News by Jedediah H.
Aliens: Colonial Marines was an incredibly underdeveloped shooter. Some would even leap so far as to call it an interactive abomination, one which made them consider jumping from the highest piece of furniture to gain enough momentum so that a well-placed elbow drop would forever free their consoles of the parasitic game disc. Aware of these low opinions held by the majority of the gaming community, SEGA seems unrelenting in giving us an experience more akin to the original motion picture with Alien: Isolation.
Of course, one way to help us forget an arguably tragic experience is to buy into our nostalgia, so as a pre-order bonus, SEGA will have the original cast – vocal talent and likeness of the actors – from Alien available as playable characters in two downloadable missions meant to help us relive scenes from the film.
Those who pre-order in the UK will receive an upgrade with the bonus content “Crew Expendable,” which places you in the brave mitts of Ellen Ripley, Dallas, or Parker, as whom you’ll explore the Nostromo, and coordinate efforts to lure the Alien into the ship’s airlock.
And if you happened to be thinking, “Wait, that’s it?”; buyers at select retailers get “Last Survivor,” wherein upon hearing the shrieks of perforated crew members, you as, once again, Ellen Ripley, Dallas, or Parker, attempt not to disgrace your space pants with warm terror as you activate the Nostromo’s self destruct sequence before making a desperate dash to the escape shuttle.
Even with my distaste for day-one exclusive content and DLC, it’s abundantly clear that Alien: Isolation is a totally different xenomorph from the previous instalment, with its focus on concealment rather than muscular fire-power. And although the length and quality of these bonuses won’t be clear until the game’s release on October 7th, they should be critiqued in the same way as its primary story – as a singular experience free of the prior game’s infamy.
-Jedediah H.
Contributor
