Finally got the game in the mail today. Didn't have any time earlier to do much other than play Crew Expendable for a few minutes. Gotta say, I'm not actually all that impressed with the Nostromo. The lighting seems way off on A-deck and the galley actually doesn't even look screen accurate from my rudimentary understanding of its layout. The cabinet area and bar-thing seem to be...not screen accurate.
I haven't completed it yet, but also have to say the voice acting is really "meh." Skerritt sounds like he's half asleep. The Ash impersonator does sound pretty similar though. Wasn't all that impressed with Veronica or Yaphet either.
So I've probably played it a total of 10 minutes in 2 sittings. I have to say, holy shit, the Alien is pretty stressful. I got killed by it twice, and then after completing one of the objectives I just waited in the room because I could see it on the tracker somewhat nearby. It wouldn't go away, just sort of circled the area, and I really didn't want to get in the vents so I just waited because getting too close to the door meant it would open and reveal me. Obviously I'm going to come back to the game later when I get off work, but so far I am impressed despite my nitpicks. I might not actually start the main game yet and just get accustomed to the controls and the feel for things by working on the DLC modes. The music is pretty effective. It goes ballistic when the Alien is close and really didn't help my nerves. I mean I played this DLC for about 2 or 3 minutes before I got into the tense parts and was pretty impressed that it kicked in so soon and became so stressful. Props. It's exactly the game they sold.
Also have to say, B-deck seems pretty extensive. I thought the landing leg chamber was on C-deck? I might be mixing them up because I haven't seen others really comment on this.
EDIT:
So, these two pieces were frankly what I was really looking forward to when it came to this game's release. I'd always envisioned a more advanced adaptation of Alien as a videogame. Final thoughts: Last Survivor and Crew Expendable were worth pre-ordering the game for, but they didn't totally blow me away.
Crew Expendable seems a little longer because you have a bunch of objectives, but I'd imagine a speed-run of this could be done pretty quickly in one go if someone got good enough, say less than 15 minutes? I played it on hard, and once I sort of realized what you can get away with as far as the Alien is concerned, the game seemed a lot more manageable. The voice acting is neat, but there's not a whole lot of it. This section is kind of strange because it really doesn't have a whole lot to do with the movie. I'm guessing this is how the actual plan would have been executed? One of the things that disappoints me is that the characters who are alive are just not around a whole lot. You exchange dialogue only a couple times and then end up talking to Ash and Lambert on a headset for the later portions. Also, what the hell is up with the landing claw room? It doesn't look ANYTHING like it does in Alien. I'm guessing this is because the ship is kind of recycled from the Torrens, but still. Overall, it is fun though. It drops you right into the action and it's a little Nostalgic. Really wish they would've used more of Goldsmith's score because some of the tone of the film is left unpreserved in the translation.
Last Survivor was a lot more quick and a lot more tense. It felt just as urgent as the sequence in the film, and it's pretty damn accurate in recreating what takes place. It was cool getting to activate the self-destruct and the following events I can only imagine would be excellent on PS4 or XB1. Nothing is terrible on PS3, but I would definitely love to see it on a next-generation system. The smoke and the alarms and Ripley singing to herself are really atmospheric and immersive. This is probably a step up from Crew Expendable, but it's a pretty different experience. This one feels way more true to the film for obvious reasons, but also the tone of the experience is way closer.
Overall, enjoyed the two DLCs. I kind of wish there was something to be earned though. No trophies or anything and it doesn't appear that there's a leaderboard. These two minigames seem like perfect opportunities to utilize the survivor mode objectives and scoring systems actually. Too bad. They just end, and then you go back to the main menu.
