Ok so it's directed, but it has not made for a playing experience anything radically different to the other games from these generation i listed earlier...Soma, Evil Within and Outlast.
The same principle of ensuring the player will always be safe if they reach a checkpoint in time, has fundamental flaws.
On my PS3 play through , the game had an internal conflict with itself. .having originally triggered the player death sequence, it then decided i was safe and ended the death sequence and let me progress.
Even the video you kindly put up, admits the A.I is still "fake"..the Alien does not evolve or learn as the game progresses, skills are just unlocked the further into the game you reach.
It was also curious to hear the narrator saying the Alien is trigger by noises like:Gunshots. .The Motion Tracker and the players footsteps.
Nothing said about the environmental systems, which do appear to make the rewiring subgame elements obsolete. .if it's not going to be drawn to a new event in the environment or you can't use an alarm klaxon to mask the sound of your own movement, seems pointless to have the ability to turn systems on/off other than to juggle power resources.
At least the designers are honest enough to admit it they have to have the Xenomorph effictively "teleport" twice during the game.
I'm still of the belief whilst the A.I in Isolation has been treated with far more respect than countless Alien games before it (Alien Trilogy, Aliens:C.M, AVP 2 PC..Rebellion's last AVP game...) we still have a way to go before we reach the level where it can induce a feeling of utter horror as the player realises it's facing a creature that is adapting to both the environment it finds itself in and the tactics the player uses and our reliance on technology won't be enough to save us this time.
It was the pre-release hype about the games A.I that meant i will always have an issue with it.
When Creative Assembly folk were giving out quotes to the press like:
"THE ALIEN IS SYSTEMIC ACROSS THE BOARD. WE CAN JUST DROP THE ALIEN INTO AN AREA AND SEE HOW IT BEHAVES. IT KNOWS WHEN IT SEES SOMETHING AND IT KNOWS WHEN IT JUST SUSPECTS SOMETHING... OBVIOUSLY, WE BOOKEND CERTAIN AREAS TO GIVE YOU AN OBJECTIVE, BUT MOST OF THE TIME THE ALIEN IS IN THE WORLD AND IT'S HUNTING YOU. YOU'LL ACQUIRE SOME ABILITIES YOU CAN USE TO DEFEND YOURSELF FOR A WHILE, BUT THEN SUDDENLY THE ALIEN STOPS ATTACKING YOU. IT STOPS DOING WHAT YOU THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO DO. YOU'RE LOOKING AT THIS ALIEN AND SOMETHING'S CHANGED. IT LEARNS."
Only to now admit it doesn't actually learn at at, it just has further skill sets unlocked to keep the player cautious the deeper into the game they go...it jars a little.
ThE above quote was followed by:
"YES, IT'S A PIECE OF AI AND IT HAS PARAMETERS WE CAN TUNE, BUT THE ALIEN'S NETWORK OF BEHAVIOURS IS SO INSANELY COMPLICATED, THE THING IS ALMOST SENTIENT. THERE'S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, WHERE WE KNOW WHAT ITS PARAMETERS AND BEHAVIOURS ARE AT A GLANCE, AND IT BEING SO SENTIENT WE HAVE TO DIG INTO THE CODE JUST TO FIND OUT WHY AND HOW IT DID WHAT IT DID DURING OUR PLAYTESTS."
Again, a bold statement, almost sentient, when they've later admitted it's not really anything close, it's very advanced compared to other titles and has been built around tried and tested A.I routines..
It just felt oversold to myself.
Creative Assembly should be proud of what they've achieved, but a little restraint when talking to the press would of been helpful.
For myself, as soon as the feeling of total immersion is shattered, a game has lost so much of what it had painstakingly built up to that moment.
A QTE sequence alone is a real killer...nothing like a big button prompt icon to remind you your very much at the mercy of a development team..
But with directed A.I , i had set my hopes beyond normal Aliens games.
A prime example is when the medial bay evacuation has been triggered...a lot of environmental chaos going on..lights flashing, klaxons sounded, ideal conditions to mask my actions as the evacuation message, alarm blaring etc would drown out my footsteps, sound of motion tracker etc. .
Yet the game decides it'll have the Alien perched in 1 set area..an overhead vent and give the player a very clear visual clue...Slime dripping from said vent...as long as i don't trigger the proximity trip but straying too close to the vent, i am in the clear..
There's no sense of fear the Alien will grow impatient or curious (hate to say bored) and decide to drop down and investigate the area...It's waiting to be triggered.
#Disclaimer:I assume this is the same on the higher difficulty levels?
If the game mixed it up somewhat by added a random element to this stage and had the Alien dropping down to investigate why a previously calm environment had suddenly gone to sh#t. ..something trigger that off..It must still be near by and Alien wanted to find it, before it moved on, I'd feel a greater sense of urgency.