Survivor Mode/Endurance Mode Rule

Started by NickisSmart, Jan 23, 2015, 08:20:39 AM

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Survivor Mode/Endurance Mode Rule (Read 1,376 times)

NickisSmart

I realize that Survival mode is generally treated as a race. Gotta get the best time, so people look up the levels in guides and try and research the best times. They learn as much as they can before proceeding. However, f**k winning the race. The levels are more entertaining if you go in blind. I haven't had much time to play Survival mode and I decided to try Endurance mode with Ransom. I had no idea where to go, and trying to complete the objectives AND stay alive very much had me feeling like a rat in a maze. It felt very much like watching Alien for the first time -- not knowing what to expect. Also, survival mode may be lacking in active story content or dialogue, but people are really missing the point. In Survival mode, you are truly isolated and alone. And the game play is a lot more interesting.

Why? Because the characters each have his or her own arsenal of tech. Some start out with hacking abilities. Others have torches that can cut through doors. Ripley likes to burn things, it seems, because she has the flamethrower and molly. Some of the items may seem useless -- against the Alien, but the Survival maps throw more at you than him, and there can be situations where the flamethrower isn't very useful at all. You can be the map objectives in whatever order you want, too, so it's a lot less linear, as well, and depending on which character you pick, different doors open (or close) to you. It's great stuff, and I wish people wouldn't dismiss it, because the game play is at its best in survivor mode.

How? Because, collecting too many items isn't an issue. In Campaign, you can horde things. In Survival, you always start out with next to nothing (except your main, starting gear), akin to playing a Doom level with only the pistol and a handful of bullets. So it doesn't matter if there are plenty of items to be found in the maps. You are racing against the clock, and need to think on your feet by taking what you find to survive. This feeling was a lot less pronounced in the campaign mode, but in survival mode, it's omnipresent. There are so many things you need to do, you're always in a state of panic, but you always have options if you can think on your feet.

Also, the level designs are smaller, but better, in my opinion, because on Endurance mode, you cannot save, and the maps occur in random order. Now unless you memorize each and every map beforehand, this is akin to blindfolding you, spinning you around and around until you're dizzy, and then handing you a baseball bat (or some duct tape and one half of a baseball bat and then telling you the other part of the bat is somewhere in the level) and asking you to hit a pinata that's painted black and suspended in a dark room. The feelings of disorientation are front and center at all times.

Playing Endurance Mode with a random character, I had very little idea of where I was going. I felt lost and trapped, and the items that I did find, I didn't know what to do with. I felt like I needed to adapt immediately or die, whereas in the campaign mode, you're given plenty of breaks that diminish this tension. Here, it's a full dose and I loved it. No other game delivers so much of it (terror and panic) at once, in such an acute dose. On top of that, the sound design and visuals are great; each map feels like a haunted house, with every light, prop and sound placed with lovely care to induce as much fear as possible. If you know what to expect or are playing with others (NPCs as well as PCs) this wouldn't mean much. But being totally alone and in the dark, the impact is maximized: I remember playing Lingard. The level was almost over and I decided to backtrack. The room by the elevator was itch black, except for a huge desk in the center, which was harshly lit. Waiting for the elevator to come, I hid behind a crate. Peering over it, I could see the darkness of that room, and hear the Alien as it moved around; the room was filled with these large plastic crates that crashed and banged loudly when the Alien smashed into them. I waited for him to leave the room and walked into, getting lost. I found myself in a day care, except everything was turned upside down; a nightlight was spinning on the floor, casting hypnotic shadows on the wall, and the entire time the music and sound design never stopped working. I felt confused, wondrous at the sight of this odd room and its spinning lights.

People who say Survival mode is simple are missing the point. It is a maze that you can play in random order, with a series of challenges and varied enemies, so that you never fully know what to expect. It is considerably more dangerous (no saves) than Campaign, and even if you memorize every map, that's no guarantee of anything working out; the alien's behavior is still unpredictable, and you might not have as much ammo as you like...

So, in conclusion, I'm absolutely loving Survivor mode. Playing it briefly on Endurance mode with random characters was immediately and extremely nerve-wracking and I loved every second of it. It made me feel like I was a little boy again, watching Alien for the first time, but also that I was in the film itself. They say you can't jump in the same river twice (or once), but here, I felt like I was entering a nightmare, but being unable to fully defend myself against its perils, much like a real nightmare. The fact that the game can reproduce this feeling reliably and consistently in me merits it the highest praise.

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