Controversially, I preferred Colonial Marines to Isolation. I know that sounds crazy but for me Colonial Marines was a standard shooter with an Aliens flavour but I really enjoyed the setting. Being in locations from the film was pretty special to me and that sort of fan service stuff really landed well. The game was average otherwise but aren't they all?
Most Alien-related games are just Unreal Tournament + strobe lighting + baby elephants screaming + the motion tracker bleeps. 75% of the work is done for you if you just copy the feel of the films.
Isolation then. I loved the setting, I loved the Alien-esque vibe. What I didn't like was the level design. It was like I was playing Doom. Early on there's a room with three different door types in there. Come on. That's 1990s level design. The map was useless too.
The whole game was just endless back and forth fetching. I remember the last part of the game feeling like an endless fetch quest. Like Bioshock but worse.
My big problem though was the alien itself. So many people like the game because of it and I'll admit, it scared me the first couple of times but after that when you realise he just walks around upright the whole time, it might as well just be a prison guard. Why isn't it on the walls or ceiling? Why isn't it more 'alien' in its movement? To be honest, the androids were scarier.
Also there are times where it goes in and out of different ducts and doors that it makes it feel like a chase scene from a Scooby Doo cartoon. There should have been more ways to track it maybe. But it was just so random. I remember starting a new level after travelling there by lift and the alien was right there around the corner. It felt so disconnected from the game.
If the game gave you a bit more ability to fight back later on, was at least 75% shorter and they sorted the alien out, it'd be really good but for me I couldn't wait for it to be over.
AvP (2010). Eesh. Didn't like that one. The first AvP was okay. But I mainly played the Predator story on that. The Alien bit wasn't as good. Same with AvP 2.
