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 What? Another Aliens game? But the last one was dreadful! Rather than setting another interminable game in James Cameron's world of Colonial Marines, power loaders, military hardware and wave upon wave of xenomorphs, West Sussex-based studio, Creative Assembly, have taken a different approach. They've gone back to Ridley Scott's seminal Alien as inspiration for their new survival horror game, Alien: Isolation. In their own words: quote:HOW WILL YOU SURVIVE? Wait... Amanda Ripley? Yup, Ripley's daughter. Last seen in the Aliens Special Edition looking like this:  Now looking like this:  (A nifty bit of trivia for you: Old Amanda is actually played by Sigourney Weaver's mother, actress Elizabeth Inglis, so Creative Assembly based young Amanda on Elizabeth in her more youthful acting days) OK.. and what's happening exactly? Well, Amanda has gone out into the universe to try and find out what happened to her mother, last seen heading out into the big black on the USCSS Nostromo. It is fifteen years later and Amanda has ended up on Sevastopol Station, only to find that an alien got there before her and wiped out pretty much everyone. And now it is hunting her too. The trouble is, Amanda is no soldier. There are no pulse rifles here. You control Amanda, and the best you can do is run and hide from the Xenomorph. You are aided in this task by a bulky motion tracker and a crafting system that will allow you to construct items that will aid you in your escape - noisemakers to distract the Alien, Molotov cocktails, and so on. There is a flame-thrower but fuel runs out quickly, and pistols don't do much more than just make noise that would attract the Alien's attention. More than anything you want to keep out of its sight. Hide under tables, behind walls and in lockers to keep it from finding you. I poo poo you not, there is a control to hold your breath when it comes looking for you. Let's have some videos! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTrS8KvFfRo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1Iha-5qR28 What you'll notice first off are the many cues from Scott's Alien. The station has the look of the Nostromo all over it, even down to the musical cues being straight from the soundtrack. CA went to Ron Cobb, the original concept artist for Alien and collaborated with him on achieving and replicating the lo-fi '70s look they wanted. So, is it just a big game of cat and mouse for 10 hours? Well, it's not just you versus the big chap. There will apparently be other assailants keeping you from your goals, as well as inconvenient occurrences forcing you to rethink your plans, such as these androids:  But Creative Assembly are making a lot of noise about their AI Xenomorph that doesn't just follow scripting, but makes its own mind up about decisions. The dev team have stated that when they play the game, even they are constantly surprised by the Alien's unpredictable actions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W6OpHB2D4Q Ok, this sounds like it might be fun... when's it due out? Release date is October 7th, 2014, and will be out on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PC. 
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Jun 12, 2014 12:13
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 08:32 |
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Here's a gameplay video shwoing off the wooden androids and humans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F48MPat-x3k&t=234s And some criticism from RPS on Alien's AI after they played the demo: Rock Paper Shotgun posted:The problem is that the xenomorph’s AI is frustratingly inconsistent. The hallway I was in had mini-walls to hide behind, every five feet or so. At one point I heard the xenomorph coming and squeezed up tight behind one — no problem. It walked right by me, a mere two feet from my hiding spot. Then as it began to circle to the side I’d been hiding on, I slipped over to the other side of the wall (where it had just walked). This time as it passed by, it saw me. Blood. Murder. Death. Apparently the game is playable at E3 so it would be cool to hear some actual goon hands-on reports. Palpek fucked around with this message at 12:40 on Jun 12, 2014 |
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Jun 12, 2014 12:31
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I was at E3. Played for about 15-20 minutes today. Knowing the game is out in October I'd be slightly concerned. Slightly knowing A LOT can be done, but also sometimes not much can be done. The demo that was on the floor for us regular folk was a tightly contained level which will probably (my conjecture) end up in the game in some shape and form but probably just a bit different. You start off in a small holding room that has some random mechanical parts you can pick up and a flame thrower as well. You have the ability to use a flashlight though it is battery powered and will drain somewhat slowly until you shut it off and let it recharge. No clue if this was on Xbox One or just a PC with the new Xbox controller on it, but the game looked pretty drat good. It certainly captures the aesthetic of the first film very well. The level was very dark but things were suitably dingy and lived in. There were vents you could crawl in and they had that aperture style iris open and closing to in parts of the duct work. As you probably all have seen when you pull up the motion tracker the depth of field drops out so everything in the background gets blurry. This is a great effect and it certainly creates tense moments when you are getting a dot showing up on the motion tracker and you kind of think you may have seen something move. And it also does create moments where you're so locked in to the motion tracker but you realize you're not really sure where you're going or you're just running into a wall. The alien itself looked pretty good from what I saw. The smart thing is that when you hear it clomping around you're