I am a diehard Alien universe fan and I was in no way disappointed with this game. I overlooked its weaknesses just by simply staring at the walls or walking down the corridors and hearing the alien move and being delightfully reminded of whats going to come over the next few years in the gaming and Alien universe..
As for this game, as seen by many of us common folk and mass opinion it should easily receive 8 minimum for its incredibly terrifying moments, incredible (if not 100% accurate) recreation of 1979 Alien environments, and sound. Is it perfect? No. Are the environments exact dust for dust spot for spot replicas of the movie? No. But they're every bit as good. Maybe even an improvement here or there or nice new piece of walling or two. The environments and lighting are some of the most detailed I've ever seen in a video game. The incredible use of lighting adds to the beauty of the graphics and scares. Did I mention sound?
Are there screw ups? Yes. But compared to 9 out of 10 alien or predator games this one is a masterpiece. The ways in which it falls short, such as slight lacking in creative level progression and flow, slight lacking story, occasional hiccups and bad mechanics could easily be overlooked because most of the time the game is spot on and true to form. For the average person or gamer looking for a few hours of intense fright and wants it from the Alien Universe this game is for the most part, right on and dread in first class form.
Here is how to get the most out of this game while you play it, the equipment in your house can take this game from a 8/10 to a 10/10 depending on your setup and how deep down the rabbit hole you want to go. If you want to **** your pants several times and give yourself a borderline heart attack, these are the minimum requirements:
Now, you can play the game however you want obviously, but certain games lend themselves to certain environmental conditions to maximize the experience and, there is only one way to pay respect to, and play this game as it was intended.
1. Play the game alone, at night, with no one else around and in complete darkness.
2. Play with a full 5.1 - 7.2 decent end surround sound system and AV reciever
3. Play with a minimum 60" TV.
4. Turn the sound up a decent amount so that its loud but not overbearing.
5. Play ONLY on Hard mode
6. Put the Gamma setting exactly at or one notch below where you can barely see it.
Play the game in this manner and I don't care who the hell you are, you will be genuinely afraid, so much so that I would advise anyone with a health or heart condition to NOT play the game in this manner.