bob's casual gaming blog: November 2015

ok, so this is not strictly casual...
...this is hardcore

this is survival horror A L I E N style
You'll spend a lot of your time hiding in lockers
Staying very very still,
Holding your breath...
...ooops you just got aliened!

This game sticks pretty well to the original alien premise
You are being hunted by a rather dangerous organism and you need to use all can to survive...
I played this game on medium difficulty and there was a lot of:
GAME OVER MAN! GAME OVER!
(Playing this on an virtual reality rig would be bad for your blood pressure)
F**K!
You can't even rely on the humans! I guess that's why they called it ISOLATION.

But if you are a fan of the original film
(And I fetishistically am)
Then there is plenty to enjoy.
The art direction is excellent
Both in sound and vision;
This is a game to play with the lights off; either very loud or with headphones on
The atmosphere of impending doom is palpably realised
With occasional stabs and all the great environmental sounds from ridley scott's 1979 classic.

the attention to detail is obvious
From the wonderfully soft wall furniture
To the adrenalin inducing alarms.
And frankly starkly gorgeous lighting effects.

The pacing gets a little sluggish in the middle of the game (maybe that's because I'm just rubbish at games),
there are a lot of fetch/carry tasks which get a bit frustrating;
once you've seen the inside of one locker, you've seem them all
But when you discover a new area and listen to the sounds and check out the artwork it's worth it.
SAVE OFTEN

The advertising posters on the walls are both superbly optimistic and darkly grim at the same time. Someone has spent a lot of time designing these.
They have both the look of soviet realism and western sarcasm
That is both comforting and disturbing at the same time
Remember, this whole place is owned by Weyland-Yutani and Seegson...

Friday 6 November 2015

Thursday 5 November 2015

Wednesday 4 November 2015