afraid and you do hide behind stuff. And then in other situations you just catch a tiny glimpse. I will say that this demo really did you drop you into the middle of the poo poo so to speak and me having never played it was confused early on. So keep that in mind when I describe what happened. You can pull up a rotary dial menu for some things. I picked up a flare and you can light the flare. There was something called a noisemaker which I presume is when you pick up random "parts" around the ship and then you can put together noise makers to distract the alien. I picked up the flamethrower too. Now the first time I played I was really just slowly poking around. The alien walks by you early on and then I scooted myself to the left staying crouched the entire time. They have your typical alien jump scares of some pipe shooting steam out and what not. I thought I heard something though and my motion tracker was telling me something was in front of me...maybe. I was genuinely somewhat scared/confused and I wanted to back up. But I was backing up towards a door and when I went in the alien was right on the other side. This was maybe the first five minutes and I was dead. It was cool. The 2nd time just as a test I just charged out, tried to find the alien ASAP and attacked it with the flame thrower. As I noted the game is pretty dark. I'm pretty sure the alien saw me, charged me, I laid down a burst of flame that really did take up a huge portion of my screen. And the alien ran backwards. I'm not sure if it went in the doors or a ceiling panel or vent or what. But then I was nearly out of fuel and was very exposed. Again not sure if this was environmental or what but the flames seemed to cause some hoses or something to burst in the ceiling because steam started pouring out for a second right where I shot the flame. I've read what you said Palpek and I do agree. I don't want to be fighting droves of androids. Nor do I want to fight humans. It would be great and I believe its been stated that you will run into human NPC's who are simply trying to survive as well. I'd much prefer more flavor like that, a lot of simple exploring punctuate by genuine terror with alien encounters where you have to escape. It does bug me that its Ripley's daughter. Why create pointless exposition that will inevitably have fans gnashing their teeth anyways? Just make it some people who came across a ship or something. The inescapable fact but one of the great draws of this goddamn Aliens franchise of films/comics/games is that the art design and aesthetic is typically good, sometimes great and many times truly terrifying. And I have to say that this game seems to capture the aesthetic of Scott's Alien. The deliberately analog feel of the motion tracker is great. The way the ship looks is fantastic. As I said, I did feel genuinely antsy in the ventilation ducts. I was pulling up my flashlight, constantly checking my motion tracker, and spinning in circles constantly. I think they can really make this an amazing game but there are many spots that they could fall into traps. However, I think they've showed enough demo footage of difference scenarios and my hands on is good enough to say this is way better than Colonial Marines was. Which, I will not defend in the least. ACM was poo poo. I hated it. Ditching any Alien lip service, I think this game is actually going to at least do some of the tone right. The RPS criticism seems pretty spot on. Though I disagree with "can I really be afraid of a xenomorph." Because they have been done to death but this game in my limited demo seemed to ratchet up the tension very well. And I think this is largely due to them following the aesthetic vision that Scott laid down in the first film. And of course the fact that you're very very fragile. I'm genuinely worried this will be only a slightly above average game because of where we are seeing this game possibly go. I think the big shame is that it seems like this game is a 3-5 hour game that they may try to stretch longer simply because they feel they need to justify to people who will buy a full retail priced game and think it would be too short.
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Jun 13, 2014 05:48
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I really hope it can be sustained for longer than 5 hours, but even as someone excited for the game I'm a little curious/anxious to see how they will do that. I guess if Dead Space can manage it, so can this game. I'm definitely anticipating more human interaction though. The voiceover (Sanders?) in the first trailer intimates that Amanda has been called to Sevastopol station for a reason (ie, they know where her mother is), and since we know from Aliens canon that's a lie (57 years adrift, picked up by a salvage crew purely by chance), so I'm interested to see where that will lead. Plus there's 'Ricardo', Amanda's radio buddy, and we've seen other characters shown in promo pics (none of whom are black, so maybe we never actually meet Ricardo? "Ripley, would you kindly turn the power back on in the main aft section?"):  The level that all the game journos played seemed like a self-contained bit and I wouldn't be surprised if that ends up as a demo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EWe69vP1pA EDIT: jesus gently caress I hate editing posts on mobile. The_Doctor fucked around with this message at 09:00 on Jun 13, 2014 |
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Jun 13, 2014 08:47
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This game will be worth the price once someone just mods out all of the humans and androids. Maybe even the Xeno too.
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Jun 13, 2014 09:20
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Sire Oblivion posted:This game will be worth the price once someone just mods out all of the humans and androids. Maybe even the Xeno too. So.. a spooky space station where things go bang occasionally, but otherwise nothing happens?
