Alien: Isolation

[Cal427eb]

Is this what the CIA shows people when they interrogate them now?

[WinterActual]

When they did that? I mean when we had a game like Isolation which (kinda) represents the movie style and then the sequel to be CoD shoot em up style  ? All games so far were "this time its war".

[Xhan]

How come? Creative Assembly got the greenlight for their game way before A: CM even came out.  Alien is popular enough to have survived this long, I don't see why they can't be making more games, especially if this one turns out well.

Because the contract is for three venues, and we're 0-2 with one in the oven.

[RabidNinja]

I like the consistency with how they are sticking to the original survival horror aspect of the game, single player and all, but im thinking if they went minimal and gave us a form of 2 player co-op within the campaign. Minimalistic, double the fun with a friend, twice as hard as you're looking out not only for yourself, but for the other person, and their might be a form of selfless/selfish sacrifice in order to escape.

Sequel-wise.....I dunno. I guess we need to see how well this game does for the enduring mass of fans that deserve a title game such as this, so long as it doesnt intercede into what ACM became concerning an immense lack of character development, glitchy animations and a fanfic-esque storyline that is now canon! However, i am also wary of this possibility because theirs only so many times the same genre can be recreated in conjunction with the source material. Amanda shouldn't have to go through the same stuff her mom went through just cuz she's her daughter.

[Xhan]

Alien: Isolation Won't Offer Multiplayer or Co-Op

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2014/01/10/alien-isolation-wont-offer-multiplayer-or-co-op

Thank the heavens.

Maybe, maybe not.

Story and verisimilitude is where this game goes off the rails. Whilst the movie itself pretty much is the modern-era exegesis of "ten little survivalists" and they've obviously attempted to translate that into a product that will make it rain bonus checks like a Kanye West video, pretty sure no one at the other companies was sitting around going "I'd like this to completely tank and maybe get my studio closed down and all my mates fired or in dire straits" either.

The concept is straight from the movie, and that's where it stops. Problem is all the framing smells of straight-from-marketing fancervix.

1. Overexposed dome thing. Seriously, with a lighting model this good, you don't have to f**king ham-sell it anymore. We get it, stop hitting us in the face with it, foreplay is usually more consensual, thanks.

Transparent/Opaque, we got it. Best part is it get its own glamor shot HAI GAIS WE'RE TOTALLY PAYING ATTENSHUNZ CUZ WE LOVES YOU, GIVE US MONEY PLZ PLZ. Yet apparently, those legs... and the 2010 stings. In the vile and evil depths of marketing, callback memes are actually a practiced and even nuanced thing (EA actually has people on the payroll who keep this kind of shit in mind on projects), and that actually seems to be the case here. "Hey, hey bro, our other games with space dobermans are on sale bro, they're not so bad, you know you wanna hook that shit up, just a click away, bro" *wink wink*

2. Legs.

Why? If you're so intent as interviews posit that shit be so exact you crap Weylan(d) and piss Yutani then what the hell is up with the legs? Unless, of course cross promotion is never far away, what with sales on title carrying kind of stinky legacy. (In fairness, AvP2010 actually did quite well in sales, considering)

3. "Not changing the canon" Uh, bullshit. Literal definition of retcanon.

4. Amanda Ripley, it has to be Ripley? Lindop directly implies that story doesn't work without it being a direct connection to Ripley. How, exactly?

5. Closed and contained cyclic referencing: flamethrower, torch, pseudo tracker, the slats on the exterior viewports on the station, flares, and a bunch of other ALIENS callbacks, including a couple of the uniforms. Again mixed messages, which wouldn't be an issue worth even getting up about except and would actually be expected in a bridging title except for interviews implying otherwise. Again, marketing not seeming to meet intent.

6. 10-12 hour looks pretty clearly to be a financial thing, not a thematic one. 4 years of dev time is not cheap, even in-house. Especially when being put into a one-and-done title. Send in the guys you whack with a wrench, and send in the guys you can't scope out with your peek-a-boo superpowers cause they'll shoot your face off.


Now you've got all that, but the sardonic rub is MP goes completely around that. Fans can take or leave all the OMG SO MUCH OFFICIAL RANDY PITCHFORD ENTHUSED TOM ROTHMAN APPROVED content, but actual gameplay is what defines the title, and other games have shown that "haunted house" games can both sell and stay relevant and populated on top ten sold lists. Turtle Rock is developing a title solely on this premise, and 2K picked it up at a substantial chunk compared to most of THQ's fire sale catalog, and it's pretty obvious why.

MP lets you write the story, make the magic happen and gets asses in seats simply by dint of social interaction and all the feels that go with community MP. None of the above stuff matters when its you and your friends trying not be dead or conversely trying to make everybody be dead. MP writes itself, and if it's any sort of not suck you're automatically invested at a high level.

MP also allows you to "fix" any AI related screw ups in the main title. Guaranteed there will be speed runs of this game that make the Alien look like a complete turing-tard within a month of launch. MP would likely put that straight to bed.

