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Alien: Isolation details surface on Xbox Games Store

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
the gearbox game looked good in shots too before it came out. I want this to be good, but it's hard to believe after the last turd.



that's a cop out excuse though. Sega still put it on shelves with their name on it and took people's money. They're just as much to blame as gearbox was.

Wasnt the gearbox game also in dev hell since the PS2?
 

CorrisD

badchoiceboobies
The developer doesn't have any experience in FPS, mostly RTS.

So this will turn out bad (it can't any worse than Colonial Marines) or it might just be a good thing.

After all, Creative Assembly has a good track record. An RTS Alien game would have been cool though.

There was an Alien vs Predator RTS game back on the PS2, you could play each of the three races and they all worked slightly differently. Aliens for instance to get troops you had to create facehuggers and infect enemy units to make xenomorphs, like in the films. I remember enjoying it somewhat, it was probably awful and quite janky though and I just can't remember the bad bits.
 
that's a cop out excuse though. Sega still put it on shelves with their name on it and took people's money. They're just as much to blame as gearbox was.

What should SEGA have done then? Say "nah, game is not good, but Gearbox completed the contract so we can't demand anything more" and just eat up the massive loss and never publish the game?
 

MNC

Member
The Last Of Us in space? I'm in, if it turns out good. Sci-fi horror has always been close to my heart.

Well shit. This could mean something good. I mean, the Last of Us had quite some enemy encounters but they took effort and strategy. I loved the gameplay. You can still have many enemies, yet not have it be a mindless shooter.


How are you going to have a single Alien encounter be gripping each time, like the first Alien movie, without it being scripted to fuck, though?
 
I wonder how they'll try to make the Alien encounters consistantly tense while you'll equiped to shoot through the previouly mentioned "clones and soldiers".

The first movie works so well because the crew of the Nostromo is so ill-equiped to combat the Alien. I think it'd be pretty hard to spook someone who just blew away a couple dozen soliders with a single Alien.

As Amanda, you will navigate through an increasingly volatile world as you find yourself confronted on all sides by a panicked, desperate population and an unpredictable, ruthless Alien.

Now that sounds much more promising. Fighting against an escalatingly rash communtiy with whatever you can find. Hopefully that clones and soldiers line from Kotaku isn't as terrible as it sounds.
 

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
Well shit. This could mean something good. I mean, the Last of Us had quite some enemy encounters but they took effort and strategy. I loved the gameplay. You can still have many enemies, yet not have it be a mindless shooter.


How are you going to have a single Alien encounter be gripping each time, like the first Alien movie, without it being scripted to fuck, though?

Last of Us had too many enemies if you ask me. Felt like I was fighting an army, not bands of hunter or survivors.
 

QaaQer

Member
i hold no hope for this game.

i love the first two Alien films as much as any fan of science fiction, but really, the obsession with wanting to take what Cameron did with Aliens and emulate it in videogame form needs to stop. it wasnt about monsters that go bump in the night or shooting waves of bad guys with all sorts of high tech weaponry, it was a character piece about the relationship a mother has with her daughter and the family that grew between Ripley, Newt, and Hicks amid a hellish situation.

why is all i have left to say. why make this game? i mean maybe im just jaded about the whole thing after seeing how colonial marines was handled, but honestly.. no hope.

They could do a real survivor horror game, but from the the kotaku article, this game is not that. They are making a typical fps with some survival horror trappings and atmosphere. It is being compared to Bioshock: infinite not Silent Hill. And I'm going to bet there will be co-op and multiplayer and some kind of IAP implimentation.

Sounds good though. I admire it's purity. A survival-horror.

You are going to be very very disappointed.
 

QaaQer

Member
Yeah, but unveiling a new game so soon after CM isn't exactly a very good strategy. The negative impact of it is still fresh.

Still, I'm interested for the survival-horror element but I'll have to wait and see on this one.

As in 'wait 1 month and buy it for $10 if it's not garbage', yeah.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
Whats wrong with shooting soldiers and androids? You can still create an oppressive survival based game with that. Too many aliens removes their sense of dread and mystery.
You could base the gameplay around a different mechanic rather than shooting though? You could for instance solve environmental puzzles, trying to escape dangerous parts of the spaceship (getting away from where you suspect the Alien story-wise) and try to find a way to dispose of the alien ultimately. However, this kind of game design would take a lot more thought than making a standard shooter with an alien as the boss enemy. Especially if you want to make a proper game out of it and not just a setpiece-driven game ala Uncharted.
 

QaaQer

Member
The co-op part makes me doubt this. But i want to believe.

A game that claims to be survival horror and is subtitled Isolation, yet features co-op. It sounds like bullshit to me.

It'll probably be like Tomb Raider 2013, Hitman Absolution, Bioshock: Infinite, Dead Space 3, etc. I.e., make a typical fps but then try and sell it as being different.
 

