I've put about 20 hours into the game, it just DOES NOT STOP! The quality level hasn't really dropped either, just been one awesome consistent ride, although sometimes does get a wee-bit repetitive like some of the reviews were saying. I believe I'm almost done with it....
Completed it in just over 17 hours, going through again on Hard.
The game is really good looking and I love the artstyle. Probably one of the best games I've seen that uses normal maps real well, all the models have nice edge highlighting.
Lighting is well done too, apart from the Flare not casting shadows. :P
Ran into quite a few bugs as well, none are really game breaking, but annoying non the less. Things like on screen prompts not appearing, sounds cues not playing or sounds playing when other sounds should.
Legs seem to disappear as well on FOVs over 55, although I think this is a artistic decision.
I feel the game is too long though and the pacing isn't all that great. The start was pretty good building up to the first Alien encounter, then It kinda go's downhill a bit from there.
Gotta agree about the Alien animations being weak, especially after coming from Shadow of Mordor with how good the animations and blending works there.
The warps in the Aliens movements are really immersion breaking, especially seeing it snap from one animation to another.
I would have liked the see it move over and around stuff as well.
I don't think the AI is really good enough either, It's still better than having jump scares and repetitive spawn points, but sometimes hiding in a cupboard for 5 minutes because it keeps checking the same area can be a pain.
I feel a big opportunity was lost to have it follow you more into the vents were your more confined. Think I encountered this once through the whole game and it was definitely more scary than being in hallways and such.
Save system is terrible, I know there trying to instil fear, but it's just an annoyance and nuisance when sometimes you've lost 30 mins of gameplay because the save points are sometimes to far apart. In some levels there's too many in one area and others none at all. Think it would have been better to allow you to quicksave when there isn't any threats around.
Don't take all this has negatives, I really enjoyed the game after I got into it, I'm mostly nitpicking here, but It would be great to see improvements for a hopeful sequel.
Overall it's a good game and even better looker and it's good to see AAA studios attempting these kind of games, something that I hope paves way for more AAA studios to attempt something a little different.
enjoying this a lot, really looks stunning, not so much of a horror/survival game guy myself, but just had to get this one to virtually walk the beautiful atmospheric alien themed space station. Great work, love all the tiny details in the set design, am enjoying this with 4k downsampling
Finished it, but it was tedious towards the end. Go here, press button, go here pull lever, go back to first button and press another button, hold on, the alien is going to spend a few minutes in the same room so you're stuck waiting, it's gone now, press button in the other roo- you got killed, start over.
Finished it, but it was tedious towards the end. Go here, press button, go here pull lever, go back to first button and press another button, hold on, the alien is going to spend a few minutes in the same room so you're stuck waiting, it's gone now, press button in the other roo- you got killed, start over.
Yeah. This is my only real complaint at all, the levels got a little repetitive later on. Took me a whopping 24-25hrs to finish (might be a tad inaccurate, had it paused for a while one day )
I went back and retwatched the original Alien after completing the game. It's crazzzzzzzy how accurate all the tiny details are in Isolation compared to the movie. It's almost mind boggling they are so accurate.
Overall, the game is absolutely beautiful. Can't wait to see some stuff on how it was all done
I finished the game yesterday. First impressions were amazing! The sound atmosphere of each room.. I haven't felt this immersed since the first Thief.
The first half of the game was awesome. The pacing was perfect. When you started to encounter the alien, you felt like an ant ready to be squished. I was happy and completely sold on the game.
Then came the first medic run... It felt as if the game completely changed its rules. Suddenly the alien would constantly check your hiding spots. Have I mentioned how much I hate the breathing mechanic in the closet? It's poorly implemented/introduced. The button sequence for the "quicktime event" appeared in less than a half second. The controller icon was more like a flicker. I barely saw LB before I was insta-killed by the alien. I had to go online to see what I was supposed to press, because it never appeared again. It should have been introduced with a slower sequence first. A perfect moment for the player would have been to be forced into a closet and try the breathing thing once... As a primer for the rest of the game.
Then there's the "walking and pressing buttons" simulator part. In the first half of the game, it felt natural to sneak around to avoid the alien and humans. But when you start getting firepower... Not only does the segments get longer, but half your arsenal is completely useless. Synthetics with a plastic suite? What a PERFECT excuse to render half my inventory useless. No... No it's not. The segments in the second half of the game are too long, especially when you're forced to sneak through them because only a couple of items are useful. Don't even get me started on all the spacewalk missions. It was fun to do once...
I want to give a professional slap the person who thought it was okay to first have a person sneak through a long segment to open a door, there's an active generator that you can't interact with, sneak back through the whole segment, get a power outtage from THAT FRIGGIN' GENERATOR, then sneak back to restart it and back again... Seriously, this is nothing else than level padding to increase play hours.
