What do you think of being able to "hide" from the Alien?

[Crazy Rich]

I think this is meant more in the context of the games where the Alien could see auras...sometimes even through walls.

Which if an Alien could do that now if you were in the same room you'd be automatically screwed.

That is one thing I'm loving about the direction they are taking with Isolation. Isolation is aiming to be a totally different beast than previous games in the Alien and AvP franchises and in order to succeed in that it has to be not afraid to ditch a whole bunch of past design and stuff built by the games which were mainly FPS games (such as the aura see through vision seen in the AvP games and Colonial Marines), and start from the ground up. Maybe aura see through vision would be a useful tool for a player playing as an alien in an FPS game, but we ain't in Kansas anymore, Isolation is striving to be a totally different beast. Not a game when aliens are just charging fodder and people playing as them can see others through walls, but a game when you're human only so you'll never know what it's like to be the alien, and though there is just one alien you have no means of fighting it so you can only hide, and this alien doesn't just charge in or run on a predictable script all the time or see through walls, it's actually using it's brain to figure you out while being passive and "frosty" at the same time while your tense and nervous self is praying that this thing doesn't find you. It's when it finally catches on to you and your patterns that he goes in for the kill and there's nothing you can do to stop the alien. So far from what has been seen they have succeeded in being their own new beast from the ground up by just ignoring past games and using the first Alien film heavily as their reference as well as leaving behind the FPS stuff in favour of genuine horror and survival.

I am pumped.

[SpreadEagleBeagle]

It doesn't matter, it's just a game.

Hopefully though there will be different "difficulty" settings where you can tune up or down the Alien's senses and AI to make it easier or harder.

[The1PerfectOrganism]

"It's just a game" means nothing to me.

[Xhan]

I think this is meant more in the context of the games where the Alien could see auras...sometimes even through walls.

Which if an Alien could do that now if you were in the same room you'd be automatically screwed.

That is one thing I'm loving about the direction they are taking with Isolation. Isolation is aiming to be a totally different beast than previous games in the Alien and AvP franchises and in order to succeed in that it has to be not afraid to ditch a whole bunch of past design and stuff built by the games which were mainly FPS games (such as the aura see through vision seen in the AvP games and Colonial Marines), and start from the ground up. Maybe aura see through vision would be a useful tool for a player playing as an alien in an FPS game, but we ain't in Kansas anymore, Isolation is striving to be a totally different beast. Not a game when aliens are just charging fodder and people playing as them can see others through walls, but a game when you're human only so you'll never know what it's like to be the alien, and though there is just one alien you have no means of fighting it so you can only hide, and this alien doesn't just charge in or run on a predictable script all the time or see through walls, it's actually using it's brain to figure you out while being passive and "frosty" at the same time while your tense and nervous self is praying that this thing doesn't find you. It's when it finally catches on to you and your patterns that he goes in for the kill and there's nothing you can do to stop the alien. So far from what has been seen they have succeeded in being their own new beast from the ground up by just ignoring past games and using the first Alien film heavily as their reference as well as leaving behind the FPS stuff in favour of genuine horror and survival.

I am pumped.

Not sure what video you watched but everything you're describing not only has been done, but has been done before rather well on far smaller budgets and far less handholding on the payer's behalf. There's not an original anything in this presentation.

CA has absolutely nailed verisimilitude in appearance and sound, and the animations are definitely going the right direction despite inherent memory limitations in older platforms, but the gameplay and the story are what matters most when evaluating the products on its own merits.

I haven't seen anything that leads me to believe that this game can nail the initial oh shit nuance for 12 hours. It's great that it's immersive enough to cause omg crawlies in the inital 10 minutes. I haven't seen anything that says I'll be playing this game a year from now for any particular reason. Both the marketing and the game look front loaded as hell.

[Crazy Rich]

Well, I never mentioned anything about length or replay value, that is something that I can't judge until I actually play it.

