The great terror of H.R. Giger's original Alien was no fluke. Spawned from the pages of his personal renderings, the titular freak we know and love was inspired by Giger's artistic affinity for the surreal, mechanical, and sexually grotesque. Someone actually passed Ridley Scott a copy of H.R.'s Necronomicon - published in 1977, two years before Alien released - and the rest is history. To the point of parody, Marines' misguided answer to just about every scenario in-game was, "...and then a sh*t-ton of Aliens happen!" Swarm after swarm of Xeno-slaughter rapidly devolved into arbitrary action with no real tension. The Alien's didn't fair much better individually, constantly catching on errant objects in the environment and generally collapsing in repetitive heaps. If they weren't screaming and scattering like mindless insects, they were inexplicably vanishing or dead on the ground, sporting acid-blood splatters that laughably resembled neon pants. Cameron's sequel still managed to capture the foreign horror of the beast, even with so many creatures onscreen, but Colonial Marines nose-dived into the exact pit that Aliens deftly avoided in 1986 - diminishing the stature of Ridley Scott's singular threat. You'll face more than Giger's imagination, but Isolation brings us back to square one with an Alien you simply do not stand a chance against. Just like the original beast, Creative Assembly's monster is both cunning and indiscriminately murderous. With AI based on functional animal senses, Giger's classic creature actively hunts you via sight, scent and sound. Stay sharp. If you're flying on blind luck, you'll fare about as well as Dallas did in those vents. Wrong way, Dallas! All of these elements that preserve the look, tone and feel of Ridley Scott's first film would fall flat without a believable Alien on the prowl and if this isn't the most realistic and dynamic NPC behavior you've ever seen in a video game, you'll certainly be fooled more than a few times that it is... and be promptly murder-tackled. How did you receive the newest Alien game... or have you? What are the freakiest situations you've gotten yourself into on the Sevastopol? Did Colonial Marines have any other redeeming values? Sound off in the comments below!
Real Science Magazine called James' addiction to video games "sexually attractive." He also worked really hard and got really lucky in college and earned some awards for acting, improv and stand-up, but nobody cares about that out here in LA. So... He's starting over fresh, performing when He can. His profile picture features James as Serbian, vampire comic Dorde Mehailo with His anonymous Brother and Uncle at the Nerdmelt Showroom in West Hollywood. In James' spare time, he engages in acting, writing, athletics, hydration, hours of great pondering and generally wishing you'd like him.
