Alien: Isolation

If you are not familiar with my re(views), the perspective I typically give is from a technical view (audio, visual, mechanics, options, configurations, adaptiveness and modification) rather than the usual synopsis on story, plot or characters, which I feel is already shared immensely and varied enough in our world and just like any art on our beautiful planet, it will always be experienced and appreciated differently with each human.

○ Audio - Supports up to '8 Channels' and with Full Dynamic output, as well as standard speakers and headphones. The audio experience is truly outstanding and some of the best I've head in any game for some time, with a cleverly adapted OST and plenty of signature film sound-bites (that all made me smile) and background depth that alone creates an environment that is aurally terrifying.

Occasionally a mood change in the audio ambience and soundtrack can be heard when moving from room to room or crouching in an odd corner, as the sound does not always crossfade smoothly, but instead abruptly changes like a bad edit in a film and will happen again the moment you return to the previous room. It's minor, but with so much care and quality to the audio, it is obvious. However, I still can not get enough of the audio and honestly wished more games crafted audio with this much detail and depth \d[]^__^]b/

○ Visual - The spacecraft's interior looks and feels (visual textures) are as believable as it can be with Dynamic Lighting and truly life-like environmental effects.
The physics of loose objects 'overreact' a little walked into and random saw a couple smaller objects hovering mid-air and only fell to the ground when walked into, but did not otherwise affect the game in anyway. If there's one thing I'd change about this brilliant game though, it's the NPC's movements. They all (standard game and even the 'DLC: Crew Expendable') move noticeably false and all give a characterless feeling, breaking the games depth and realism. If wasn't for the excellent voice-over acting, I wouldn't blame anyone for wanting to skip through the cut-scenes, but NPC in-game interaction obviously can't be skipped, which then (in-game) suffers from the occasional off-sync dialogue too.
There is an obvious lack not just good, but working Anti Alias filters and is noticeable at 1080p and above. Most solid objects and backdrops are fine, but anything that is not fixed suffers from bad (games console toy-like) hard edge flickering and breaks the fear factor a little, as it's the type of game where you react to every micro movement on-screen, but if the edge of a box in the distance continuously makes you freeze in a cold sweat and moments later you see that it's just bad Anti Alias, you begin to play a little carefree, typically blaming the games actual background mechanics (built for game console toys).
Currently, no matter what Anti Alias mode you use, it's not visually that noticeable. Hopefully an official update (or SweetFX if you prefer) will soon allow for a more aggressive Anti Alias filter, because for this sort of game really needs it.
For the rest, all the usual visual settings are available to tweak where required and even on my old set-up it never dropped below 75fps with all settings maximised playing at a standard 1080p and at 1600p plays smoothly above 60fps too without a glitch. As my set-up is rather old though, it struggled to stay above 50fps in 2160p, which is not acceptable and I almost feel sorry for games console toy gamers ...almost {}¬__¬}

○ FOV - The default is 47% which is more suitable for VR HMD's (if it ever officially happens), but does and allow up to 75% (and unofficially higher too), but setting it this high does actually feel too open and visually incorrect, so for once the default works best here or around 47-55%.

○ Passive Stereo 3D - Works fine and looks pretty good once tweaked to your preference (Alt F5/F6) even though it's not officially available through Nvidia's 3D Experience configuration panel (yet), but can still be set manually like most games on Windows 8/8.1, especially via an LG (driver unlocked) TV's and practically any decent Passive Stereo 3D projector, which I highly recommend too ()3__D)

○ Key Binding - Fully customisable and accepts multi-buttoned trackball/mouse controllers, Wii Nun-chucks and Logitech's G13 controller too. However, only 'one key' can be bound to each function, so no multi-HiD's options. The only option I'd request to be included for 'Key Binding' is to be able to turn off on-screen prompts in-game, because once you mastered the layout (which is easy enough and thankfully changeable too) you can retain the brilliant minimalist HUD and it's pure in the moment feel with minimal distractions.

○ VR HMD - Oculus Rift DK2 'unofficially' works and is even more scream-out-loud terrifying \()3__D)/

I've questioned Creative Assembly or Sega numerous times on their 'official' Oculus Rift support for home usage at various London gaming shows and publicly on Google+ but nothing, however, do the following to unofficially enable Rift DK2 functionality:

In ENGINE_SETTINGS.XML change to:

<Setting name=”Stereo Mode”>
<Quality name=”Rift” precedence=”4″/>
</Setting>
(<Setting name=”Stereo Mode”>
<Quality name=”Rift” precedence=”4″/>
</Setting>)

In BENCHMARK_TEMPLATE.TXT change to
Stereo Mode=Rift'

Set the Oculus Rift DK2 to Extended mode and Pause Service. In-game re-calibrate orientation using Left and Right Tab keys \[]3__D]/

○ Jonesy - No sign of Jonesy's siblings ...yet?! =^. .^=

-- 2/3 -- An outstanding game crafted with such detail and passion for both audio and visual, with an obvious love and respect of the Alien/s film franchise (mainly the brilliant Creative Assembly correcting some of Sega's past terrible gaming products on the franchise) creating an equal extension to the original Alien (1979) film, mirroring every memorable interior, exterior and character design (DLC: Crew Expendable), yet brilliantly a unique, new, heart thumping and interactive gaming experience all within the Alien world like never ever seen before. Believe it or not, we finally have a game that is equal to the film it's based upon and has survival sci-fi horror written in smeared blood all of it.

I'm still on edge of giving it (my highest) '3/3', as the game itself is near perfection, unfortunately 'only' near mainly because of some minor technical issues, such as; a minor camera sync-glitch when tilting (Ctrl Key), slightly awkward controls (until remapped yourself), minor random abrupt audio changes, rigid NPC movements, NPC Android Ai's are actually better than the NPC human Ai's, off-sync dialogue in-game (with vertical synchronization enabled), slightly over compressed cut-scenes (noticeable block noise, colour noise and pre-rendered at a low resolution), no official Oculus Rift (DK2) support and though the cut-scene contents are engaging enough, they look 'obviously' more suited to match in-game low visual quality for games console toys ...why 'they' still do this I will never understand?! ()¬__¬)

More of my screenshots can be seen on Steam: EviL FazZ's screenshots of Alien: Isolation

...in space ...no one can hear you 'listening' d[]o__O]b