Another person I want to give a slap to is the one who decided to use the "oh noes, I'm hanging on this ledge with one hand and looking down in a too awkward 'epic moment', trying to sell you that this was a near death"-moment. Multiple times... Seriously, it got old even before Activision decided to mainstream it in Call of Duty. No, don't use it. It's not scary, cool or intense. It's a padded cinematic sequence that offers nothing. At least give me a quick time button sequence if you absolutely must put it there.
Then there's the part where you pass by doors and vents which you can't open because you don't have the right upgrade, way too early in the game. There were several times I thought I had actually missed the upgrade because I kept passing by inaccessible paths. As I am typing this I just recalled a gas filled room in a random spot, hours of gameplay before you get the gas mask in the storyline. Am I seriously supposed to run back there, for what, items in a box and a log message from the flight recorder? How the hell did the gas even get into that room to begin with? I didn't find an override to clear the gas, so I assume I needed the gas mask... Because one door early in the game, way back, needed the ion torch. Completely random.
My rant comes from the fact that I was so happy to play this game at first, the joy of finally having a great Alien game, just to see it become a "sneak and press buttons"-simulator, slowly flushing down the toilet, as the second half to game came to a close. It was a "NOOO, GOOD GAME DON'T GO!" moment. It could easily have been a GOTY contenter.
Apart from flawed game design, the art and sound in the game was incredibly well executed. From the level design to animation. Everyone on the team should have plenty of pats on the back for what you did in this game. This game is definitely going into the inspiration folder for future projects.
The game is really good looking and I love the artstyle. Probably one of the best games I've seen that uses normal maps real well, all the models have nice edge highlighting.
There's barely any normal maps in the game, like Liam said it's all modeled.
Hmm. Still not finished. I have to say though, even on Easy it's kinda tough (or maybe I just suck). Getting like a half hour in and dying and losing that progress a few times is kinda meh.
I'm about 20 hours in. Still not done. I'm enjoying it well enough, but dang, this game needed to have about 4-5 hours truncated or released as 'bonus content' or something. The gameplay is always strong, but this could have been an incredibly tightly woven experience, rather than a padded one.
But, other than that, this is probably in my top 3 for 2013, EASILY. Excellent work!
I just wanted to say in here that I love the CGI in Alien: Isolation. "Way To Go!" and kudos to the developers!
I've taken thousands of screenshots in Alien: Isolation and I'm certainly not done. I've played the game several times, and I still love it.
I don't do CGI but I DO build with Lego (the little bricks) and thanks to Alien: Isolation I've been working on modular wallpanels, floors, and scenes like this:
This looks like such a cool game I want to play it, but I know I wont. If it was 8 hours long and you didnt go back 20 minutes of gameplay every time you die I would play it. The environments in that video look awesome!
Replies
The game is really good looking and I love the artstyle. Probably one of the best games I've seen that uses normal maps real well, all the models have nice edge highlighting.
Lighting is well done too, apart from the Flare not casting shadows. :P
Ran into quite a few bugs as well, none are really game breaking, but annoying non the less. Things like on screen prompts not appearing, sounds cues not playing or sounds playing when other sounds should.
Legs seem to disappear as well on FOVs over 55, although I think this is a artistic decision.
I feel the game is too long though and the pacing isn't all that great. The start was pretty good building up to the first Alien encounter, then It kinda go's downhill a bit from there.
Gotta agree about the Alien animations being weak, especially after coming from Shadow of Mordor with how good the animations and blending works there.
The warps in the Aliens movements are really immersion breaking, especially seeing it snap from one animation to another.
I would have liked the see it move over and around stuff as well.
I don't think the AI is really good enough either, It's still better than having jump scares and repetitive spawn points, but sometimes hiding in a cupboard for 5 minutes because it keeps checking the same area can be a pain.
I feel a big opportunity was lost to have it follow you more into the vents were your more confined. Think I encountered this once through the whole game and it was definitely more scary than being in hallways and such.
Save system is terrible, I know there trying to instil fear, but it's just an annoyance and nuisance when sometimes you've lost 30 mins of gameplay because the save points are sometimes to far apart. In some levels there's too many in one area and others none at all. Think it would have been better to allow you to quicksave when there isn't any threats around.
Don't take all this has negatives, I really enjoyed the game after I got into it, I'm mostly nitpicking here, but It would be great to see improvements for a hopeful sequel.
Overall it's a good game and even better looker and it's good to see AAA studios attempting these kind of games, something that I hope paves way for more AAA studios to attempt something a little different.
