A GOTY contender. Gamespot, go away with your review.

User Rating: 9 | Alien: Isolation PC

I haven't written a review in half a year - just wasn't inspired enough. Let's face it, there was nothing to play.

However, this time I have to write one for two reasons.

One, Gamespot's unfair score. The work and dedication that went into making this insanely immersive game continued to amaze me until the very end.....Oh and that ending.... taken right from the book of Christopher Nolan's Inception. Play it to see it.

Two, we really don't get enough of amazing games like these.

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I will get the negatives out of the way.

There are several climactic moments in the game when you think the game is about to end, yet it doesn't. That doesn't mean I wanted the game to end necessarily, it's just that the amount of these climaxes diminished their effect gradually. Nonetheless, I enjoyed them all.

It DID get tedious in the last 3-4 hours having to flip the switches and having to start the power there and there, having to look for key cards and having to constantly check the map to plot the route and then subsequently plan the escape route. It was just too much work, but you DO play as engineer in the game for a reason, for many reasons, actually.

I played on hard yet I barely had to use the crafted items for the most part. I was able to save most of them until my weapons were temporarily taken away.

The first 4-5 hours were kind of frustrating, insofar as hiding from the alien goes, but as soon as you figure out the amount of seconds you get on average when the radar blip moves away and as soon as you learn to differentiate when the alien is above you in the vent or on the other side of the door and as soon as you learn that sneaking constantly with the radar up is not really necessary and then you start getting a handle on this cat and mouse fight. Things get a LOT easier once you get the flamethrower about 6 hours in. Even on hard mode I never once came close to running out of flamethrower fluid. It does not kill the alien but small bursts of it do scare him away long enough for you to either find a way out, flip a switch, use a blow torch or what have you.

Clunky combat does get in the way at first but I learned to deal with it. After a while it really was not a big deal.

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As for the positives - too many too name, I am sure I will keep editing this review when more of them come to mind.

Well, for starters, this is by far the best game by movie adaptation that I can think of. After I beat the game I popped my blu ray version of the first Alien and could not believe just how accurate the game design is to that of the movie.

I loved the graphics. They were pristine, crisp, shiny, realistic, polished. The smoke, the view of the cosmos, the creepy android design, the level design were all great. Lighting could use some work though.

The foes are tough to kill. Almost each one required a planned and careful approach.

The flashback scene to the distress beacon almost brought tears to my eyes. It was beautiful. It was nerve-racking. I immediately started googling away for Prometheus 2.

The exploration requires thought and planning. Backtracking makes sense. The crafting will make encounters easier and the upgrades may yield access to new areas but that means that you may deal with the alien or other foes for a longer time instead of proceeding to the main objective.

I only wish the game had an even harder mode so that I could go at it in a few months or so. Well, at least there's the DLC and the Season Pass.

I liked playing as the protagonist. I really did like Ripley Jr.. She has her own inner thoughts, she has a body with legs (although I never saw her cast a shadow, nor did I see anyone else cast any shadows), she takes a while to run, to hide, to climb, she can hold her breath, she does get scared and startled, she does express her feelings constantly - that really doesn't happen in most games that are driven by silent protagonists. Creative Assembly learned plenty from Outlast. She does not really grow as a character though. In the end we still know very little about her.

The game is long, like very long. If you play this game from start to finish by fully immersing yourself at night without playing any other game in the meantime then you are guaranteed to have a blast, unless you are Kevin Van Ord.