Alien Isolation

As I mentioned in my previous EuroGamer Expo post, I was very fortunate to attend this years event. It gave me a chance to get hands on and see some of the biggest releases that would soon be hitting the highstreet. The biggest developers were there of course along with many indie developers and the event drew quite the crowd.

Whilst I don't tend to enjoy playing snippets of games pre-purchase I was quite eager to try Sega's Alien: Isolation.  This game has been causing quite a stir since its announcement and has won many awards at this years E3. After the last game in the franchise, Alien: Colonial Marines, ended in such devastation I was wary of the hype it was gaining. I as with many others had been burned by the previous game and felt I needed to see it first hand to avoid the problem a second time.

One big problem with bigger games such as this is that they drew the queues. Some of the lines boasted waiting times of over forty-five minutes for only a few seconds of demo. Thankfully this wasn't the case with Alien: Isolation. The queue seemed to dissipate in massive chunks and I started to question what they had behind the massive curtain perimeter. What didn't help was the smoke that seemed to be emanating from somewhere inside. Perhaps inside the infamous Xenomorph lurked and we gamers were in a production line of sorts fed to the hungry beast.

As I approached the staff energetically engaged with us in a refreshing manner that many other booth staff were not. All wearing uniform drawn from the film series, they ushered us forward stating that their 'Xenomorphs were hungry' or to move closer to 'warm us up, Aliens like their food hot. They also provided us with a free comic that ties into the game and told us of the competition that ran alongside the demo. If you could survive until the end of the level (a big IF they emphasised) your time taken, if good enough, would be added to a leaderboard. For those who made the top ten a free T-shirt was yours, if you came first a replica jacket from the game. With such customer interaction it is no wonder the booth apparently won an award for best visitor experience.

We entered the area in groups and were shown a short video about the games production. Then ushered into a darkened box filled with monitors ready to scare the unfortunate watchers. Many articles have said that the game is 'terrifying' and I hoped that it would live up to this. I am still very much on the hunt for something to scare me and I as of yet go rather sedate when confronted with all manner of horror media. I ensured I was sat comfortably, knew the controls and had the headphones secured to ensure I was as immersed as possible.

Immediately felt a sense of familiarity as I looked around the cramp cargo hold I started the level in. As a fan of the film series the iconic look that they carry was like an old friend. Everything is a light grey, piping hangs from the ceiling and tubes of coolant encompass me. This clearly where my character as the daughter of Ripley belongs. The developers clearly understood the feel of the franchise. It could have been tempting, with all the graphical technology at their disposal, to create a wondrous and eye-catching setting. But instead they have stayed true to the gritty, bleak, cargo ship feel that evokes the nostalgia.


I soon found myself gathering everything in the room to help my survival: metal scraps, extra batteries for the motion tracker, health bars and of course a handy flamethrower. I liked the sense of urgency this installed in me from the get go. I hope that a lack of resource will be big in the game making your chance of survival defendant on careful management.
Making my way cautiously towards the objective, a switch to activate the lifts door control. Utilising that trusty tracker to ensure I avoided any unwanted attention. I liked the fact that the tracker seems to take up a lot of the screen when used, which should discourage overuse. Anything else and a player could become reliant; much like Arkham Asylum's detective mode. I noticed a few times my wall-hugging technique would bring me in collision with the scenery. At which point a box would tumble and it's noise seemed to echo too loud for comfort. I felt the atmosphere was just right and really affected my playing style. I became very cautious of tight spaces where I may knock something; which drew me out into the open.

I soon learnt that this would be a bad sign.

I soon met my hunter of course, it was inevitable, unfortunately this wasn't as exciting or terrifying as I had hoped. I just watched him pass me by before sneaking behind him. A lot has been said about the Alien's intelligence, but I still saw the same adherence to a patrol pattern as any guard has in countless other games. Not to say it isn't imposing, I did find myself taking a breath in as it walked past hoping it wouldn't turn its gaze my way. When I made it to my destination I was given the next objective, head back to the lift. At this point there is a scripted attack, but as I kind of guessed there would be I was prepared. I flamed the Xenomorph in the face and then sprinted to the exit, pressing the lift control and surviving... on my first attempt.

It may be a bit boastful, but I will tell you that I did indeed make the leaderboard, unfortunately not the top. I was pretty proud of my free T-shirt especially since they had said no one had won for a while.

The demo was good, yet it wasn't quite as outstanding as I had hoped. Yes, it was atmospheric and yes, it is definitely an improvement on Alien: Colonial Marines (but the what isn't?). Groundbreaking, however, it isn't. The Alien was very easy to outsmart and this meant I never truly felt too vulnerable. I know in the main game there will also be other threats to deal with, I'm sure it has potential.

For now I will keep an eye on it, however, not enough  to pick it up on release day.







Alien: Isolation image from ABCgames, in-game image from Videogamewriters.

