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**It should be noted that despite my best efforts, I could not think of an effective Alien pun to use for the title of this post.**
By now, i'm sure you are aware that yet another studio is taking a stab at creating a game based off of the famed Alien franchise. The Creative Assembly, the team responsible for the Total War franchise has been hard at work developing 'Alien: Isolation' for several years now and their approach is different to say the least. After last year's horrendous 'Aliens: Colonial Marines' and several other underwhelming adaptations in the past decade, I wouldn't blame anyone for wanting to cover their ears and pretend this isn't happening. As a fan with some 'controversial' opinions regarding the high-point of the film franchise (...cough...Alien 3...cough...), I am at least intrigued to see what 'The Creative Assembly' pulls off here.
If you ask me, I've been weary of Sega's ability or willingness to do the franchise justice for a long time. In fact, the series would have probably had a much more successful history if it found a home with another publisher. Nothing has come close to capturing the magic that was born from Ridley Scott's original masterpiece. But why would a game developer bother when James Cameron swooped in and gave us Aliens, a high-octane shoot-em-up that was begging to be made into a video game? Was the film entertaining? Sure it was. But 'The Creative Assembly' seem to recognize that the franchise, across all types of media (from Books to films to video games), has been fractured between two very different genres. In my opinion, the action-packed Aliens (plural) films serve as the mainstream success while the Alien (singular) films are the heart of the franchise; containing the bulk of the atmosphere, terror, and personality that made the film iconic in the first place.
The Alien game that I have always wanted is finially coming but under the flag of an inconsistent publisher and a talented developer with no experience with the genre. The insistence on connecting the plot back to Ripley could be to the game's detriment or it could become an exciting extension of the film cannon but only time will tell. With that said, the idea of being stalked by a single alien through a derlict space station is too good for me to pass up. I wish my optimism could outwiegh my cautiousness but i've been burned so many times with this franchise. Let's hope that 'The Creative Assembly' can turn the tides of this troubled property and give it back some legitimacy within the gaming community... just don't let Gearbox near it.
Look for Alien Isolation on this week's upcoming episode of Trailer Talk.
Comments
10 years, 10 months ago
Great article Nick. I share your cautious but optimistic view about this one. Its great that they are finally bringing the best part of the Alien franchise into videogame form but Creative's lack of experience in the genre is keeping me grounded.
It is a bit weird that they chose to bring Ripley's daughter into this one, but as long as she doesn't get superpowers I'm willing to play ball.
Also I don't blame you on the puns...Can Creative Assembly Alienate Themselves from the Tarnished Franchise? Okay I tried
10 years, 10 months ago
Nice article Nick, it's good to see you writing for the site more frequently, I can't say much on the trailer either as only snippets of gameplay is being shown, but I'm hoping it's good. Should be a fun broadcast if it turns out to be a decent horror game.
10 years, 10 months ago
This has the potential to be amazing. I remember writing this: http://4playernetwork.com/blog/2013/03/the-alien-game-i-want-to-play/ a while ago, I'm still pining for a proper 'survival horror' Alien game to wash the taste of Colonial Marines from my mouth.
10 years, 10 months ago
Yes please! More survival horror, less gun blazing. As much as I love Aliens, the marines' role in that movie was to die horrible deaths to demonstrate mankind's hubris and inefficiency toward the alien threat. The xenomorphs aren't target practice.
Then again, I wouldn't hold my breath. We were burned too many times with the Alien franchise, Creative Assembly has been dumbing down the Total War series with each new release and making it more "arcady" (without talking about Rome 2 buggy as hell release) and when they depart from strategy gaming, they haven't yet dipped their toes into horror.
If they can pull it off, I would be one happy panda. If not, please let the franchise die from its agony instead of keeping defibrillating it.
10 years, 10 months ago
Lets have a community night were we all watch Resurrection, the best of the alien movies. Also really good article Nick I am kind of looking forward to this if only to watch if this turns Carlos into super indie bro.
10 years, 10 months ago
I'd just be happy to have a AAA survival-horror that's, you know, actually survival-horror.
10 years, 10 months ago
Since Alien is one of my favorite movies of all time, you can imagine how excited I am for this. Sure, I am also a bit worried about it, but I have high hopes for this and pray that it really delivers with the survival horror.
10 years, 10 months ago
Honestly even though I am not a huge fan of the alien series the idea of a survival horror game set in an abandoned ship with a clock tower like enemy stalking you the entire game sounds intriguing. This may be the first Alien game I buy at launch\full price.
10 years, 10 months ago
Why is it tarnished? Did everyone forget the good games. Two great AvP games, Resurrection on PS1, Extinction and so on.
10 years, 10 months ago
I think we had best approach any and all Alien(s) games with a healthy dose of skepticism, given the recent history of the franchise.