Alien: Isolation

[Wirdschowerdn]

It's more than that. They find the Alien's AI inconsistent, and that once spotted death is the only outcome. Legitimate complains, in my opinion.

Inconsistent AI? Death the only outcome once spotted?

Sounds like CA got it's shit together. Finally an Alien game that does the Alien justice.

 

[Haba]

Quite frankly an Alien game about "Alien" doesn't quite work for me. There is no "fear of the unknown" with Alien any more.

An "Alien" game with a new kind of an alien would make more sense. So that you can have those "oh god it's blood is acid!" -moments again.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Quite frankly an Alien game about "Alien" doesn't quite work for me. There is no "fear of the unknown" with Alien any more.

That's like saying "There is no fear from a burglar breaking into my house at 2 am", or "There's no fear from nigger gangs trying to rape/shoot me because I know how a nigger looks like".

The fear doesn't come from the looks of the Alien.

 

[Athelas]

That's like saying "There is no fear from a burglar breaking into my house at 2 am", or "There's no fear from nigger gangs trying to rape/shoot me because I know how a nigger looks like".

The fear doesn't come from the looks of the Alien.

That analogy doesn't quite work. By your own admission, you don't know if the burglar will rape or shoot you, or both, or if he's even a nigger.

 

[Angthoron]

Quite frankly an Alien game about "Alien" doesn't quite work for me. There is no "fear of the unknown" with Alien any more.

That's like saying "There is no fear from a burglar breaking into my house at 2 am", or "There's no fear from nigger gangs trying to rape/shoot me because I know how a nigger looks like".

The fear doesn't come from the looks of the Alien.

Except with the burglar, you still have the fear of the unknown. Will he run off when spooked, or will he try to kill you and your family? Is he a psychopath or just some desperate asshole? A drug junkie? Or maybe it's the zombie apocalypse and your living room is being invaded by the living dead?

With Alien, you know what it does, how it does it, its biology, its habits - all very much outlined in the films, comics, games and such. Sure, it's still fear, but it's not a fear of new and unknown. I'd really like a new alien threat in a popular franchise, the sort that would take several installments to fully explore and explain, and until then, you'd be like "Why's it here? What does it want?"

Don't get me wrong, Alien's still scary enough.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

That's like saying "There is no fear from a burglar breaking into my house at 2 am", or "There's no fear from nigger gangs trying to rape/shoot me because I know how a nigger looks like".

The fear doesn't come from the looks of the Alien.

That analogy doesn't quite work. By your own admission, you don't know if the burglar will rape or shoot you, or both, or if he's even a nigger.

But he's a dude. That's the expectation. You know it's not some unknown space alien that breaks into your home, but you still will be scared shitless.

Ergo, in the game, you know it's the Alien that stalks you. You know how it looks like, but you still will be scared shitless.

 

[Azrael the cat]

You can't repeat the same kind of horror - even if you absolutely nail it, all it amounts to is a graphical object that you're supposed to be scared of because that's what the game tells you to feel. It's the Lovecraft problem all over again - having to take the author's word for it that this thing is supposed to scare you, because any actual description/visual reveals it to be just a particularly ugly and deadly mook.

Cameron had the right idea with his planned 3rd entry - going a different style altogether, with a noir detective story about Hicks and Bishop trying to work out how much the military knew about LV41, while Ripley and Newt doing the same on the adjoining civillian section of the space station (Hicks/Bishop investigating the military, Ripley/Newt investigating the company, leading into a conspiracy thriller).

Not saying that they should use that particular plotline; just the idea of doing a different kind of story - a story that you can actually tell, instead of one that just presents a series of 'standin' scenes where you know you're supposed to be scared because that's the expected reaction, even though it's completely at odds with your authentic reactions. Noir conspiracy thriller, like a 'straight' version of Under a Killing Moon, set in the Alien universe with xenos at the centre of the conspiracy, would get me a lot more excited than another attempt at horror.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Being invaded and totally powerless to fight back is the very definition of horror.

CA is doing it right.

 

[Misconnected]

Quite frankly an Alien game about "Alien" doesn't quite work for me. There is no "fear of the unknown" with Alien any more.

An "Alien" game with a new kind of an alien would make more sense. So that you can have those "oh god it's blood is acid!" -moments again.