EuroGamer Expo London 2014

This weekend I was lucky enough to be able to attend Eurogamer Expo London 2014 (EGX). The expo is one of the biggest game shows held in the UK. At the show developers have gathered to showcase what they have in development and give gamers a chance to go hands on with the year’s releases. Whilst not as big as an American gaming convention, E3 especially, the show still excites me.

A massive thank you to my friend Lewis Bailey for allowing me to attend as his plus one. It was a great day and I really appreciated it.

There weren’t any big exclusive games announced at the event, but there were several game titles I was keen to see in action. The games I was most eager to see included: Namco Bandai’s Project Cars, Dragon Age:Inquisition, Arkham Knight and of course the much hyped Alien Isolation (which I even got a chance to go hands on with). For a full list of games I will provide a link at the end.  It was also my first opportunity to hold the Xbox One and PS4 controllers, both of which I am still unfamiliar with.

Before I begin I will admit that I personally don’t like playing demos; worse still I don’t like playing in public (video games that is, honestly your dirty minds!) Firstly, I don’t like demos as often they are lifted from the games directly. I realise this is technically a good thing; it does after all give you a very good impression of the game. But I like my new games to feel fresh and new and hate replaying a whole section. Some games demos have understood this and offered demos that are challenge maps not in the main quest line or serve as prequels to the story. By doing this not only does it save spoilers until release, but also invests me into the story so that I am eager to pick it up on release.

I hope gamers are going to start seeing the lack of real ingenuity behind the triple A game's PR campaigns. Too much glitz, without any substance, is bad for any industry.

My second peeve about playing in public is that I get very self-conscious. I am always very aware that behind me stand several others who are eager to take my place. This realisation isn’t helped when they offer ‘helpful’ remarks or whisper about my techniques. A lot of this is down to my own pig-headed nature; I like to figure things out for myself. Another issue is the queues that come before the demo, often the most hyped games have lines well over 45 minutes long and when you only get a few minutes of game time to compensate I lose enthusiasm.

By the end of the day we were 'BFFs'

For this reason what actually stole the show in many ways for me wasn’t the big hitters it was actually the indie games. Not only are there shorter queues for them, but the developers are usually on hand. They are eager to get feedback from their games and genuinely interested in your opinion. Thankfully I think the gaming industry is starting to slide towards the indie trend. At this year’s E3 big games like Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare failed to gain as much attention as previous years. I think gamers are starting to see that behind their PR agent led pitches lies a lack of innovation.

The games I tried out were pretty decent and I will post about them separately in other posts. I got to grips with Alien Isolation, NBA 2015, Super Exploding Zoo, Little Big Planet 3, Terra Tech, Never Alone, Cloudbuilt. I also saw a lot of gameplay due to the aforementioned fact that I enjoy watching more than playing. I will go into detail about the games in later posts as I wouldn’t be able to go into enough depth in this post.

You may notice that my Euro Gamer Expo posts are slightly one sided towards what Sony had on show. This isn’t on any biased of my part, more on the part of the show. Sony seemed to get the better space and even the event programme came with a Sony advert attached. The billboards leading from the station to Earl’s court where plastered with their promotions too.  

What I will talk about is my first experiences with the PS4 and Xbox One controllers. I will say that right now due to the exclusives the PS4 is my preferred console (after the Wii U of course). It is also partly because of how the Xbox One’s reveal was handled which left a bitter taste in my mouth. It is rather unfortunate then that after giving both a whirl that the Xbox One controller felt more natural to me.  It hasn’t really changed that much from the old Xbox 360 pad except it has put on a few pounds. The buttons all remain the same and very much easy to understand. Some might complain that the fact that it didn’t change means there is nothing new to gain, but I’m more of the opinion that it isn’t broke, so why fix it?

Luminocity had a beautiful cardboard display.

The PS4 controller on the other hand is an attempt to revolutionise the dual shock pad. Once again it has put on a bit and become squarer at the top. I wanted to test out the touchpad of course, but was somewhat disappointed. The pad is plastic in texture and feels like the back of a Kindle eBook. This made it rather too fiddly for precise control. I found the slightest movement was interpreted as a mile long stroke, which is disappointing considering how advanced touchscreens can be. Despite it’s added size the buttons don’t seemed to have benefited. They instead have become smaller and more out of reach for my fingers to find, the analogue sticks were oddly indented too. I already miss the classic start and select buttons and found myself reaching for empty space. Overall the controller felt alien to me and just rather uncomfortable.

EGX was a fantastic opportunity for me to attend and I really enjoyed seeing what is to come in the year ahead. I saw some great games, met some lovely people, bought expensive merchandise and played spot the cosplayer. It is a must attend expo for those who need to keep up with gaming and geekery.

Link to games on show can be found Here.

Link to Vlog done by The Lewis Rocks, featuring myself, can be found Here.