DieH@rd

Banned
But Ellen Ripley's daughter died of old age

So what? We knew that Kate Winslet's character will 100% survive crash of Titanic, but that did not prevent movie to be awesome.

This game will focus on madness that happened when one Xeno reign chaos across one space station, people rioting, trying to prevent/cause station destruction, friends of Amanda being in danger, Amanda getting seriously hurt, etc. Knowing that she will survive changes nothing. Protagonists of 99%+ of videogames always survive.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
1 Alien
Survival horror

I'm letting myself get hyped even though none of this is clear. I don't know why I do it to myself. My ability to produce positive expectations should be in tatters.

But Ellen Ripley's daughter died of old age

We were told that sure, but the event would happend way after the first film and may not have even been true.

They could make this occur during the time Ripley spent in suspended animation, the time between Alien 1 and 2.

That way it could directly follow the first film.

Also, The Company told her her daughter had died of old age, but that information could easily have been falsified. Or her actual status could even have been unknown and "died of old age" could have simply been used as a pacifier.

It would be possible to write in any outcome for her daughter and have it fit within the universe if the writers are smart. Her daughters fate won't be certain, and with the use of cloning technology as a story device there are many possibilities to tie it in with the originals.
 

QaaQer

Member
You could base the gameplay around a different mechanic rather than shooting though? You could for instance solve environmental puzzles, trying to escape dangerous parts of the spaceship (getting away from where you suspect the Alien story-wise) and try to find a way to dispose of the alien ultimately. However, this kind of game design would take a lot more thought than making a standard shooter with an alien as the boss enemy. Especially if you want to make a proper game out of it and not just a setpiece-driven game ala Uncharted.

A big AAA single player game that requires patience and some intelligence? A game with no instant gratification and without immediately recognizable gameplay tropes that would probably alienate most reviewers and many players? A game where people could get frustrated because there is no giant hud telling them exactly where to go and and what to do? A game not based on killing hundreds/thousands of people/aliens/androids with dozens of different kinds of guns?

That would be amazing.
 

DieH@rd

Banned
1 Alien

They could make this occur during the time Ripley spent in suspended animation, the time between Alien 1 and 2.

That way it could directly follow the first film.

If it was made entirely separate, if her daughter's actions were off the grid and unkown The Company, then it wouldn't even conflict with the original universe and could exist within it snuggly.

Game description clearly says "15 years after Alien™". Ripley was frozen for 50+ years. Daughter will be in her 20s.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
Game description clearly says "15 years after Alien™". Ripley was frozen for 50+ years. Daughter will be in her 20s.

Yeh, 57 years if my memory serves me correctly (It does - I think I could quote that film word for word :p).

I edited my post to address the other issue brought up above, that because she died of old age we'll know she'll safe during the events of the game.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
A big AAA single player game that requires patience and some intelligence? A game with no instant gratification and without immediately recognizable gameplay tropes that would probably alienate most reviewers and many players? A game where people could get frustrated because there is no giant hud telling them exactly where to go and and what to do? A game not based on killing hundreds/thousands of people/aliens/androids with dozens of different kinds of guns?

That would be amazing.

And Alien would be a well suited franchise. I would even go as far as saying: A game not even based on killing any enemies besides the one Alien at the end and maybe a few (very few) humans that have Alien eggs in them or something similar. Too bad that such a game would not only require a lot of effort from the developers, but on top of that would probably not find a big enough audience.

I would not say that any known gameplay tropes should be "forbidden" though, it should always depend on if it fits the game. Some puzzles that might also have a place in a Metroid Prime game for instance would be welcome from my perspective (proper presentation and good fit to context always required of course). Also, a map could probably fit in there, too. Not as a HUD, but something you for example download to a device while you explore the space ship (or something said device creates while you visit new areas).
 

FoneBone

Member
From the GI thread - confirmed cross-gen as rumored.

KdTQ9iK.png


https://twitter.com/VG_Dave/status/420522990766284800

Cross gen, so it's not GI's reveal. It's probably going to be Sony's VR thing.
 

Melchiah

Member
Well shit. This could mean something good. I mean, the Last of Us had quite some enemy encounters but they took effort and strategy. I loved the gameplay. You can still have many enemies, yet not have it be a mindless shooter.


How are you going to have a single Alien encounter be gripping each time, like the first Alien movie, without it being scripted to fuck, though?

Perhaps by using similar methods as those with Pyramidhead in Silent Hill 2; showing the alien in only a selected few spots, and thus increasing its effectiveness. Hopefully they'll nail the gameplay and atmosphere.
 

QaaQer

Member
And Alien would be a well suited franchise. I would even go as far as saying: A game not even based on killing any enemies besides the one Alien at the end and maybe a few (very few) humans that have Alien eggs in them or something similar. Too bad that such a game would not only require a lot of effort from the developers, but on top of that would probably not find a big enough audience.

