"After the release of Aliens: Colonial Marines in 2013, the fans of the franchise were distraught. It was a complete bitter disappointment in nearly every single facet."
- Actually, a lot of fans liked it, as it happens. That did surprise me too, but it turns out, it just happens to be that the ones who disliked it, were very verbal about it.
I also liked it. Sure it wasn't what we were expecting, but I didn't think it was that bad. It was quite good actually. Not amazing. But pretty good.
I was sensible enough to not pre-order it, as I remained a bit sceptical, and I had no interest in paying £65 for the Collector's edition (and I don't see a point in paying £40, just to get it in the first month-ish of release, anyway. I can wait. I ended up getting it that Christmas for about £25. From all of the negativitiy I had low expectations. But it turns out it was pretty decent.
So all of that ^ contributed to why I don't hate it.
The worst thing about the game I think (that I can remember) is the lip-synching in all but the first cutscene (despite the great graphics). It was good to see that that, as well as the poor quality textures in some places, was fixed up well in the dlc, 'Stasis Interrupted' - a pretty good dlc by the way, as well. Good length, and a decent story.
"Then news of Alien: Isolation trickled down. Early on, weary of the disappointment of Colonial Marines, fans were skeptical of some of the early revealed aspects of the game."
- Yeah you'd think they would have been wouldn't you. But certainly from what I saw that wasn't the case. I read comments on various sites, and to some of the many saying how really good it looks/will be, I reminded how much of a disappointment 'Aliens: Colonial Marines' was, yet most insisted that this was different. Which, obviously it was, but that's not the point here.
"When we started we knew we wanted some android antagonists in the game, but that they would be very different to the advanced Weyland-Yutani androids from the films. I thought if they were going to be simpler versions then maybe Seegson would try and turn a negative into a positive and sell them on the idea that they were more 'honest' androids – they weren't pretending they were humans and shouldn't be treated as such. Of course, this also ties into the class theme from the films and so it seemed natural to call them 'Working Joes'."
- The androids were really good. Debatably scarier than the Alien.
In terms of my opinion on 'Alien: Isolation' in general:
I thought it was a good game. I would say really good, but, I do think it went on a bit too long. Not that long games are bad, but I felt, from Mission 14, The Descent, it started to drag on. And it kind of felt like, okay, when is this going to end, by about Mission 16 (Transmission).
My other negative points are all story related ***Spoilers***:
Firstly, and mainly, too many aliens. They couldn't resist just leaving it at 1. When you get rid of the first, I thought, that one's either going to come back somehow, or there will be another 1. But no. THey just had to put loads of them in.
Secondly, the game is destructive of all films after 'Alien'. Guns can't kill aliens now apparantely. Flamethrowers scare them, which is fine, although I'm not exactly sure why, since it can survive extreme heat ('Alien 3'. Even without 'Alien 3', it's not like the flame actually catches on the aliens in the game, no matter how close you are, and no matter how much fire's being used). But shotguns, pistols and bolt guns have no effect.
Thirdly, no alien queen. This is a debatable point. The makers said in an interview that with the hive, they didn't want to include an alien queen because players would expect a boss fight, but they knew that not including it would cause players to take issue with it (as I am doing now). But, they decided it would be better to not show it. The fact that a creator of 'Alien: Isolation' has said this has made me feel a bit better about it.
Fourthly, the facehuggers - They spray acid when shot, which only hurts you at really close range. I'm not sure why they couldn't have made the acid they leave behind painful to step on. They managed it in 'Aliens vs Predator (2010), and had it as a special ability of some aliens in 'Aliens: Colonial Marines' (2012) (I just realised we've had an Alien/Predator game every 2 years since 2010. Hopefully there will be something [non-destructive to the franchise] in 2016). Also, it's a bit undermining, when it's supposed to be like the other games, that the acid on the floor, from the facehuggers just disappears after about 15 seconds (not sure exactly).
Finally, the ending - It was silly. They ended it so that they could easily make a sequel, as I'm sure they will, although I'm not sure what else you can do with that now. I'd think a sequel would be rather samey - unless they radically change the setting (as in, not just LV426 - a different planet in other words. Anyway, I think the ending would have been really good, if they'd simply gone with the 'Alien' ending (roughly), as in, ending with her going to hypersleep. That would have been fine, or rather, very good. Yes, it leaves it open for a sequel, but it's not a direct "right you're getting a sequel".
Other than that, it was a good game.
Oh and another thing - aliens can now definitely survive in space. It was suggested that they could at least briefly survive, in 'Alien'. But now it's as if they are fully functional to just live in space. I just thought the space bit, with the aliens about to attack Amanda Ripley, was a bit too much; overpowered, they are now somewhat.