Trying out the DLC, at the moment, especially Salvage. It's been a lot of fun. Trying out Ransome, whose only early defense against the alien is the pipebomb, or a well-placed revolver round into a flammable cannister.
I love the DLC because choice seems to make a big difference. Of course, knowing how to exploit the creature's AI short-comings and memorizing the map no doubt would make this a walk in the park, but I haven't quite reached that stage of mastery yet. In fact, I'm deliberately refusing to research the game play at all and am playing blind. It's much more intense and fun that way, and satisfying.
The campaign is good and I love it a lot. The station is so huge. But you can get pretty far without firing a shot, or using an item. In fact, I was told that you can effectively jettison the first alien without using a single crafted item, or firing a single bullet. The DLC makes this kind of passive approach less attractive, and while I don't doubt that you can still avoid the creature and use very little ammo or crafted items, not using any would boil down to blind luck, in the DLC.
The visuals and music are never dull, and not knowing where to go makes me feel like I'm in the belly of the beast. At first, I died a lot, but as I stuck with it, and started to figure things out, the experience became much more rewarding. For these levels, only having one life, with often only 1 health bar, it really is an intense experience, and some of the DLC is so long that to go without saving is nerve-shredding. But I love it. It delivers a sensational experience. And Salvage and Lost Contact in particular can be played in so many different ways -- different characters, tower sides, item choices/usage -- that each experience feels fresh and new. And dying sucks. But it should suck. If you're not put off by dying at all, then the game is too easy.
So far, loving it. The DLC has very few scripted moments, compared to the campaign, I've had some pretty amazing things happen. For example, the Alien was approaching the room I was in, but there was one of those emergency override things on the walls, so I pushed it, and the door shut in the alien's face right as he was about to enter the room. Or the shotgun guys that show up, who, saw me behind a counter and fired a round only to have the alien show up and eat them all. Or, the Alien climbing into the vents (something I could never get it to do on campaign) with me only holding a pipebomb. Of course, I threw it too late, with the creature too close, and I blew myself up. Stuff like this is unscripted, off the cuff, and incredibly fun, and it happens a lot. I look forward to trying the maps out with other characters.
And people like to complain about the cost of it all, but honestly for $12 for all of the packs, that's a steal. Depends what people want, I suppose. The DLC has no story but the gameplay is better, less-scripted, and more varied than the campaign, and vice versa. Both are awesome, but I find myself playing the DLC more and more. The one thing I'd like is some dialogue, but the game doesn't really need it. It'd be cool, but I played plenty of old-school classics that had little or no story or dialogue, so the fact that the DLC doesn't have any doesn't feel like a negative to me.
