Recent reviews by Angelo

Don't buy, at least not for some months. Bethesda's recent release has broken the game. Wait for the game to go on sale or pirate, do not buy the anniversary edition.

Bad game just based on what Gearbox did. In fact it was so bad that it destroyed the indie developer that Gearbox paid to make the co-op campaign. Deceptive gameplay ads that were almost all not in the game, forcing Gearbox to add a disclaimer to all of them - after the game was released of course. Extremely bad ai partners and enemies at release, "exclusive" pre order bonus' that would later be sold as DLC. Comes with a terrible campaign story and a side character that you desperately wish you could kill. The multiplayer (that was the only thing Gearbox put work into), weapon choices and mod system are about the only good things this game has to offer.

Wait until there is a very large discount before buying.

The game will not run for me any longer. Either since I switched to a laptop or windows 11. I have run the game through compatibility mode, it does not work. I have seen posts directing me to nexus mods but I should not have to do that. The game should function on the spot without additional effort, on my part, to fix it.

EDIT 6/12/23: Just get the game from GOG.com, they seem to actually test their games before they sell it. I also bought a copy from there, I have had 1 crash so far but the game works.

This is a GREAT game. It is being sold in a broken state, you are unable to complete it without using various fixes by the community. I have beaten this many times when it came out, awesome single player. Variety of weapons and enemies. A few vehicle sections. I believe this to be the very first game to have truly destructible environments.

Should you buy this game and try playing it, DO NOT ALT-TAB. If you attempt to alt-tab the game will freeze so badly that the only way to close it is to control-alt-delete and sign out, or you have to hit your power switch.

Just buy this on the playstation network, if you own a playstation, the game actually works there.

Avoid like the plague if you are looking for a traditional military shooter. Pros: good graphics, good sound design, good voice acting, aesthetic environments that are completely based off the original film, decent story (with exception to some of the choices made by npcs), memorable characters, very scary when immersed, a very stable game build that rarely glitches. Cons: Guns, back-tracking, crafting interface, certain alien npc behaviors, difficulty curve. This game has a very specific set of rules for players and if you do not follow them strictly, you are going to die A LOT.

I am not going to say anything about the plot on here, other than that it is fairly good and makes sense. The developers based everything about the game from the original film, environments, clothing, and technology. Don't expect to see an alien queen because there never was one in the original and eggs are produced based off of a scene never aired in theaters (personally I do not like it). There is no way to kill the alien through player controlled actions (other than facehuggers which you see very few of). The alien is a boss that you can not kill and allowing it to touch you will kill you instantly. You may only scare away the alien through use of a flamethrower, molotov cocktails, and pipebombs. Depending on the difficulty the alien will return to hunting you from as little as 5 seconds to 15 seconds, I do not like this.

On higher difficulties it will take an increasing amount of flamethrower fuel to scare it away. On hard I have had to use up 25% of my total fuel capacity to run it off, only for it to come right back up in under 10 seconds. This is infuriating when you only have a limited amount of time to hack a terminal or use a welder to cut open a door. If the alien comes back that quickly when you are trying to do those, you are absolutely dead with no exceptions. It also is infuriating because on average you will find maybe 1/8th of your total fuel capacity PER MISSION. There are missions that REQUIRE fuel, as molotovs and pipe bombs instantly kill you if you use them too close. There is an ability to return to the previous save you made before the last one but god help you if you enter a new map without fuel because you can not go back to that previous level before you left it. The worst problem for me was a facehugger the game would spawn right in front of me as soon as I open the door. I had no fuel so I was left with only a pipebomb or molotov and the enemy was too close to use it without killing myself. I have had to restart the game completely because of that, which is why it is no longer on my list of installed games.

The single issue I have with the story is the most often cliche used in films. A monster is picking ppl off 1 by one, and instead of banning together, everyone just goes their separate ways, forming groups that try to steal supplies and kill each other on sight. This game has guns in it, guns in an Alien game like thione is a VERY immersion breaking. I know the guns were played to give some variety to play BUT THEY ALSO MADE THE ALIEN BULLETPROOF. You can not harm the alien with firearms, in fact - using guns around the alien just makes it immediately show up and you will instantly die after it runs straight to you on autopilot.