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Jun 13, 2014 09:35
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Possibly, because then there's still tension. Having these dumb encounters with people somewhat kills that.
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Jun 13, 2014 09:44
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But why would ou take out the Xenomorph, the only thing that actually presents a threat?
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Jun 13, 2014 10:12
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How in the hell does a game get scarier when you remove threats from it? Imagine playing Outlast but the only enemy is Walker and replace every other enemy with a book falling off of a bookshelf behind you. Spooky scary, GOTY every year!
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Jun 13, 2014 10:22
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I hope not all androids are hostile, it'd be great if the tension is further increased by not knowing if an android you see walking around/activate is friend or foe. Hell, make the majority of androids friendly or neutral (glitching out, ignoring you etc) so that when one goes for you it is really scary. Plus it forces you to make risky decisions, emp/avoid them while they don't know you're there or risk identifying yourself them in hopes they can helpful you. Now it is more likely this is how they'll treat the humans but the way Xenos ignore androids and how they're semi part of environment makes me hope androids aren't reduced to secondary enemy.
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Jun 13, 2014 10:26
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Now this is what I was looking for in next generation video games. "Gun down this horde of enemies" had been done and done, but this will be hiding and running from a big smart predator you can't fight; very primal. I'm sure it will be closer to a cool tech demo than anything as romantic as I'm imagining, but it's an Alien game I've wanted since the Nostromo-esque level in the first AvP.
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Jun 13, 2014 15:40
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ReV VAdAUL posted:Now it is more likely this is how they'll treat the humans but the way Xenos ignore androids and how they're semi part of environment makes me hope androids aren't reduced to secondary enemy. Just add in a behavior like Nemesis did in Resident Evil 3 whenever enemies blocked his path.
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Jun 13, 2014 15:43
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The game is called Isolation. I'd hope they limit human interaction and android interaction.
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Jun 13, 2014 16:20
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ReV VAdAUL posted:I hope not all androids are hostile, it'd be great if the tension is further increased by not knowing if an android you see walking around/activate is friend or foe. Hell, make the majority of androids friendly or neutral (glitching out, ignoring you etc) so that when one goes for you it is really scary. Plus it forces you to make risky decisions, emp/avoid them while they don't know you're there or risk identifying yourself them in hopes they can helpful you. Basically how System Shock 2 did it with robots, but possibly even less "this robot will probably gently caress you up". It will probably lead to the player *generally* advancing to a robot, unless really down on resources/health (does it regen?) because then you might not be able to deal with a sleeeper assassin android activating (or maybe you don't have a choice). But odds are they are just gonna be hostile and force you into stealth sections, like "gotta go into the vents because in this area there's hostile androids in all the corridors, but oops-Alien is in the vent system!!" Not very optimistic for this game, especially considering who is making it.
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Jun 13, 2014 16:57
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This seems like it has the same feel as the Penumbra/Amnesia games, and that might be quite interesting all on its own, coming from a bigger developer as it does. I don't know what experience CA has aside from the Total War games and what looks like bargain bin stuff, though. I guess I'm cautiously optimistic? The trailer blew me away. Though we all know that good trailers rarely equals a good end product.
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Jun 13, 2014 17:19
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murphyslaw posted:This seems like it has the same feel as the Penumbra/Amnesia games, and that might be quite interesting all on its own, coming from a bigger developer as it does. I actually liked Viking: Battle For Asgard a lot. That was a cool game. It's pretty much the only reason I'm giving them any benefit of the doubt on this.
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Jun 13, 2014 17:37
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murphyslaw posted:This seems like it has the same feel as the Penumbra/Amnesia games, and that might be quite interesting all on its own, coming from a bigger developer as it does.
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Jun 13, 2014 17:50
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The_Doctor posted:So.. a spooky space station where things go bang occasionally, but otherwise nothing happens? The Weyland-Yutani Parable. Aliens Gone Home.
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Jun 13, 2014 17:54
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Androids look pretty creepy though, it'll be cool to have alternating gameplay segments--standard stealth sections with patrolling droids and then frantic chases with a hungry alien hunting you. Then combine them!!
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Jun 13, 2014 18:12
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Might as well share this Alien-related video I put together a while back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhcjHhIapO4
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Jun 13, 2014 18:39
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I was really disappointed when I read about androids. It gives me horrible flashbacks to A:CM and wave after wave of generic clones wanting to kill you. I really hope it isn't like that.   And what's with the glowy eyes? I don't want to sperg about it but, android's eyes shouldn't glow.  And (from the E3 video) was that some sort of super human strength/reflexes? God please don't let it be so!