I know it's not "new" in general and has been done before, but it's a rather new approach to gaming within the Alien franchise and I've been speaking only within franchise.

I too value gameplay and story most but I can't help but be excited and "pumped", it's a nice change in tune from Colonial Marines.

[Xenomorphine]

Newt managed to hide from them.

Well, there's the foreshadowing comment, in the Special Edition, of how she goes where the other kids "can't fit", which seemed like a more plausible reason for how she escaped them. Not so much as a guesswork comment in dialogue regarding them not seeing her.

What's interesting is that the Aliens knew precisely where the Marines were holed up in, without any obvious clues to go on and immediately headed off there, once woken from hibernation. They've got very long-range 3D hunting senses. Also probably how the one in the first film knew how to get Dallas in the vent system. It's also debatable whether the one which got on the dropship was randomly patrolling or was able to detect Spunkmeyer and Ferro camped out there (and, intriguingly, decided to nest inside, rather than immediately attack, like the one with Ripley did on the escape shuttle).

[PRI. HUDSON]

My biggest fear for the game is how can it be 10-12 hours long and still keep you interested.

My guess, there will be a lot of non-alien enemies and obstacles.

[SM]

Newt managed to hide from them.

Well, there's the foreshadowing comment, in the Special Edition, of how she goes where the other kids "can't fit", which seemed like a more plausible reason for how she escaped them. Not so much as a guesswork comment in dialogue regarding them not seeing her.

What's interesting is that the Aliens knew precisely where the Marines were holed up in, without any obvious clues to go on and immediately headed off there, once woken from hibernation. They've got very long-range 3D hunting senses. Also probably how the one in the first film knew how to get Dallas in the vent system. It's also debatable whether the one which got on the dropship was randomly patrolling or was able to detect Spunkmeyer and Ferro camped out there (and, intriguingly, decided to nest inside, rather than immediately attack, like the one with Ripley did on the escape shuttle).

So on the one hand they can see the marines holed up in Ops like a 3D hologram, but when a little girl crawls into a vent too small for them, they suddenly can't see her anymore?

[Xenomorphine]

So on the one hand they can see the marines holed up in Ops like a 3D hologram, but when a little girl crawls into a vent too small for them, they suddenly can't see her anymore?

My point is, who said they can't? They just haven't been able or motivated to get her for whatever reason. Or decided to wait her out. The precedent's already there with Ripley/Narcissus and Spunkmeyer/dropship. It's not like they considered her in any way a threat. Even in the extended version of 'Alien', we see Jones' litterbox get thwacked to one side, but the thing doesn't actively try to tear it open. Newt might've been perceived in the same way.

[SM]

So why weren't all the other kids at Hadley similarly left alone?

[Kimarhi]

Targets of opportunity.

[SM]

Even teh babbies?

I just find it faintly amusing that an Alien would let someone go - when they're completely capable of smashing or burning their way through solid metal.

A more believable scenario is that Newt nicks down a duct that is too small for a pursuing Alien, and while it looks for another way to get her, she manages to escape.

[Kimarhi]

The Aliens might have enough cunning to know tearing down a facility that could serve as shelter for one little girl could be wasteful.  Or maybe they just gave no f**ks that day.

[The1PerfectOrganism]

I think from what we see in Alien and Alien3 they do have some method of "direct sight" they can't see you through walls if you're making very little noise for instance.

[SM]

The Aliens might have enough cunning to know tearing down a facility that could serve as shelter for one little girl could be wasteful.  Or maybe they just gave no f**ks that day.

They don't have to tear everything down.  But as we see in Aliens, Vasquez seals the door and they smash through it.  They don't simply give up.  If they went straight into the vent after the door was sealed they might've been able to make good their escape (nevermind why didn't the Aliens come in that way...).  Newt is faster through the vents, so she'd be able to evade them better.  And if tracking by smell would thrown off because her cubby hole was right under a big fan.

The 'giving no f**ks' thing would be just a case of "That Alien is PMSing so we can totally just stroll right past it and get away."