I am not a fan of survival horror, first person games or stealth-gameplay and I actually flat out refused to play A:I at all when it was released - eventhough I really love the IP and consider ALIEN (1979) as one of my favourite movies of all time. But the premise of being there, personally facing one of cinemas greatest creatures seemed just terrifying and not much else.
In a funny turn of events I got to see ALIENS (1986) on the big screen and on that very same weekend the Humble Store offered A:I for a low-low price and being all hyped from the movie and Sigourney Weavers kickass performance, my curiosity got me registered on the Sevastopol space station.
Let me just say that I am very positively surprised how much I actually enjoyed A:I. Basically, you play hide and seek with the xenomorph, gradually building up an arsenal of tools for distraction and destruction as well as uncovering a lame plot about corporations willing to end hundreds of lifes for profit. Seriously, the plot is just a megamix of every idea the original two movies had and you can sense the plottwists hours before they happen.
Gameplay consists of finding safe and secure areas, checking out waypoints and avoiding any actions that draw attention to your position. A:I demands both patience AND nerves of steel. It is also a game about choices and deadly consequences should you choose poorly. In order to help you make those decisions, Creative Assembly gave you a bunch of tools - like the motion tracker and an excellent map. However, your most important asset for survival are your ears. Up to this point, I haven't played a game that put so much emphasis on its sound as a means of navigation and well, deciding what to do next. The xenomorph makes a lot of distinct noises that allow you to "read" the current situation (like: is it even there, is it currently in the vents, is it busy murdering other people or is it actively hunting you). You may be just running back and forth between checkpoints, restoring power and opening doors - but it sure feels intense. And they managed to do that without artificially crippling your actions - so, no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ to take control out of the players hands and make matters more "EXCITING!" by making them more awkward to handle.
Another reason why A:I works better than other games of this genre that I have tried, is the fact that you know A LOT about your surroundings and most of the imminent dangers in them. In fact, I love the level design for the most part - it strikes the perfect ballance between being linear but allowing you a couple of different tactical options and routes to take. Mind you, there are exceptions to this and later levels have a tendency to introduce choke points where you are forced to encounter hostiles - but the first half was really great. In fact, all levels do a splendid job of conveying that you are being inside the bowels of a massive, man-made, mechanical mega-structure floating in space. All areas feel like real places that had a purpose before they were abandoned (or... shall we say... redecorated by certain creatures) - there are floor markings and signs helping you navigate and further turning Sevastopol into a place that makes sense, becomes believable.
What really sets A:I apart from the competetion (and is ultimately the reason why I got it in the first place) is its license and the way that license was used. A:I is all about atmosphere and looks as well as sounds fantastic - Creative Assembly did a near flawless job of recreating the ALIEN universe aesthetic of retro-futurstic spaceship corridors, computer terminals and heavy machinery. Some of the corridors look so great, you can almost feel the damp air, the heat of fires, and the frizzle of electric sparks on your skin. Now you combine the insane artdirection with the awesome sounddesign and you got your current benchmark for every upcoming science fiction game. All those rumbling sounds, sirens, shutters and alarms - they really make Sevastopol feel alive. As much as people praise (and fear) the xenomorph, for me the real star of the game is the space station itself.
Talking about fear, I actually didn't find the game to be as frightening as everyone makes it out to be. In fact, I was more afraid of those ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Working Joes (because harming them makes either a lot of noise or isn't very healthy, and it gets worse when they start wearing hazmat-suits). I think the game is rather light on jumpscares and shockvalue - if you pay attention and move cautiously. This might be different on harder difficulties - but then again, it "just" insta-kills you even more - so, what is there to be afraid of? And this doesn't mean this game isn't exciting or intense - it is the thrill of getting caught instead of being paralyzed with fear.
Finally, there are a bunch of issues I have with the game that need to be mentioned as well.
First of all: the anti-aliasing in A:I sucks. I am talking PS2-era jaggies here - not cool. Also, the lighting did wonders on the levels - but did not really work too well on the Alien itself, it looks kinda flat - even though the model seems to be pretty detailed - you just never see much of that quality.
Occasionally I had a bunch of clipping issues - the worst was when the alien suddenly clipped into me while I was hiding under a desk, making the ai go berserk and immediatly kill me. There were a bunch of other weird occurences, mostly when Androids were around - if they spotted me and the Alien was around, the xeno would never calm down and suddenly know exactly where I was, almost like androids and alien shared the same info. What made matters worse was that I wanted to open a vent security door (from inside the vent) and all enemies "knew" exactly where I was (even though that was impossible) - they just couldn't get to me because of that security door, but once it was open the alien took a dive straight into the vent, three times in a row. In the end I snuck through the "harder part" of that area without encountering either Alien or Android. Weird and annoying.
At times the controls are a bit finnicky, running (with the Alien in hot pursuit) into an elevator, I died because despite the control buttons being in the center of my screen, the button prompt didn't show up because I wasn't properly looking at them - same goes for some vents, standing exactly in front of them won't do - you gotta look at 'em right.
Needless to say, A:I is a game with tons of potential for frustration as you will be playing a couple of areas a few times before you figure out how to best tackle them. Wether or not you will enjoy it depends mostly on your admiration for the Alien-IP. It is definitely a good game and is quite a departure from the stuff I usually play - and seeing how I am quite happy that I actually did play (and finish) it, says a lot about its quality. It's a unique experience and does wonders with the license - reason enough for me to recommend it, even to all those people that normally would not touch a game like this.
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