Reviews

[Derri]

Hey,

Has anyone noticed the reviews of Alien Isolation?

They don't seem to be too hot right now. I know Eurogamer has given it an 8/10 but otherwise reviewers like IGN and Gamespot haven given it rather lack luster reviews around the 5.5-6.0 mark. To be honest after even seeing the positive reviews it really put me off purchasing the game.

 

[Ridge]

I have a few thoughts on this. First off, reviews are dumb, always remember that.

Right now the Metacritic is 79, which is by no means bad. Not everything is going to be the best thing ever, but that doesn't mean things aren't worth playing.

If the concept of the game sounds fun to you, then play it.

 

[Oberon]

I dont think reviews are dumb overall but then you cant just look at the final score.
You still need to read it as many of criticisms may not bother you,depends on what they are.
And sometimes site reviewers do get it wrong,I was reading that one person thought it was slow,not much happens etc etc,while that may be true IT IS A SURVIVAL HORROR right? Not an all out action game.

Anyway,take them with a pinch of salt.

 

[Derri]

I have a few thoughts on this. First off, reviews are dumb, always remember that.

Right now the Metacritic is 79, which is by no means bad. Not everything is going to be the best thing ever, but that doesn't mean things aren't worth playing.

If the concept of the game sounds fun to you, then play it.

I wouldn't say reviews are dumb, they can be informative as long as you take them with a pinch of salt like Oberon said. I think if I were to get it I'd probably wait until its on a sale or get it second hand.

I dont think reviews are dumb overall but then you cant just look at the final score.
You still need to read it as many of criticisms may not bother you,depends on what they are.
And sometimes site reviewers do get it wrong,I was reading that one person thought it was slow,not much happens etc etc,while that may be true IT IS A SURVIVAL HORROR right? Not an all out action game.

Anyway,take them with a pinch of salt.

I did take them with a pinch of salt but to be honest what they said kind of hit home. For example a lot of them commented on the pace of the game and the lenght saying that it was overly long and a lot of what you end up doing is just walking around and that can get old. They also said the encounters with the Alien weren't frequent and you could go quite awhile without ever seeing it or interacting with it.

When I first read about the game it did interest me but I thought it would be one of the survival horrors where you are always on your toes and you can never adjust to your surroundings (you're always on edge) and a lot of the reviews commented on the fact that you do just a lot of walking around and small tasks which then leads you to getting used to the environment and then you're left feeling on edge.

After viewing some gameplay I think I've made up my mind about not getting this game.

 

[Oberon]

Yeah,I get they made it survival horror but perhaps they went overboard on the hide and stealth bit and just made a little to boring inbetween the action bits?
Just a guess.

 

[Derri]

Yeah,I get they made it survival horror but perhaps they went overboard on the hide and stealth bit and just made a little to boring inbetween the action bits?
Just a guess.

Yeah that's basically it.

The actual alien encounters aren't enough to keep you going through the entire game because the game is so long and you'll only meet it in specific chapters. For a lot of the game you're walking doing mini puzzle and avoiding the ships robotic personal who seem to have turned evil, they don't kill you though unless you give them massive opportunity so its not enough to sustain that level of fear and heart pounding action as you play through the game.

 

[Haymansafc]

In my opinion, reviews are rarely worth the paper they're written on these days. I've said a couple of times only recently that I've hardly read any reviews over the last decade. With regards to Alien Isolation, I've seen a few screenshots, read little about it and definitely no reviews.

If it's more of a true survival horror, then brilliant. It'll be something that will very much appeal to me as I enjoy this genre. Bring it on. It's a genre which has largely lost it's way in recent years, with developers making them simply watered-down FPS games (maybe with a tiny hint of horror), which that particular genre is different and generally bores me rigid. Constant action isn't the 'be all and end all' in games – it's an unfortunate modern interpretation that's implemented in almost everything now. I like to have a bit of mystery and some time to assess things.

Anyway, the best thing I feel you can do is to simply cast your own judgement. It's your own opinion that matters. Not someone else's. Reviewers are simply people like you and me – folks with differing opinions. They're little more. The only difference is that these reviewers will be wore well known amongst game developers/producers and of course with me being slightly cynically minded, you never know what may go on between closed doors in order to get good or bad reviews. Of course, I've no evidence of this whatsoever but I've seen enough truly bizarre reviews over the years to come to this conclusion. Whether I'm right or not is another matter.

I haven't seen any of the game yet but do plan on seeing at least the start of it on YouTube over the next day or two when they start to appear. I'll make my own opinion of it from there based from a spectators point of view. If I really like it, I'll stop watching (wouldn't want to spoil it) and seriously consider buying it. Once I've seen some of it, I'll give my initial reaction in the appropriate thread.

 

[dskd]

I think it is one of those games you will either love it or hate it

 

[Titan]

I stopped playing this game a while ago. I'm not super into horror survival games so I'm not very good at it (though I could just play it and get better ). But I think Isolation is an incredibly well made game and it is a fitting and well deserved entry considering what Colonial Marines was. I actually stopped playing it because it was so suspenseful, I was constantly stressed playing it. I'll give it another go when I can but I have other games on my plate now and this is on the back burner.