It's ironic that when MP SHOULD be there, it's not, because in this case it could cement CA (collectively speaking, take the pun or leave it) as capable in several fields, not just "the guys that make super-buggy-at-launch grognard games and really horrible swedish-themed Dynasty Warrior clones for console"

It would also be potentially much easier to balance than any other Alien game we've seen yet. Networking and online development issues aside, CA may have missed kind of a big opportunity to get a foot in a genre that other companies are pretty eager to get into.

[Snark]

You know, now I don't care about the Amanda Ripley thing. The game looks great so far. They could have designed some different looking interiors and a different design for the station to not look like the Nostromo Refinery, but I am still excited. Who knows, maybe they will actually do a good job with the story and it won't seem like it was done for the sake of having the name Ripley as a character. Think about it. Your mother goes missing when you are a child. You loved and missed her so much it haunted you. Wanting to know what happened becomes an obsession. In a future where u can go to college to learn how to pilot a starship or work on one you take the first chance u can to plan for someday looking for her. Now the company she works for offers you a chance to find out. The problem now is explaining how the Alien gets aboard the station...

[HuDaFuK]

The problem now is explaining how the Alien gets aboard the station...

...and explaining how people know nothing about what happens thereafter in Aliens.

[Gate]

The problem now is explaining how the Alien gets aboard the station...

...and explaining how people know nothing about what happens thereafter in Aliens.

Space is a big place, man.

[HuDaFuK]

The loss of knowledge between Alien and Aliens is borderline-questionable as it is. With more and more people running into this creature in the interim, it just stretches that believability even further.

[Xenoscream]

Alien: Isolation Won't Offer Multiplayer or Co-Op

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2014/01/10/alien-isolation-wont-offer-multiplayer-or-co-op

Thank the heavens.

Maybe, maybe not.

Story and verisimilitude is where this game goes off the rails. Whilst the movie itself pretty much is the modern-era exegesis of "ten little survivalists" and they've obviously attempted to translate that into a product that will make it rain bonus checks like a Kanye West video, pretty sure no one at the other companies was sitting around going "I'd like this to completely tank and maybe get my studio closed down and all my mates fired or in dire straits" either.

The concept is straight from the movie, and that's where it stops. Problem is all the framing smells of straight-from-marketing fancervix.

1. Overexposed dome thing. Seriously, with a lighting model this good, you don't have to f**king ham-sell it anymore. We get it, stop hitting us in the face with it, foreplay is usually more consensual, thanks.

Transparent/Opaque, we got it. Best part is it get its own glamor shot HAI GAIS WE'RE TOTALLY PAYING ATTENSHUNZ CUZ WE LOVES YOU, GIVE US MONEY PLZ PLZ. Yet apparently, those legs... and the 2010 stings. In the vile and evil depths of marketing, callback memes are actually a practiced and even nuanced thing (EA actually has people on the payroll who keep this kind of shit in mind on projects), and that actually seems to be the case here. "Hey, hey bro, our other games with space dobermans are on sale bro, they're not so bad, you know you wanna hook that shit up, just a click away, bro" *wink wink*

2. Legs.

Why? If you're so intent as interviews posit that shit be so exact you crap Weylan(d) and piss Yutani then what the hell is up with the legs? Unless, of course cross promotion is never far away, what with sales on title carrying kind of stinky legacy. (In fairness, AvP2010 actually did quite well in sales, considering)

3. "Not changing the canon" Uh, bullshit. Literal definition of retcanon.

4. Amanda Ripley, it has to be Ripley? Lindop directly implies that story doesn't work without it being a direct connection to Ripley. How, exactly?

5. Closed and contained cyclic referencing: flamethrower, torch, pseudo tracker, the slats on the exterior viewports on the station, flares, and a bunch of other ALIENS callbacks, including a couple of the uniforms. Again mixed messages, which wouldn't be an issue worth even getting up about except and would actually be expected in a bridging title except for interviews implying otherwise. Again, marketing not seeming to meet intent.

6. 10-12 hour looks pretty clearly to be a financial thing, not a thematic one. 4 years of dev time is not cheap, even in-house. Especially when being put into a one-and-done title. Send in the guys you whack with a wrench, and send in the guys you can't scope out with your peek-a-boo superpowers cause they'll shoot your face off.


Now you've got all that, but the sardonic rub is MP goes completely around that. Fans can take or leave all the OMG SO MUCH OFFICIAL RANDY PITCHFORD ENTHUSED TOM ROTHMAN APPROVED content, but actual gameplay is what defines the title, and other games have shown that "haunted house" games can both sell and stay relevant and populated on top ten sold lists. Turtle Rock is developing a title solely on this premise, and 2K picked it up at a substantial chunk compared to most of THQ's fire sale catalog, and it's pretty obvious why.

