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This game has become a whole event in the Survival Horror genre. At the heart of Alien: Isolation, as you might guess from the title, is the cult film Alien. Filmed in 1979, the space horror film has gained a whole army of fans and continues to inspire game designers to this day.
Download Alien: Isolation for iPhone and iPad (App Store)
Download Alien: Isolation for Mac (Mac App Store)
Alien: Isolation was developed by Creative Assembly and that’s another story in itself. Back in 1990, the team beat the opposition to aliens, and its Alien-themed demo interested the bosses from Sega, the company also owned the rights to games in this movie universe. As a result, a hit was born in 2014, which revised the rules that had formed in the genre. And later, Alien: Isolation, thanks to a new publisher, Feral Interactive, received a mobile version. Now it will be possible to hide from the Alien using a smartphone or tablet, and the horror movie has retained its main advantages.
The game takes us to the year 2137. The main character of “Alien” was Helen Ripley, 15 years have passed since her confrontation with the monster. It turned out that the brave lieutenant had a daughter, Amanda. She grew up and is now a 26-year-old woman working as a technician at the Nostromo Corporation, where her mother served.
The mystery of her disappearance haunts Amanda. But here are traces of the disappeared ship – its black box is found at the Sevastopol space trading station. The woman goes there, hoping to get answers to questions about the fate of her mother. It is on the decommissioned space station in the depths of space that all the action will take place.
Of course, we are immediately made to understand that an easy walk is not to be expected. The Survival Horror genre itself hints that you will have to survive in an atmosphere of horror. The situation at the Sevastopol station is frankly inhospitable.
Chaos and destruction reign everywhere here. Yes, there are people on the ship, but they seem crazy and preoccupied with questions of survival. Other inhabitants of the station are crazy androids who are fixated on moving around the station and constantly repeating the same questions. Finally, there is another inhabitant here that you do not want to meet. Someone is constantly scratching in the ventilation passages. It’s not hard to guess who we’re talking about. It is the Alien that is the main horror of the running station.
We have to explore the huge premises of the space object. Of course, it is far from easy to get into all the rooms. Doors, as well as electronic devices, have to be cracked with the help of simple mini-games. The unhurried development of the plot is based not only on walks in order to complete the next task to advance the investigation, but also on the study of computer recordings and voice messages of the inhabitants of Sevastopol. Gradually, the whole picture of what happened to the space station, which, together with its inhabitants, became a hostage of corporate interests, will be revealed to Amanda. And the appearance of the Alien here only exacerbated the problems.
Designers have successfully managed to create an atmosphere that will form an unconscious sense of anxiety. This traces the legacy of the cult film. As is usually the case in horror films, there will not be enough light, even the lamps wink in places. In the dim corridors, smoke escapes from the chimneys, giving rise to a sense of hidden danger. The artists, in their desire to inherit the atmosphere of the cult film, even created a special filter, borrowing not only loading screens, but also noise from VHS cassettes. The authors of the game tried to saturate it with details as much as possible, avoiding possible uniformity. On the tables you can find books and magazines opened by the former inhabitants of “Sevastopol”, near computers there is half-drunk coffee and knick-knacks, garbage left untaken out in the bins. Despite the abundance of rooms, they do not seem “cardboard”, all these details are clearly beneficial to the perception.
The perception of the game is also helped by the sound, which not only accompanies the picture, but is a full-fledged participant in the transmission of that very feeling of anxiety and fear. We can hear something scratching in the ventilation, how the heroine’s shoes creak, even the walls seem to breathe. Yes, and the sound themes from Alien are carefully and appropriately transferred here.
Of course, all this space must be filled. The people living at the station, oddly enough, turned out to be the most predictable characters. Against their background, Amanda is just a superhero. Kindred behavior is simple and predictable, although they try to destroy the intruder, most often they fail. Annoying survivors can either be shot, or simply set up for a more dangerous enemy. More dangerous androids, which are not so easy to destroy. They can come at you even after absorbing a few bullets and blazing with fire. Only their slowness saves, but a meeting with them can happen inopportunely when the main enemy roams nearby.
The appearance of the Alien in the game should not be surprising. But meeting with him really does not bode well for anything. He is a hunter for whom androids and station dwellers are small game. The main prey is Amanda. The creators of the game did their best, prescribing an alien monster. Made with a kind of love, the killing machine should really scare and arouse in the players the desire to survive. This monster likes unexpected appearances, he is smart, agile and extremely dangerous. It’s hard to believe that the Alien is controlled by written scripts – it’s painfully intelligent. Tracking down its game, the predator either sneaks along the corridors, or sits secretly in the ventilation and listens. And every careless sound can attract him. Fear of the monster’s appearance is an important part of the game.
Not only does he appear unpredictably, but he still cannot be killed with bullets or grenades, you can only scare him off with fire. The player will have to be as vigilant and varied as possible, because the xenomorph also remembers the actions of the enemy, the next time your successful technique may not work.
Ideal games do not exist. Alien: Isolation is based on an old story, I must say. This helps, because the careful transfer of the plot of the Alien universe, the recreation of interiors and a frightening disturbing atmosphere will surely appeal to fans not only of the film, but of the entire genre. And if you get paranoid in front of a xenomorph, then the goal has been achieved. There are a lot of pleasant things, mini-games, crafting weapons that successfully diversify the classic horror movie.
On the other hand, authentic gaming solutions seem a little outdated. They are trying to impregnate us more with the spirit reigning at the station, but they make the game only protracted. This is not the case when the passage will require 3-6 hours. Alien: Isolation will last for a couple of dozen hours, during which you will repeatedly encounter a dangerous monster and be disappointed in your careless tactics. But the creators of a really cool and impressive adventure want to forgive minor flaws. And the plot was not so superficial to quickly read it. The game came out great, and the enemy is really scary, unpredictable and dangerous. The design and audio are in keeping with the spirit of the classics that Alien: Isolation was a great addition to.
Download Alien: Isolation for iPhone and iPad (App Store)
Download Alien: Isolation for Mac (Mac App Store)
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