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Jun 13, 2014 19:24
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KiddieGrinder posted:And (from the E3 video) was that some sort of super human strength/reflexes? God please don't let it be so! Wasn't Ash crazy strong in Alien?
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Jun 13, 2014 19:34
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Honestly the idea with the androids/humans sounds like a management decision where they were afraid a game won't sell if you won't shoot mans. A game focused on trying to get to the other side of a massacred station to escape from the Alien would be way more interesting. Even some sporadic human interaction focused on developing the story and atmosphere would work. The game could be even short if it was a focused, tense product.
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Jun 13, 2014 19:36
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KiddieGrinder posted:And what's with the glowy eyes? I don't want to sperg about it but, android's eyes shouldn't glow. The explanation is that they aren't Weyland-Yutani advanced androids like Ash, but simpler androids from another company (Seigmanns or something I think it was), more basic units built for simple duties.
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Jun 13, 2014 19:43
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KiddieGrinder posted:I was really disappointed when I read about androids. The actual setting and detail looks amazing, now it's just fingers crossed the gameplay doesn't turn out to be meh. Palpek posted:Honestly the idea with the androids/humans sounds like a management decision where they were afraid a game won't sell if you won't shoot mans.
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Jun 13, 2014 20:12
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Palpek posted:Honestly the idea with the androids/humans sounds like a management decision where they were afraid a game won't sell if you won't shoot mans. A game focused on trying to get to the other side of a massacred station to escape from the Alien would be way more interesting. Even some sporadic human interaction focused on developing the story and atmosphere would work. The game could be even short if it was a focused, tense product. It would also be hard to sell it as a AAA $60 + $50 season pass game unless it a) had procedurally generated maps that were the best loving procedurally generated maps ever and didn't feel really obvious that you're not on a space ship but a doodle that someone is adding to as you walk through it, or b) amazing multiplayer modes. I can't see either happening though (A. has never happened before so I doubt it will be here with a company that hasn't done procedural generation afaik, and B. is doubtful for a game in a franchise that is pretty weak these days) so a safer approach makes sense for the game.
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Jun 13, 2014 23:23
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ReV VAdAUL posted:Wasn't Ash crazy strong in Alien? I suppose a little, there was a bit where he did a chest grippy attack thing to Parker, which seemed to hurt him. But they were still able to overpower him pretty easily. I just don't want Terminators. Palpek posted:A game focused on trying to get to the other side of a massacred station to escape from the Alien would be way more interesting. Definately! I mean, Alien was just the alien after all. Ash didn't really do much of anything as far as outright combat, it was just subterfuge and sneakiness. Of course then he did try to kill everyone (presumably ordered to?), so, who knows? 
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Jun 13, 2014 23:47
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KiddieGrinder posted:I suppose a little, there was a bit where he did a chest grippy attack thing to Parker, which seemed to hurt him. But they were still able to overpower him pretty easily. I just don't want Terminators. I don't mean to xenomorph it up but it seemed clear to me that Ash was pretty drat strong. They barely overpowered him, and only when they knocked his head off. And then he was still tough.
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Jun 14, 2014 07:02
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This is occulus rift fodder for me when I manage to get a DK2 rift hopefully this year.
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Jun 14, 2014 07:24
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I like the idea of a game where you have to escape a space ship while hiding from a single, persistent alien but not one in the Alien setting. Xenomorphs aren't scary anymore because I know everything about them. It needs to be something different.
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Jun 14, 2014 07:29
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Republicans posted:I like the idea of a game where you have to escape a space ship while hiding from a single, persistent alien but not one in the Alien setting. Xenomorphs aren't scary anymore because I know everything about them. It needs to be something different. Eh, it's only because you've had a history of shooters that has them as easily disposable bugs. The Alien is immensely terrifying--it's fast, it can track you in ways you don't fully understand and can do little to stymie, it possess unknowable but impressive intelligence, and even its blood will kill you. The fact that it takes its victims alive more often than not also adds to the horror of it. And I wonder if they'll just keep it at one, or if a second alien will join the first for end-game harder missions.
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Jun 14, 2014 07:33
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I dunno, I can certainly see why people wouldn't want guns in this at all but from what I've heard guns can kill other humans but they bring the xenomorph down on you very quickly if you do and guns can't kill it. There's at the very least scope for a tool that in nearly every other game empowers you disempowering you leading to fear. Androids can be killed but apparently it takes a lot of doing so stealth will be far preferable to trying to go all colonial marines on them.
