It’s hard to understate just how much of a breath of fresh air Alien: Isolation was
when it originally released in 2014. Following the disastrous Aliens: Colonial Marines, there
were no expectations for it and most wrote it off. Yet Creative Assembly blew all expectations
out of the water and created an homage and follow-up to the original Alien movie that
stood on its own and became something great. Everything felt right, but the question is,
does it still hold up five years later now that it has been ported to the Nintendo Switch
by Feral Interactive?
Alien: Isolation focuses on the daughter of Ellen Ripley, Amanda, who has become an engineer
in the fifteen years since the original movie. Still hoping to discover what exactly happened
to her mother, Amanda jumps at the chance to join the Weyland-Yutani company on a journey
to the Sevastopol space station and recover the recently found flight recorder of the
Nostromo. But upon arriving at the station, Amanda finds herself cut off from the rest
of the crew and stranded. Now she must survive the crazed residents, androids who kill on
sight, and an alien that has somehow made its way onto the station.
The story feels right at home in the Alien universe and serves as a great bridge between
the first and second movies. None of the characters are particularly memorable, but it’s the
mystery of the Sevastopol that kept me invested. We know that the Xenomorph is causing havoc,
but why are the androids attacking people? How did this all happen? Make no mistake though,
this is a horror game through and through, and it’s more about survival than combat.
Guns and other weapons are available, but they really are a last resort as they’re
not always effective. The androids can take loads of damage before going down and the
Xenomorph itself cannot be killed, only driven away.
Much more important is the crafting which allows Amanda to gather supplies to create
Medkits, smoke bombs, noise makers, and other tools that either help hide her presence or
send enemies in another direction. You rarely feel powerful, and it only takes a few hits
before you’re dead. It’s all about sneaking, recognizing the environment, and knowing when
to move and when to hide. The Xenomorph is absolutely relentless when it appears and
still feels smart all these years later. It will track you from room to room, go into
vents to throw off your vision, and attack from nearly every angle. Sure, there’s the
motion tracker to help keep tabs on it, but use it too much and it’ll hear you. It’s
all about finding a balance between what you know and don’t know before proceeding.
It’s thrilling and terrifying when it works. Just barely staying out of harm’s way or
cutting it close to get past the Xenomorph or an android still gets my heart pumping.
Knowing that an enemy is nearby, and purposefully having to wait for a door-opening animation
to finish or even the save countdown to complete are some of the most tense moments in the
game. But there is a point when it gets more annoying than thrilling if you find yourself
stuck. The alien starts to feel unfair and designed to cheaply hassle you rather than
act like the hyper-violent beast it is. It doesn’t help that checkpoints aren’t a
thing. If you die, you’re back to the last save and have to do everything again.
That said, there are only a few moments when I felt truly aggravated at these mechanics.
Otherwise, I love how every puzzle or roadblock that needs passed left me feeling completely
vulnerable. In fact, this vulnerability feels enhanced on the Switch due to the subtle use
of HD Rumble, especially in regards to the motion tracker where each blip causes a small
shake in the controller but gets more intense when something’s close. Gyro Controls have
also been added when aiming which does help conserve ammo with more accurate shots. It’s
not something I got a lot of use from, but I was happy that it was there.
The Switch port also features all the DLC from the original release which takes the
form of extra challenges for more bite-sized thrills. Crew Expendable takes place during
the original movie and has the player control one of the members of the Nostomo as they
shut down all the vents and attempt to jettison the alien into space. There are only limited
resources, but it really did feel like a haunted house where the killer was just waiting to
take you down. The same could be said of Last Survivor which puts players in control of
Ripley during the final moments of the original movie. She has to reach the Nostromo’s self-destruct
and then escape the ship, all while avoiding the alien. While certainly fun to experience
for fans of the movie, there’s little reason to replay these after completing them once.
The Survivor Mode challenges are a bit more meaty though with multiple scenarios, characters,
and missions to complete that are all timed and scored to post on leaderboards. They are
absolutely tough and certainly worth playing if the main game left you wanting more. But
I find the story to be the most compelling part of the package, and it is quite a beefy
game, lasting at least 15 hours.
Otherwise, the game runs extremely well on the Nintendo Switch. It looks just as good
as its original release, which isn’t too surprising considering it also came out on
PS3 and Xbox 360. But it actually seems closer to the PS4 version as we saw with our recent
comparison. The environments are still gorgeous to this day as they capture that 80s future
look that was so emblematic of the first movie. It feels lived-in and grungy and right at
home in this universe. However, the human models are starting to show their age as they’re
often stiff and unexpressive. I did notice a few visual hitches at times, but nothing
that was distracting. The game maintained a solid frame rate throughout with rarely
a hint of slowdown and even managed to still make me feel anxious when I played in handheld
mode.
Feral Interactive has done an impressive job bringing Alien: Isolation to the Switch. The
core game is still as fun as ever for fans of the movie or those who just want a great
horror game. While there hasn’t been many enhancements for the port outside of gyro
controls and HD rumble, I think the game is absolutely worth picking up, especially if
you’ve never played it before. I like it a lot and feel that Alien: Isolation maintains
a level of fear that even few modern horror games can match. Thanks for watching and be
sure to subscribe to GameXplain for more on the Switch, and other things gaming.