So, Creative Assembly, known for the Total War series of games, has decided to try its hand at sci-fi survival horror.
Seems pretty good. Hopefully they know very well that overpromising on an Alien game will kill it faster than nukes from orbit.
It looks like one of those games where high fidelity graphics actually adds something to the mood and setting beyond being eye candy. I can only hope that the gameplay is as good as the art direction.
Coming out in early October so we can talk about it until then and exchange our view of whether or not it’s worth buying when it comes out.
The pre-release press on it seems very positive so far, not like A:CM where everyone was saying “Man, I’ve heard this is going to be terrible”. By which I don’t mean the excitement around the original A:CM trailer but closer to release when it felt like a sense of creeping dread.
Perhaps a bit of pollyanna optimism from me, but I’d like to hope that, given the fiasco of A:CM, the next people to tackle an Alien game would take some extra care with the franchise.
It wasn’t on my radar, then I got it for 1/3rd of a $1 from that AMD sale/scam. Now I’m interested in its release. I don’t usually like that kind of game though. I startle.
It is encouraging that it’s not from the same kind of developer. Gearbox has already pulled the “let’s take a game whose development went to shit, polish that shit somewhat and ride on its name recognition and hype” trick. Creative Assembly is a much better developer.
It is interesting that it’s Alien and not another Aliens-style bug hunt shooter. So just the one and I assume more of an Amnesia-style “avoid the monster” game since it’s be pretty short if you just brained the antagonist with a fire extinguisher in the first couple minutes.
I didn’t get on the AMD glitch (for those wondering, for a short time Newegg was selling $1.00 promo cards for three games – Alien:Isolation being one – that were intended to be packaged/sent with new AMD video cards) but I pre-purchased it for a good price and get the Nostromo Edition “Crew Expendable” DLC with it.
Apparently, you’ll have some weapons, but they’re only effective against other humans and the occasional android. The alien is effectively indestructible, at least (I’m assuming) until the end of the game.
I wonder if there’s a betting pool somewhere about the end. My money would be on the xenomorph being expulsed into space in a “become a bait for the alien and run from control console to valve until you have it in the airlock” sequence.
Whip the grand-nephew of Jones the Cat* at it and run like hell for the escape pod
*As I recall, you’re playing Ripley’s daughter who explores the Nostromo trying to find out what happened to her mother in the intervening time between when Ripley left the ship and when she was found at the beginning of Aliens. [Edit: Someone correct me – given that the Nostromo was set to destruct, that can’t be right]
Well, at 1H39M into Alien, we see something make a lot of noise and light but it’s not necessarily the Nostromo blowing up. It could be retconed into a few ways that save the Nostromo, which is all that’s required.
Something along the lines of “Weyland-Yutani only made people think it would self-destruct but it just fired its engines and that’s what made the big loud noise and the big flash”.
Bottom line, we get to go back to the Nostromo, let’s not look too hard at how that sausage was made.
Interesting. The explanation we always used was the Redneck Bar Fight Syndrome. Initiative is based on Intelligence, like in the old FASA Star Trek game, so your enemies would keep coming no matter how many of their asses you kick, because each wave is successively dumber than the last.
Oh, ok… so I DID have the game plot correct. I’m fine with the retconning of the Nostromo still being around to explore, I just assumed I must have had it wrong.
The game is set in 2137, 15 years after the events of Alien and 42 years prior to Aliens. The game follows Amanda, who is investigating the disappearance of her mother Ellen Ripley. Amanda was transferred to the space station Sevastopol to find the flight recorder of Nostromo. However, an Alien has already infested the station.
So, Sevastopol has been invaded by a brutal, extremely aggressive enemy that cannot be reasoned with and that we thought we had beaten but has come back.
The state of Rome II on release was pretty appalling. The AI in the campaign map and battles was incompetent. It tended to spam armies full of skirmishers, didn’t know how to manage the food and approval systems, and worst of all, it was utterly broken during siege battles. The AI would randomly remain outside the gates doing nothing, or would make a beeline for the capture point on a settlement ignoring your men as they cut them to pieces.
It was truly a broken mess of a game. It was absolutely rushed and working with the warscape engine to make a game of this scope was probably more than CA could handle.
It’s not until NOW with the Emperor edition coming out, a year later, that the game is in a worthy state. It’s enjoyable and the various mechanics work well (for the most part). There are still systems that I miss a lot like the Family tree and more in depth politics, but what’s there is good.