In every other case I'd agree. But as far as I'm concerned nobody has ever come close to creating something as fucked up as the Xenomorph still is to me, 30-something years after the reveal.

 

[Trash]

Not going to take an RPS article on face value. Their opinions on what constitutes a good or bad game are polar oposites of mine at best and retarded hipster faggotry at worst. Not to mention it looks exactly like:

They found getting killed frustrating.

 

[Mangoose]

I thought this thread was about Allen Iverson.

 

[praetor]

But he's a dude. That's the expectation. You know it's not some unknown space alien that breaks into your home, but you still will be scared shitless.

Ergo, in the game, you know it's the Alien that stalks you. You know how it looks like, but you still will be scared shitless.

no, no, no, no and NO.

with a random burglar you just know that it's "a burglar". you don't know his intentions (other than obviously malicious), his sex, probably his looks, name, anything... only that it's human and bad

with Haba's proposal, the same would apply. you'd only know it was "an unkown alien from another planet that wants to get you", you wouldn't know how he looks, how dangerous he is, why he wants you dead, etc.

having the Xenomorph is like knowing exactly who the burglar is, his weapons (or lack thereof) and motivations. night and day. anlaogies, do them right

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Dude, please. This was about the appearance of the Alien. I don't see why it should be less scary just because we've seen this iconic monster to death.

Alright, the Alien wants to kill you, that's for certain. But you don't know how, when and where. That's a pretty good start for conveying horror.

 

[Zewp]

Yeah, sorry, but being placed in a situation in a game where a monster is hunting you and you can't fight back doesn't get less scary simply because you know what the monster looks like in intricate detail.

 

[shihonage]

The Aliens game on ZX Spectrum was pretty scary. So was a similar title, ZOMBI.

 

[Angthoron]

Wow, so some people prefer to be scared by the unknown and others prefer the terror of being hunted? Holy shit, it's as if people weren't all completely alike or something.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

This video is a nice overview of all the games released that feature the Xeno. Make a particular note of the second game mentioned.

Then realize that the guy narrating the video is talking out of his arse 75% of the time.

Especially at the end. Make a note of the date of the video before you get to the end.

 

[Tehdagah]

Alien 3 for SNES was cool.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-03-29-alien-isolation-release-date-announced

Release date is 7th October.

 

[chestburster]

Alright, the Alien Muslims in COD wants to kill you, that's for certain. But you don't know how, when and where. That's a pretty good start for conveying horror.

 

[DalekFlay]

That might be the earliest release for a new game I need to upgrade my PC for. The deadline is set I guess.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

These devs appear to make a serious and competent impression. No Dewrito jerkoffs/Biowarian SJW in sight. A good sign that this will turn out to be a gem of a game.

 

[anus_pounder]

D1P

 

[DeepOcean]

These devs appear to make a serious and competent impression. No Dewrito jerkoffs/Biowarian SJW in sight. A good sign that this will turn out to be a gem of a game.

If there isn't serious Dewritos going on here, I know why Rome Total War 2 sucked so much, the competent people in CA were working on Alien all this time.

 

[Correct_Carlo]

Not going to take an RPS article on face value. Their opinions on what constitutes a good or bad game are polar oposites of mine at best and retarded hipster faggotry at worst. Not to mention it looks exactly like:

They found getting killed frustrating.

I agree on the not trusting RPS part, but alot of their criticisms ring true with these sorts of games, which worries me. "Outlast," for example, was sporadically awesome, especially in its first portions, but other parts of the game were awful trial and error as you died and died again until you found the correct path to take. I really, really loved Amnesia, but even that game lost steam as it progressed and you started to realize what the AI was capable of and could "game" the monster.

Games like these depend so much on atmosphere and the unknown that I question whether a franchise that has been done both in video games and films over and over will be able to sustain things for an entire game. We all know what an alien is and what they are capable of because we've killed them a billion times in video games already. Just like we've all already wandered around the same, generic looking, spaceship settings. So I think it will be very hard to keep things interesting for an entire game beyond just the first encounter, but we will see. I hope they pull it off.

Plus, using Rilpey's daughter as a protagonist for an Alien game is just some fucking retarded franchise rape on the level of cloning Ripley in Alien 4 (or killing her off in Alien 3, for that matter, although I think Alien 3 is kind of underrated, if admittedly not a great film).