This game is brilliant. I hate it. (Alien Isolation)

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Joose
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This game is brilliant. I hate it. (Alien Isolation)

Post by Joose »

I played a bunch of Alien Isolation over the weekend and had a revelation. Its probably the best Alien game ever made. It absolutely nails the feeling of the first film. The environments are amazing and the AI for the Alien is a work of art (hey, I just noticed, Alien Isolation = AI. Is that intentional?) and you never ever feel safe or powerful, just like survival horror should be. I can appreciate that the game is about as good as it can possibly be without involving real life holodecks or something. I just dont enjoy it, at all.

The game puts me in a permanent fight or flight state. Well, not permanent. Its occasionally interrupted by the Alien eating my face. The trouble is I don't find the former remotely enjoyable and the latter doesn't make me go "AHH! I AM SCARED!" it makes me go "Oh for fucks sake, now I have to do all that slow creeping around *again*. Most horror games leave me feeling exhilarated, like a particularly good rollercoaster. I finish every session of AI pissed off.

Despite that, I can totally see why the game is getting such a good critical reception and why other people love it. I just dont. At all.

Of course, Im probably still going to play to completion just so I know how the story goes. I wont be enjoying myself though.

Any of you guys ever played a game and thought "Well, I can see why everyone thinks this is gaming heaven, but fuck all this shit"?
Last edited by HereComesPete on November 3rd, 2014, 20:33, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Editz to make it easier to know what game is brilliant and Joose hates it.
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Re: This game is brilliant. I hate it.

Post by Dog Pants »

I feel that way about pretty much every horror game I've ever played. I really want to like them but I just find the danger aspect distracting. I played Among the Sleep recently though, and most of the 'horror' was from the surreal environments and creepy atmosphere. There wasn't actually much danger, and I liked that. Maybe it's the years of playing all powerful manly men in shooters, but I just feel restricted in my exploration if there's an unstoppable monster threatening me.
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Re: This game is brilliant. I hate it.

Post by Dr. kitteny berk »

I'm not that bothered by horror games, I enjoyed immersing myself in amnesia as much as possible.

I do have the "I see this is good, but I just don't enjoy it" around bethesda's massive huge world games (TeS everything, and Fallouts), can't quite place why, I enjoy them from installing them, until I stop playing, then never go back.
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Re: This game is brilliant. I hate it.

Post by Mr. Johnson »

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:bethesda's massive huge world games (TeS everything, and Fallouts), can't quite place why, I enjoy them from installing them, until I stop playing, then never go back.
I have that too, I think it's because I have *too* many options and don't know what to do first so it feels like I have to do too many things. It starts too feel too much like hard work.

And I spoke out against the Saint's Row games before but SR IV proves that maybe I'm somewhat right in my dislike. Whilst the superpowers you get make it easier to navigate and more fun, the map is the exact same map from SR III, and it doesn't even have updated graphics, just a few more hats and clothes thrown in. And then there's all the pointless upgrade collecting the game makes you do which is clearly just added as a way to make the game longer. But they still praised this game through the roof...
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Re: This game is brilliant. I hate it.

Post by Dr. kitteny berk »

SR4 was originally meant to be a DLC for SR3, so that's why not a huge amount has changed.
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Re: This game is brilliant. I hate it.

Post by Dog Pants »

Mr. Johnson wrote:
Dr. kitteny berk wrote:bethesda's massive huge world games (TeS everything, and Fallouts), can't quite place why, I enjoy them from installing them, until I stop playing, then never go back.
I have that too, I think it's because I have *too* many options and don't know what to do first so it feels like I have to do too many things. It starts too feel too much like hard work.

And I spoke out against the Saint's Row games before but SR IV proves that maybe I'm somewhat right in my dislike. Whilst the superpowers you get make it easier to navigate and more fun, the map is the exact same map from SR III, and it doesn't even have updated graphics, just a few more hats and clothes thrown in. And then there's all the pointless upgrade collecting the game makes you do which is clearly just added as a way to make the game longer. But they still praised this game through the roof...
Agreed. I enjoyed pissing about in SR3 more than I did in either of the Elder Scrolls I've played, but ultimately I got kind of bored with getting lost all the time and doing nothing in particular. Not so bored I didn't want to play it any more, just enough so that other things took my attention away. Oddly enough, in most GTA games it's been because I hit a hard mission with long gaps between save points which I couldn't be arsed repeating again. I think it's travelling that gets me in TeS, and going into the same dungeon again and again. And the bad guys never being any easier or harder, so I never feel a sense of progression. And being a hugely powerful person in a supposedly living world, but not really being able to affect anything. There's a lot I suppose.
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Re: This game is brilliant. I hate it.

Post by Joose »

Dog Pants wrote:And being a hugely powerful person in a supposedly living world, but not really being able to affect anything. There's a lot I suppose.
Thats my biggest issue with Skyrim etc. I can be the leader of every guild, have killed gods and demons and be decked out in the most pimp of armour but the guards still treat me like some kind of nobody.
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Re: This game is brilliant. I hate it.

Post by HereComesPete »

Joose wrote:
Dog Pants wrote:And being a hugely powerful person in a supposedly living world, but not really being able to affect anything. There's a lot I suppose.
Thats my biggest issue with Skyrim etc. I can be the leader of every guild, have killed gods and demons and be decked out in the most pimp of armour but the guards still treat me like some kind of nobody.
Ridiculous really isn't it, they can get the same dude to tell you about his knee meets arrow problems and get all huffy if you accidentally shout the pants off them but they can't get them to talk about how spiffy you look or how nails you are after stabbing the living fuck out of everything. Seems like a few more bits of teh codez would have made you feel so much more awesome. Likely there's some mod for it somewhere.
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Re: This game is brilliant. I hate it.

