 "Surviving through stealth")
While I don't claim to be the epitome of fearlessness, I'm generally not scared of the dark, nor creatures that go bump in the night. More often than not I laugh at my friends who are spooked by horror movies, which are akin to comedies for me.
Not anymore. A brief encounter with Alien: Isolation (Rs 2,999 for PS3) and I had to sleep with my lights switched on and ears plugged for two nights. Else, I would be jerked awake at the tiniest sound or the slightest of shadows, and hold my breath just to avoid encountering the alien.
One plays as Amanda Ripley, daughter of Ellen Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver in the film), who is investigating her mother's disappearance. Amanda finds out the flight recorder from the Nostromo, which disappeared along with her mother, has been found and is currently at the Sevastopol space station. She lands up there to take charge of flight recorder, but finds the space station in disarray and an alien on the rampage.
There's no set pattern in the game, or the way your adversaries react. All their actions are a logical conclusion from the point they have begun (one can't but marvel at the sheer dynamism of the artificial intelligence or AI) and the most important motivation for the AI (as well as you) is self-preservation.
You have no option but to hide - in lockers, tunnels -but there's no guarantee the alien won't find you (even if you held your breath). As for the rest, you might find weapons (or fashion some of your own) to eliminate them. You can run, but the noise will alert the alien to your presence; you can use the motion sensor, but it can't track the alien accurately or when its stationary. And, thanks to your depth of vision, your surroundings would appear blurred. And that's just half the story for the rather lengthy game.
The alien is intelligent. It looks for signs that you've been there to be hot on your trail; in turn, you look for signs of the alien to actively avoid it. No wonder the game's developers, The Creative Assembly, describe Isolation as a survival horror game. Remember, you're the hunted. And you'll be looking over your shoulder every time you're in darkness.
The game is a test of one's capability to handle pressure and take quick tactical decisions under extreme stress (why does this sound so much like my production job?). As someone who likes to unwind with a game after a hard day's work, it wasn't ideal. I'm sure I would have got very interesting results if I was hooked up to an equipment that could measure my stress levels and blood pressure. At one point, I had to stop, take a deep breath and then take the difficult decision of switching off my console for, you guessed it, self-preservation.
All this makes the game sound horrendously tough (with the lack of automatic saves making it even more challenging). But you are rewarded with the unique satisfaction of beating a thinking enemy, every time you escape from certain death. And, it brings with it dollops of nostalgia - the monochrome monitors, props identifiable from the movie, the idea of a space station and the animation - so much from another time. And yes, the voice acting, as well as the expressions, does feel a tad flat, compared to the ambient music.
If you think I'm speaking gibberish, I guess you aren't a big fan of the Alien film franchise. But if you're a fan of Ridley Scott's Alien of 1979 vintage, dive right in.
Not anymore. A brief encounter with Alien: Isolation (Rs 2,999 for PS3) and I had to sleep with my lights switched on and ears plugged for two nights. Else, I would be jerked awake at the tiniest sound or the slightest of shadows, and hold my breath just to avoid encountering the alien.
One plays as Amanda Ripley, daughter of Ellen Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver in the film), who is investigating her mother's disappearance. Amanda finds out the flight recorder from the Nostromo, which disappeared along with her mother, has been found and is currently at the Sevastopol space station. She lands up there to take charge of flight recorder, but finds the space station in disarray and an alien on the rampage.
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So what, you think. It's all part of the plan. Let's encounter the creature head on, all guns blazing. And therein lies one's folly. There is not a single piece of equipment in the game with which you can kill the alien. Worse, confronting it is to invite death. And the alien isn't the only one out to get you.
There's no set pattern in the game, or the way your adversaries react. All their actions are a logical conclusion from the point they have begun (one can't but marvel at the sheer dynamism of the artificial intelligence or AI) and the most important motivation for the AI (as well as you) is self-preservation.
You have no option but to hide - in lockers, tunnels -but there's no guarantee the alien won't find you (even if you held your breath). As for the rest, you might find weapons (or fashion some of your own) to eliminate them. You can run, but the noise will alert the alien to your presence; you can use the motion sensor, but it can't track the alien accurately or when its stationary. And, thanks to your depth of vision, your surroundings would appear blurred. And that's just half the story for the rather lengthy game.
The alien is intelligent. It looks for signs that you've been there to be hot on your trail; in turn, you look for signs of the alien to actively avoid it. No wonder the game's developers, The Creative Assembly, describe Isolation as a survival horror game. Remember, you're the hunted. And you'll be looking over your shoulder every time you're in darkness.
The game is a test of one's capability to handle pressure and take quick tactical decisions under extreme stress (why does this sound so much like my production job?). As someone who likes to unwind with a game after a hard day's work, it wasn't ideal. I'm sure I would have got very interesting results if I was hooked up to an equipment that could measure my stress levels and blood pressure. At one point, I had to stop, take a deep breath and then take the difficult decision of switching off my console for, you guessed it, self-preservation.
All this makes the game sound horrendously tough (with the lack of automatic saves making it even more challenging). But you are rewarded with the unique satisfaction of beating a thinking enemy, every time you escape from certain death. And, it brings with it dollops of nostalgia - the monochrome monitors, props identifiable from the movie, the idea of a space station and the animation - so much from another time. And yes, the voice acting, as well as the expressions, does feel a tad flat, compared to the ambient music.
If you think I'm speaking gibberish, I guess you aren't a big fan of the Alien film franchise. But if you're a fan of Ridley Scott's Alien of 1979 vintage, dive right in.