I would not say that any known gameplay tropes should be "forbidden" though, it should always depend on if it fits the game. Some puzzles that might also have a place in a Metroid Prime game for instance would be welcome from my perspective (proper presentation and good fit to context always required of course). Also, a map could probably fit in there, too. Not as a HUD, but something you for example download to a device while you explore the space ship (or something said device creates while you visit new areas).

I'm sure they could make the game interesting and different, but they won't.

The problem with trying to do anything different in the AAA space is companies will do everything they can to mitigate risk. The main tools they have are focus group testing and mock reviews. Focus groups consist of the target demo (males, 15-45 who buy full priced retail games) and mock reviewers done by journos who have no compunction against accepting$5-$10 000 USD from game companies to play and review a game before it comes out.

The focus group participants buy full priced retail games because they like how they play. A game that deviates from that will score low.

The mock reviewers know what reviewers like because that is what they are. Generally, reviewers want a game that is polished, frustration free, and appeals to their readership (see previous paragraph). Companies want games that review well because they are easier to hype and they sell better.

Focus testing and mock reviews guide the process. Ubi just delayed Watchdogs because the mock reviews weren't 85+. So we end up with every AAA retail SP game being very similar: polished frustration minimized murder simulators, usually featuring co-op and multiplayer.
 

MNC

Member
Perhaps by using similar methods as those with Pyramidhead in Silent Hill 2; showing the alien in only a selected few spots, and thus increasing its effectiveness. Hopefully they'll nail the gameplay and atmosphere.

There are spots where you can kill Pyramid Head before the ending. There are multiple Pyramid Heads, is all I'm saying.
 

SparkTR

Member
How are you going to have a single Alien encounter be gripping each time, like the first Alien movie, without it being scripted to fuck, though?

Have tons of atmospheric downtime where not much action happens. Make the alien unscripted (patrols, random events?) and the encounters emergent.
 

Hindle

Banned
The Alien could be like Nemesis from RE 3. Namely, you're given objectives by other parties, be it scavenging, or healing the wounded, but the Alien randomly attacks you at certain points. Everytime it attacks you're forced to change your tactics.
 

Bor

Neo Member
From the GI thread - confirmed cross-gen as rumored.
So they are updating the page instead of takeing it down? What does that mean for the release date of the game?
Do these pages usually get updated months in advance of the release or does this mean we'll get this like in march with no hype whatsoever?
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
I don't feel suspense, dread, mystery, fear of the unknown, or anything like that while I'm playing a shoot-shoot-bang killing soldiers like any other shooter, that is what's wrong.

I want an Alien game that feels like the first movie. I want to wonder what is going wrong. I want to discuss with the shipmates what we should do. I want to have choices that affect the outcomes, like exploring the alien ship, running away, sacrificing or not a sick friend that maybe it's contaminated...

But that would be an horror adventure / RPG with choices & consequences, not an action game.


The amount of shoot-bang does not determine the amount of dread and tension. Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl has a lot of shoot-bang and maintains its feeling of survival throughout. It sounds like you want something more along the lines of a Walking Dead.
 

SparkTR

Member
So they are updating the page instead of takeing it down? What does that for the release date of the game?
Do these pages usually get updated months in advance of the release or does this mean we'll get this like in march with no hype whatsoever?

They''ll probably announce it soon. They also added a Steam registry entry so they'll likely be putting the store pages up soon. Maybe pre-order.
 

Melchiah

Member
There are spots where you can kill Pyramid Head before the ending. There are multiple Pyramid Heads, is all I'm saying.

Exactly, but before the end, there isn't much you can do against him. They could go that route, as well as the original film's approach, where you're mostly trying to avoid the alien.
 
I forgot Ripley had a daughter. They wrote that out of the theatrical cut of Aliens IIRC.

Not that I'm a stickler for absolute adherence to canon, but I'm pretty sure that the SE cut is intended one where our heroine in this new game dies at an old age. If they can manage to make an entire game with one main threat work by end credits, I'll be amazed. Last ones that worked for me were Enemy Zero and Clock Tower.
 

Gothos

Member
Creative Assembly's non-Total War games haven't exactly been great. Viking: Battle for Asgard, Stormrise?

Their last Total War games were also hit and miss (terrible Empire, decent Shogun II, absymal Rome II) so right now they need A LOT of convincing to make me buy this game.
 
Don't say "Survival Horror". Don't play with my feelings like that.
This, so much. I've been down on the game since its first details about soldiers, but it's looking like we might get on that ALIENS VIDEOGAME CYCLE of mediocrity again!
 

Dabanton

Member
The Alien could be like Nemesis from RE 3. Namely, you're given objectives by other parties, be it scavenging, or healing the wounded, but the Alien randomly attacks you at certain points. Everytime it attacks you're forced to change your tactics.

That's what I was thinking that for the time was pretty effective. That bastard busting through the wall,almost made me fill my pants.
 
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