Game developers love re-working Ridley Scott’s Alien, so how does a game that goes back to the film’s roots fair?
The Creative Assembly set out to create an Alien game that recaptures the helplessness and incredibly tense environment of the original 1979 film, and they appear to have succeeded for better or worse, according to reviewers.
Alien: Isolation does pretty well on most reviews, given its 80 out of 100 score on Metacritic.
Here’s what critics are saying about the game.
PC Gamer gave Alien: Isolation a 93 out of 100:
“It’s ridiculous that it took the developers of a historical RTS to finally create an authentic Alien game, but The Creative Assembly have managed it. They’ve succeeded where countless others have failed by treating Giger’s monster with the reverence it deserves: as something to be feared and respected, not faced head-on with a pulse rifle. Isolation is a taut, confident, and electrifying horror game that perfectly captures the essence of Ridley Scott’s legendary film,” PC Gamer’s Andy Kelly writes.
The Telegraph also rated the game highly, giving it four and a half out of five stars:
Tom Hoggins notes that Alien: Isolation is an “unusually brave blockbuster, not prepared to compromise its vision in favor of chasing a larger audience; a credit to both developer and publisher. And while it may not be for everybody, those that are looking for a convincing interpretation of sci-fi’s most terrifying monster will be well-served.”
On the other hand, GameSpot gave the game a 6 out of 10.
Kevin VanOrd laments that the game is an “endless meandering in between that proves troublesome, much of it intended to build tension, but most of it falling victim to a neverending sameness. I say neverending, but in reality, Alien: Isolation limps to its frustrating ending after many hours more than it can support. This is four hours’ worth of a great idea stretched into 14-plus hours of messy stealth gameplay, creaky video game cliches, and limp exploration.”
Ryan MacCaffrey at IGN concurs with VanOrd, noting that: “It may seem strange to complain that a game’s too long, but when the genuine scares of being hunted by an unstoppable predator are so diluted by repetition and padding, Isolation’s epic length really does work against it.”
Giving the game a 5.9 and a “mediocre” rating, MacCaffrey concludes: “Someday, someone is going to make an incredible Alien video game that checks every box.”
“But, sadly, Isolation is not it.”
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