bit suspicious when it sends me back through 15 rooms I've already successfully negotiated.
 
Ah, nice one!

This is one of those games where I am amazed that the last-gen consoles can actually portray a decent game without it feeling like a total letdown.

Granted, I am playing this one on the PS4 but if I would be playing this on the 360 it would have been a good feeling that I am not missing out on a lot.
 

Mohonky

Member
This is one of those games where I am amazed that the last-gen consoles can actually portray a decent game without it feeling like a total letdown.

Granted, I am playing this one on the PS4 but if I would be playing this on the 360 it would have been a good feeling that I am not missing out on a lot.

Its actually a remarkable engine, I mean my PC flogged through it with ease, I am at a point where 30 to 40fps on newer games is usually my limit but this one was no problem. Yet its possibly one of the most visually amazing games I have ever played.
 

Screaming Meat

Unconfirmed Member
This is one of those games where I am amazed that the last-gen consoles can actually portray a decent game without it feeling like a total letdown.

Granted, I am playing this one on the PS4 but if I would be playing this on the 360 it would have been a good feeling that I am not missing out on a lot.

Cool. I was going to wait till I got a PS4, but having seen how well it ran on the PS3, I thought screw it. The whole thing oozed atmosphere, even on the old hardware.

Thanks for your help!
 

BigTnaples

Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
So far what I heard is that after the flamethrower you got around 6-7 hours worth.

Correct me if I am wrong.


Nice. Is that on hard? Seems to take a bit long to get through some of these sections on hard.


Enjoying every second of it though. So intense.
 

Joey Ravn

Banned
I recently started playing the game after the massive, utter disappointment that was The Evil Within. This is a horror game. I'm still at the early levels (
I just met Taylor and Samuels near the med bay
), but I'm loving it.

Bad decision, though: reading the OT. I didn't know that
Samuels was an android. I have to admit that I had my suspicions since the beginning, when he claimed that he doesn't need as much sleep as the rest of the Torrens crew
. *wink wink*
 
Haven't been so absorbed in a game for a long time. Played the whole thing with headphones and the atmosphere was just incredible. Found it tense all the way through and was genuinely surprised that it kept me gripped for such a long time considering how slow paced it is. I think the sound and visuals, which are both superb, definitely helped with that. Played on hard and didn't ever feel like the AI was unfair, it was always in my fault when I died.

Loved everything about it. Probably one of my favourite horror games, certainly from a presentation point of view.
 
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