This week (January 7th) it was revealed that there would be a new game based off of the Alien franchise. Alien: Isolation is going to be the game that Alien fans have been asking for, it has been said, and we’d love to believe the hype.
However, with so many failed attempts at successfully creating a game using the ample amount of material that the likes of James Cameron and Ridley Scott have provided, we’re still cautious about whether or not this one will turn out to be a dud, too.
With that being said, we’ve got a few ideas that we believe should be implemented into every Alien game worth its grain of salt, and what could effectively make Alien: Isolation the killer title we’ve been wanting ever since we laid eyes on our first Facehugger.
Here’s the key ingredients that we think would make Alien: Isolation a great game.
How to Make a Good Alien Game
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More Aliens doesn't mean a better game.
Now, I'm more of a fan of Ridley Scott's Alien than James Cameron's sequel, but even those who prefer Aliens would likely admit that they'd prefer a videogame that didn't simply throw a ton of Xenomorphs at them until they ran out of bullets.
Alien: Isolation is described as featuring a solitary Alien on the hunt for protagonist Amanda, and that will hopefully remain the case throughout the game, because although a horde of Aliens is certainly more of a physical threat that a lonely one, it's certainly less terrifying.
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Utilize the motion tracker.
The M314 Motion Tracker is intended to make humans aware of the Xenomorphs presence, but really it does little more than completely terrify them. The Aliens vs. Predator game certainly had its problems, but using these things in the game's multiplayer mode made for a tense experience, as Aliens crawled above your head to the sound of the trackers' frantic beeping.
While it likely won't be available to the player at all times during Alien: Isolation (how will jump scares work if you know they're coming?) it should still be an integral part of the game. For my money, nothing could be more horrifying than shuffling through a cramped corridor surrounded by ventilation shafts, while that beeping echoes in the background.
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Don't sacrifice the scares for multiplayer gameplay.
When Alien: Isolation was first listed, it was slated as having online multiplayer coop. Now if that's the case, we've yet to see it in action, so perhaps it'll work wonderfully within the context of the game. However, if it's really as isolated as its title suggests, then won't grouping up with your friends detract from that?
I hope that Alien: Isolation's multiplayer co-op mode, if it has one, will be separate from the main game, because survival horror isn't really the same if your holding your mates' hand as you walk down those darkened corridors.
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Choose horror over action.
The Alien series featured a lot of action, but it's always provided the scares to boot. Unfortunately, the only thing frightening about Aliens: Colonial Marines was the terrible enemy AI, so hopefully this is rectified in Alien: Isolation.
It's being billed as a survival horror game, but we haven't really seen a true blue game in that genre for quite some time on consoles, so it'll be interesting to see if the game doesn't devolve into an FPS at some point during its runtime. Hopefully we don't see Amanda going all GI Jane with a flamethrower at any point in its runtime.
