This review contains spoilers
There's a lot to like about this game, truthfully. The atmosphere and sound effects are great, the environments are all unique, and the general gameplay loop works well. It's super satisfying to upgrade your marines and watch them grow into a functional squad that gets further and further into some of these unforgiving missions. I always welcome more additions to the Alien franchise, as the first two films are among my favorite of all time.
That being said, there is an enormous list of problems this game has. The story is surface level at best, and frequently drawn out much longer than it needs to be. Some of these cutscenes just drag on and on while characters have the most one-note and predictable dialogue imaginable. Nothing will surprise you. You've seen this story a million times if you've consumed any sci-fi action media. I'm not really looking for anything groundbreaking here, but what we've got is completely dull. No memorable characters, enemies, or story beats. Also, the voice acting is pretty dogshit. Doesn't help that your marines shout the same 3 commands every time you direct them to do something -- it becomes tiresome very quickly.
The real issue, however, is the mountain of glitches and bugs you will encounter. The game refused to save during one mission, crashed during another, and sometimes just stopped allowing me to control my character altogether unless I reloaded a save or restarted the game. This wouldn't be much of an issue if you could manually save at any time, but it's tied to autosaves before story markers or whenever you rest. I lost 15+ minutes of progress FREQUENTLY throughout this game due to bugs, glitches, or completely unfair enemy spawns.
Marines will get caught on geometry. Enemies will clip into walls. I had one of my drones fly up into the ceiling, break, then become unusable for the rest of the mission. Enemies will see you through level geometry whilst you are unable to lock onto them. Character animations are stiff and lifeless. The game is full of typos and the subtitles do not match what the characters are saying. Sometimes the sound will completely cut out for a minute. The list goes on and on.
Be warned. About halfway through the game, a "game over timer" will be introduced. You'll be given twenty or so days to complete the remaining missions the campaign has to offer, or else you'll have to restart the entire game. The game does not bother to tell you how far into the campaign you are, so good luck gauging your time and trying to plan it out. I rested for too many days and had to crunch out the last 8 days of the timer, focusing solely on the primary objectives. I had to skip pretty much all side content that came in the latter half of the game.
The final mission is a complete joke. I won't spoil what happens, but it throws every gameplay mechanic out the window for the most lifeless, sluggish chase sequence I have ever experienced. Just left a completely sour taste in my mouth, especially given how the final area is such an awesome environment. It goes woefully underutilized.
Get the game if it's on sale and you're a massive Alien fan. It scratches that itch well enough, but quickly overstays its welcome.
That being said, there is an enormous list of problems this game has. The story is surface level at best, and frequently drawn out much longer than it needs to be. Some of these cutscenes just drag on and on while characters have the most one-note and predictable dialogue imaginable. Nothing will surprise you. You've seen this story a million times if you've consumed any sci-fi action media. I'm not really looking for anything groundbreaking here, but what we've got is completely dull. No memorable characters, enemies, or story beats. Also, the voice acting is pretty dogshit. Doesn't help that your marines shout the same 3 commands every time you direct them to do something -- it becomes tiresome very quickly.
The real issue, however, is the mountain of glitches and bugs you will encounter. The game refused to save during one mission, crashed during another, and sometimes just stopped allowing me to control my character altogether unless I reloaded a save or restarted the game. This wouldn't be much of an issue if you could manually save at any time, but it's tied to autosaves before story markers or whenever you rest. I lost 15+ minutes of progress FREQUENTLY throughout this game due to bugs, glitches, or completely unfair enemy spawns.
Marines will get caught on geometry. Enemies will clip into walls. I had one of my drones fly up into the ceiling, break, then become unusable for the rest of the mission. Enemies will see you through level geometry whilst you are unable to lock onto them. Character animations are stiff and lifeless. The game is full of typos and the subtitles do not match what the characters are saying. Sometimes the sound will completely cut out for a minute. The list goes on and on.
Be warned. About halfway through the game, a "game over timer" will be introduced. You'll be given twenty or so days to complete the remaining missions the campaign has to offer, or else you'll have to restart the entire game. The game does not bother to tell you how far into the campaign you are, so good luck gauging your time and trying to plan it out. I rested for too many days and had to crunch out the last 8 days of the timer, focusing solely on the primary objectives. I had to skip pretty much all side content that came in the latter half of the game.
The final mission is a complete joke. I won't spoil what happens, but it throws every gameplay mechanic out the window for the most lifeless, sluggish chase sequence I have ever experienced. Just left a completely sour taste in my mouth, especially given how the final area is such an awesome environment. It goes woefully underutilized.
Get the game if it's on sale and you're a massive Alien fan. It scratches that itch well enough, but quickly overstays its welcome.