Yeah. This is my only real complaint at all, the levels got a little repetitive later on. Took me a whopping 24-25hrs to finish (might be a tad inaccurate, had it paused for a while one day
I went back and retwatched the original Alien after completing the game. It's crazzzzzzzy how accurate all the tiny details are in Isolation compared to the movie. It's almost mind boggling they are so accurate.
Overall, the game is absolutely beautiful. Can't wait to see some stuff on how it was all done
http://www.vincentch20.co.uk/?p=591
Then came the first medic run... It felt as if the game completely changed its rules. Suddenly the alien would constantly check your hiding spots. Have I mentioned how much I hate the breathing mechanic in the closet? It's poorly implemented/introduced. The button sequence for the "quicktime event" appeared in less than a half second. The controller icon was more like a flicker. I barely saw LB before I was insta-killed by the alien. I had to go online to see what I was supposed to press, because it never appeared again. It should have been introduced with a slower sequence first. A perfect moment for the player would have been to be forced into a closet and try the breathing thing once... As a primer for the rest of the game.
Then there's the "walking and pressing buttons" simulator part. In the first half of the game, it felt natural to sneak around to avoid the alien and humans. But when you start getting firepower... Not only does the segments get longer, but half your arsenal is completely useless. Synthetics with a plastic suite? What a PERFECT excuse to render half my inventory useless. No... No it's not. The segments in the second half of the game are too long, especially when you're forced to sneak through them because only a couple of items are useful. Don't even get me started on all the spacewalk missions. It was fun to do once...
I want to give a professional slap the person who thought it was okay to first have a person sneak through a long segment to open a door, there's an active generator that you can't interact with, sneak back through the whole segment, get a power outtage from THAT FRIGGIN' GENERATOR, then sneak back to restart it and back again... Seriously, this is nothing else than level padding to increase play hours.
Another person I want to give a slap to is the one who decided to use the "oh noes, I'm hanging on this ledge with one hand and looking down in a too awkward 'epic moment', trying to sell you that this was a near death"-moment. Multiple times... Seriously, it got old even before Activision decided to mainstream it in Call of Duty. No, don't use it. It's not scary, cool or intense. It's a padded cinematic sequence that offers nothing. At least give me a quick time button sequence if you absolutely must put it there.
Then there's the part where you pass by doors and vents which you can't open because you don't have the right upgrade, way too early in the game. There were several times I thought I had actually missed the upgrade because I kept passing by inaccessible paths. As I am typing this I just recalled a gas filled room in a random spot, hours of gameplay before you get the gas mask in the storyline. Am I seriously supposed to run back there, for what, items in a box and a log message from the flight recorder? How the hell did the gas even get into that room to begin with? I didn't find an override to clear the gas, so I assume I needed the gas mask... Because one door early in the game, way back, needed the ion torch. Completely random.
My rant comes from the fact that I was so happy to play this game at first, the joy of finally having a great Alien game, just to see it become a "sneak and press buttons"-simulator, slowly flushing down the toilet, as the second half to game came to a close. It was a "NOOO, GOOD GAME DON'T GO!" moment. It could easily have been a GOTY contenter.
Apart from flawed game design, the art and sound in the game was incredibly well executed. From the level design to animation. Everyone on the team should have plenty of pats on the back for what you did in this game. This game is definitely going into the inspiration folder for future projects.
Some really awesome stuff in there man, great work and thanks for sharing! :poly142:
[ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Alien-Isolation-Andy-McVittie/dp/1781169314/ref=la_B00DDX5C2C_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413393189&sr=1-1"]The Art of Alien: Isolation: Amazon.co.uk: Andy McVittie: Books[/ame]
Btw are you guys using some fancy bump shader to get nice edge shading on the meshes or is it just good o'le high poly baking and synced baker?
There's barely any normal maps in the game, like Liam said it's all modeled.
Fantastic art direction too.
Loving this game.
That would also make it an even better title for the Oculus Rift.
Still loving it though. Maybe I'll finish it soon
But, other than that, this is probably in my top 3 for 2013, EASILY. Excellent work!
Yes, it was okay, too short on enviro concepts, but at least there were some low-poly models and wireframes.
[ame]
I've taken thousands of screenshots in Alien: Isolation and I'm certainly not done. I've played the game several times, and I still love it.
I don't do CGI but I DO build with Lego (the little bricks) and thanks to Alien: Isolation I've been working on modular wallpanels, floors, and scenes like this:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulbhartzog/18785309946/
:-)
-p
1) a blue one: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulbhartzog/albums/72157655473662622
2) a red one (work in progress) from a convention: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulbhartzog/sets/72157650588987771
Hope you like them.
-p