Post by shot2bits »

HereComesPete wrote:
Joose wrote:
Dog Pants wrote:And being a hugely powerful person in a supposedly living world, but not really being able to affect anything. There's a lot I suppose.
Thats my biggest issue with Skyrim etc. I can be the leader of every guild, have killed gods and demons and be decked out in the most pimp of armour but the guards still treat me like some kind of nobody.
Ridiculous really isn't it, they can get the same dude to tell you about his knee meets arrow problems and get all huffy if you accidentally shout the pants off them but they can't get them to talk about how spiffy you look or how nails you are after stabbing the living fuck out of everything. Seems like a few more bits of teh codez would have made you feel so much more awesome. Likely there's some mod for it somewhere.
I'm sure Skyrim and Oblivion did do that didn't it? iirc it was just a bit wonky like everything else in the TES games
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Re: This game is brilliant. I hate it.

Post by Mr. Johnson »

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:SR4 was originally meant to be a DLC for SR3, so that's why not a huge amount has changed.
Good thing I only payed a tenner for it then. I do feel a bit sorry for all the people who bought it full price though.
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Re: This game is brilliant. I hate it. (Alien Isolation)

Post by Dr. kitteny berk »

I don't understand why you'd do that with a game like saints row, they're very much a silly novelty, rather than a full price game, imo.
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Re: This game is brilliant. I hate it. (Alien Isolation)

Post by Joose »

I was pondering my problem with Alien Isolation whilst in my thinking place (having a poo) and I think I know what the problem is. Its too bloody hard.

The first time I am going through a section, hiding from the alien, performing whatever button press sequence the story is demanding of me, its quite scary. Then I die. Then I do it again, and this second time it is slightly less scary. Then I die. Then I do it again. By the 12th iteration of press the button, pick up the keycard, listen to the man talking, go through the door, get eaten by the alien, it is no longer scary, its just fucking annoying.

Perversely, I think if they had made the Alien slightly easier to avoid the game would have actually been a lot more scary over all.
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Re: This game is brilliant. I hate it. (Alien Isolation)

Post by FatherJack »

Joose wrote:I was pondering my problem with Alien Isolation whilst in my thinking place (having a poo) and I think I know what the problem is. Its too bloody hard.

The first time I am going through a section, hiding from the alien, performing whatever button press sequence the story is demanding of me, its quite scary. Then I die. Then I do it again, and this second time it is slightly less scary. Then I die. Then I do it again. By the 12th iteration of press the button, pick up the keycard, listen to the man talking, go through the door, get eaten by the alien, it is no longer scary, its just fucking annoying.

Perversely, I think if they had made the Alien slightly easier to avoid the game would have actually been a lot more scary over all.
Having seen some footage of people playing it, I agree totally. I fucking love that it exists and is so evocative of the best of the films, but I actually wouldn't really want to own it.

That's because while the first film might be the best in terms of tension and drama, that doesn't translate to the best game. For that the balls-out spectacle of the second film is required - a desparate first-person tower defense game with turrets running out of ammo/being knocked over, but some decent firepower in your team (who are the unlucky ones who have to fix them) instead of utter powerlessness.
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Re: This game is brilliant. I hate it. (Alien Isolation)

Post by Anery »

I don't have Alien Isolation, but I do have a code for the Corporate Lockdown expansion - who wants it?
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Re: This game is brilliant. I hate it. (Alien Isolation)

Post by Dog Pants »

I'd say yes, but I'm barely over an hour into the game and haven't seen the alien yet, three weeks after buying it. So there's probably someone out there who would appreciate it more than me.
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Re: This game is brilliant. I hate it. (Alien Isolation)

Post by Dr. kitteny berk »

Dog Pants wrote:I'd say yes, but I'm barely over an hour into the game and haven't seen the alien yet.
You're either doing well, or haven't got very far.

I've been playing this a bit, but I don't really want to, they seem to have got the right balance between really playable*, and utterly unpleasant to play.

*This is where amnesia failed a bit, they did some interesting stuff like scrollwheel to open doors carefully, but it was different enough to be harmful to immersion.
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Re: This game is brilliant. I hate it. (Alien Isolation)

Post by Dr. kitteny berk »

I've never actually found myself stressed by a fucking lockpicking minigame before.

"beep beep beep" what the fuck is it? "bip bip bip bip" ARGH. "bipbipbipbipbip"
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Re: This game is brilliant. I hate it. (Alien Isolation)

Post by buzzmong »

It occurs to me that after reading this thread and having seen many similar views, could it be perhaps that people are looking at Alien Isolation in the wrong way? Perhaps it's less of a game, but more of an experience.

Games are art after all.
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Re: This game is brilliant. I hate it. (Alien Isolation)

Post by Dog Pants »

I treat all immersive games as experiences. I don't like it when the gaming gets in the way. That's why I haven't completed Mass Effect 3 yet.
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Re: This game is brilliant. I hate it. (Alien Isolation)

Post by Dr. kitteny berk »

That's the thing, it is really, really, fucking good at being an immersive action horror game, but it's good enough at that to be not a pleasant experience.

Ultimately, no-matter what you call it, it's just a bit like choosing to be emotionally abused by your computer, it's certainly an interactive experience, but it's not actually a nice one.
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