ALIEN: ISOLATION (Multi)
By: Sega
IN TODAy'S cinemas, no-one can hear you scream. In this fright-free era, horror movies have faded into a laughable mix of teen gore fests, found-footage nonsense and soulless remakes. Compare this to the 1980s, when the shelves of paramilitary-run video shops groaned under the sheer weight of quality fright machines such as Poltergeist, Jaws and, of course, Alien. Parodied to the point of boredom, all hell breaks loose when John Hurt pokes a leathery space egg, forgets his table manners and goes off like a balloon full of offal in Ridley Scott's intergalactic haunted house.
When James Cameron strapped a couple of Uzis on to the franchise, it never looked back, but neck-bearded cinema-types will still tell you the 1979 original is the best of an increasingly crappy bunch, designed upset your mind and guts in equal measure.
Alien was a slow-burning masterclass in the mounting fear of nothing. Half the time we were jumping at hissing pipes and when we finally got to see a gangly bloke in a rubber suit, it was still bowel-troubling because, unlike today, it was an honest-to god thing that, y'know, existed, and not some sleek, computergenerated guff.
Fans have particularly suffered recently with the awful Alien Vs Predator franchise on top of plot-hole-perforated Prometheus and the crippling disappointment of last year's Colonial Marines game, which boasted enemies so dumb, players could trot through whole levels entirely unmolested by aliens.
While Cameron's ballistic ante-upping is the more obvious choice for joystick junkies, the latest is inspired solely by the movie that started it all. Having gestated in the chest of Brit developer Creative Assembly for three years, Isolation is primed to burst forth on all formats in time for Christmas.
Set 15 years after the events of Alien, players star as Ripley's daughter Amanda (who real ale quaffers will tell you is mentioned in the director's cut of Aliens), as she uncovers the truth about her mother on the remote Sevastopol space station. Rather than the shambling alien chorus line from Colonial Marines, Isolation appears to have just one xenomorph on the loose, and it's making its merry way through the station's tasty population. Cue a nerve-shredding game of cat and mouse as Amanda attempts to survive without any weapons to speak of. An unashamed single-player survival horror (a dying breed), there's no tacked on Call of Duty-style blasting to dilute the fear factor.
Stealth is the order of the day, with much hiding in lockers and keeping schtum, as the acid-gobbing menace can hear your clumsy movement in the game's cramped environments. The prowling xenomorph's movement is totally dynamic as it stalks reacting to light, noise and your movement.
The developers have certainly pulled out all the stops for authenticity. Using Fox's original set blueprints and concept art, there's an authentic 1970s sci-fi vibe, right down to analogue video feeds, deliberately recorded on ropey VHS and warped by magnets for a satisfyingly degraded look.
The sound effects are culled from the studio's archive while Jerry Goldsmith's entire original score has been rerecorded by the National Philharmonic Orchestra, some of whom were there first time around.
The developers are keeping tight-lipped about the plot, but Isolation is shaping up to make amends for the woeful Colonial Marines. HR Giger's phallus-bonced brute has never looked better in this warm (face) hug for franchise superfans.