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Jun 14, 2014 11:31
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The point at least for me is that I don't want to fight humans at all in this franchise. It's always the same poo poo - you end up shooting grunts with a few alien encounters which usually suck. The game is then just like any other generic sci-fi fps. I get that it's hard to do but here they had a solid idea that could really work - Amnesia with Aliens. But nope, they had to add zombies with glowing eyes and generic soldiers for "variety" and add weapons etc. When somebody asks why is that then some extended universe bullshit nobody cares about ensues. The only situation when I'm killing humanoids should be when I'm running on the ceiling decapitating folks with a tail.
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Jun 14, 2014 14:30
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I love the idea of occasionally teaming up with friendly humans to escape. I picture crouching down with other crew members, carefully maneuvering around a room together quietly, then maybe someone gets snatched or stops responding to their radio. We badly need more games like Republic Commando with independent, capable squadmates that you can really care about.
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Jun 14, 2014 15:32
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I hope you're alone and the other people are there to deliver one line of exposition and then be viciously slaughtered, leaving you terrified and alone.
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Jun 14, 2014 16:58
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Inspector Hound posted:I hope you're alone and the other people are there to deliver one line of exposition and then be viciously slaughtered, leaving you terrified and alone. I'm getting the impression the other characters will probably stick around and get killed in time. I'm not really digging the whole fighting humans that have gone wild elements... The cyborg seems creepy but I saw one die in the gameplay preview which tells me the cyborg probably doesn't have much of a personality beyond being a stronger thing you can still beat in a fight with enough items.
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Jun 14, 2014 17:05
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Palpek posted:The point at least for me is that I don't want to fight humans at all in this franchise. It's always the same poo poo - you end up shooting grunts with a few alien encounters which usually suck. The game is then just like any other generic sci-fi fps. I get that it's hard to do but here they had a solid idea that could really work - Amnesia with Aliens. But nope, they had to add zombies with glowing eyes and generic soldiers for "variety" and add weapons etc. When somebody asks why is that then some extended universe bullshit nobody cares about ensues. The only situation when I'm killing humanoids should be when I'm running on the ceiling decapitating folks with a tail. Uh, but that stuff can be done well? Make it so taking out a single android is super tough, and fighting draws the Alien to the location. Bam, suddenly it's a stealth puzzle with multiple solutions, the hardest of which is combat. Since the Alien doesn't care about the androids, all you do is screw yourself over by attempting to fight them. It's the same with humans, although in that case it depends on how good you are at avoiding the alien. If you get caught and they open fire on you, the Alien will come and start killing them 1 by 1 while you hide. I haven't seen enough gameplay previews to know if that's the case, but I did see RPS saying you can fire a gun/make noise during human sequences to use the Alien to your advantage, which makes it seem like he'll come running if you make enough noise.
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Jun 14, 2014 17:11
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Maybe it could be done right but at the moment it looks to me like it will end up with you making a noise whenever you see humanoids, hiding in a closet and waiting until the Alien does the job for you and goes away. Some puzzle. On the other hand if any noise lures the Alien into the room then why have weapons at all? Won't using any of them end up with the Alien ruining the party each time? I somehow suspect there will simply be levels where you shoot dudes safe from the Alien as otherwise it would end up with same outcome every time. Also I don't see anything great in hiding from Will Smith's iRobots when hiding from the Alien is the same but way more tense. It all comes down to the Xeno being the biggest badass and the actual opponent I'd like to face. I'd really like the gameplay to be a puzzle like you're saying but I can't help but suspect it's not the case and just wishful thinking fuelled by the undeniably huge potential of the initial premise.
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Jun 14, 2014 17:35
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There are ways to get away from the Alien if you know it's coming, though. Plus it seems to prioritize things that are shooting at it.
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Jun 14, 2014 17:49
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Alien: Isolation (except for a few dozen or so But besides them you're ISOLATED, just you and the alien! And also what's the point in hiding from the alien? I mean, it can't see you anyway. And the devs said something about the ability to hear you even through walls and furniture and stuff? So...if it heard where you last were, why wouldn't it just take a closer look under the desk or what have you?  Also why would it leave the androids alone? Surely they would be making noise and setting off the alien's radar senses, making it go check out the potential hot snack only to find a machine working on a computer. Wouldn't it just rip it's head off in anger of being effectively tricked like that? I mean hell, in Aliens Ripley should have just strapped some bombs to Bishop and told him to find the queen and deal with it himself. All over infected worlds word would spread "oh another xeno nest? No sweat, we'll send in some androids to suicide bomb them. Xenos ignore androids!  ".And speaking of Bishop, the queen certainly didn't ignore him. God damnit WHY ANDROID ZOMBIES WHY?!? 
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Jun 14, 2014 17:59
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