MP lets you write the story, make the magic happen and gets asses in seats simply by dint of social interaction and all the feels that go with community MP. None of the above stuff matters when its you and your friends trying not be dead or conversely trying to make everybody be dead. MP writes itself, and if it's any sort of not suck you're automatically invested at a high level.

MP also allows you to "fix" any AI related screw ups in the main title. Guaranteed there will be speed runs of this game that make the Alien look like a complete turing-tard within a month of launch. MP would likely put that straight to bed.

It's ironic that when MP SHOULD be there, it's not, because in this case it could cement CA (collectively speaking, take the pun or leave it) as capable in several fields, not just "the guys that make super-buggy-at-launch grognard games and really horrible swedish-themed Dynasty Warrior clones for console"

It would also be potentially much easier to balance than any other Alien game we've seen yet. Networking and online development issues aside, CA may have missed kind of a big opportunity to get a foot in a genre that other companies are pretty eager to get into.

Well I can't claim to have understood most of your rant (I guess you are referring to the Alien design being shown too much?), but if you mean it should have MP and that would make it a better game, have to disagree.

I'll cite you one example, I think most people would agree dead space 1 > dead space 3.

My personal opinion is that this should be a single player cinematic experience, I'd like to see a lot of human interaction with the other people on the station which they seem to be promising, which I feel could help give some depth to the experience.

On the alien design and environmental aesthetics, this is the best thing we have ever seen for Alien in GAMES by a mile, and I think there is an argument which says this surpassed a number of the movies as well (based on what we have seen so far).

Perhaps they changed the legs because when they had it moving around it just looked stupid, I mean I can't remember a scene in Alien or Aliens when we see the legs of the alien walking around, in a game you can't hide things like that with camera angles, so although it's not 100% true to the design, it could ultimately be for the best.

[Xhan]

Not ranting and not saying yes or no, I'm saying MP inherently doesn't rely on all the things Creative Assembly is deliberately changing to sell their particular pitch, things which seem to be annoying a lot of fans, and also happen to be things that don't HAVE to be in the game, regardless of what the interviews say.

MP relies on good mechanics, good atmosphere and good players.

Dead Space 3 and Dead Space 1 don't even track, the guy who wrote Dead Space 1 didn't write Dead Space 3: http://www.nowgamer.com/news/1801465/dead_space_3s_action_focus_a_necessary_evil_dead_space_1_writer.html

and his explanation ironically touches on why Aliens isn't as good as Alien.

legs

Well great, it's good you don't understand my words because your don't make any sense either. You're saying digitigrade legs look less stupid because WHY exactly?

I'll let you be the gatekeeper of "looks stupid", Avp2 had both normal AND digitigrade legs alike side by side and no one I ever heard complained about the animations in motion not fitting the vehicle they were attached to other than speed they executed at.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JeJ1LimPAk#

I don't remember seeing marine in halo and going "JESUS CHRIST WHY ARE THEY SHOWING HIS LEGS WHAT HAS SCIENCE DONE and then seeing an Elite and going "oh, now see that's totally realistic and awesome, that's what legs look like when they move." They were both animated well and looked fine being attached their respective races.

Also we can see the Alien's legs just fine in Lambert's final scene, when the Alien stands up to get Ripley in the shuttle, when it goes out the airlock, when it goes in the engine...

We can see moving legs when they unfurl from the hive to attack the marines, when they're upside down in the crawlspace, when the Alien turns to get Drake and gets sploded, when Dietrich gets grabbed and carried off, when the Aliens rush Hicks and Ripley respectively towards the end of the movie, so I have no idea where you're getting the idea from.

That comes down completely to animation, and the placement of joints will certainly change those animations, but quality is quality, it's either there or not, and whether the Alien's knee bends "backward" or not has nothing to do with it, and CA can certainly find people to animate either well.

It's great you're still positive, I haven't seen antyhing than the actual gameplay-in-action to get excited about other than the levels and the lighting, both of which are excellent... except ya know, stuff like Crysis 2 and 3 which also had excellent sets and excellent lighting and not particularly excellent kind of actually boring anything else.

...and explaining how people know nothing about what happens thereafter in Aliens.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWzQoHaAjSI#

[Snark]

...and explaining how people know nothing about what happens thereafter in Aliens.

I guess that's part of the mystique for fans. Everyone is dead except Amanda and there is a cover up by this other company that owned the station. Since i saw something very similar to the pull handles from the engineering self destruct (from Nostromo) being used in the trailer, she could end up destroying the station. No distress call with details are made for some reason. Maybe she is sworn to secrecy, had her memory altered, thought she would be seen as crazy if she said anything, etc. Lots of ways this could go. Let's hope they give us some indication.

[locusta]

Mouth and legs of the creature in that game are a farce. How difficulty can it be? Seriously.

[Cal427eb]

Mouth and legs of the creature in that game are a farce. How difficulty can it be? Seriously.

They look fine.

[SM]

I get why people will crack the shits about the legs - but what's wrong with the mouth?