There are blueprints found throughout the game that make craftable throwable weapons. You can only carry up to 3 of each of these weapons, you only get 2 that can make the alien run off (pipe bombs are one of them and again the alien is not injured from a BOMB going off right next to it). The interface used for crafting is pretty terrible IMO.

Infuriating alien behaviors. All have to deal with scaring it away, if you try to scare it away when it is close to you, you are still dead. On occasion, before it runs away, it will run straight at you, takes a swipe at you (dealing a good bit of damage to you) and then just turn right around and jump into the ceiling where it originally came from, even if it was closer to its origin than me. On higher difficulties you have to shoot off multiple puffs (and it has to be puffs due to the amount of fuel it consumes, regardless of difficulty) from the flamethrower to tell it to GTFO. On hard it was not uncommon for me to hit the thing with a puff, it just stands there and growls at me (waiting for me to run away I guess), and I have to repeat that several times before it goes the ♥♥♥♥ away.

The back-tracking is a real problem, each area has portions that you can not access without upgraded equipment, and you will have to visit areas several times. This leads to very low replayability, you've already been through that hellish spot so many times, why would you want to go back there during another playthrough?

I do suggest getting the game if you loved the films and enjoy survivor horror. I'm not so hot on survivor horror, to me the game was just a constant run-away and hide simulator. This game can be terrifyingly good but sometimes to me it was terrifyingly annoying. Sometimes you must rely on RNG to beat a map, just hoping that the alien stays away long enough to finish a hack or weld something.

Get Alien Isolation, but only when it goes on sale and only if you like this type of game A LOT - as you'll probably not want to do the campaign more than once since there is no major difference between difficulties other than difficulty.

Basicly 2033 on steroids. New weapons (along with the old ones), new story, very few new mechanics, a few new enemies, and the addition of a few boss fights. If you liked 2033, you'll like this.

As in the first game, the sounds and graphics are VERY good (at least to me). Although the true open map feel of the original is gone, the game was still enjoyable to me. Enjoyable enough for me to beat it on all difficulties. Although, for me it was incredibly hard to beat the hardest by being anything other than as stealthy as possible. The standard suit from the original is gone, this suit in 2 comes with upgrade-able abilities that have a wide range of play altering effects. The effects can be like absorbing more damage in armor mode than normal or staying in stealth longer while walking quieter. Weapons come in a wide variety of modable firearms and some energy weapons (mostly aliens ones), along with some varying explosive types. There is melee combat (although it is suicidal 99% of the time) and stealthkills. You will battle a wide range of enemies, ranging from most infantry types to large vehicles, including flying ones. Most enemies are in "squads" that do react well when their members are killed in front of them, with exception to a few times when they would just be picked off 1 by 1 as they ran out to help a member as I sniped them. These aliens are not the same kinds as the ones in the original, there is an explanation for this but I find it insufficient - the change is very drastic. The plot was enjoyable for me except a part the last 4 words of dialogue that most people don't seem to care about and not something I will spoil here. You do have to use Origin to play, EA's inferior platform to Valve's Steam.

Graphically the game looks good IMO and I have had zero crashes while playing it. The bullet shops from the earlier games are gone, replaced with a crafting system. I don't like the crafting too much, there are games that do it better. You do not buy weapons now, instead you find new weapons and their attachments from enemies. This makes sense, as there is no bullet economy outside the metro. It feels weird though, looting enemies and turning all of their gear into 2 different resources magically. There are new weapons given and some weapons from previous games removed.

The voice acting is fairly good and past characters have retained the same actors. Although Anna's sassy personality has been replaced by a homey-wife ><. She has been completely changed.
Forever-gone are the tunnels of the metro, the game takes place in open terrain. Being outside really takes away from the apprehensive/fearful environments from the previous games. There are some claustrophobic
areas but they do not last very long.
Enemies are pretty much the same as past ai, nothing new with the exception of different clothes and factions.

The problem for me is the plot at the start. I won't spoil it for anyone so I think that the reason for leaving the metro is among one of the dumbest writings I have ever seen. It devalues the previous games in terms of story. Do you Remember all of those tough choices and all the work you did to save D6? The game MUST have a sequel to make any of that matter, and the ending leaves me thinking it might not happen.

Buy the game when it is on discount.

A very good strategy game but with with a few very annoying mechanics. Just don't criticize the game on forums, you'll be mobbed by fanboys.

This is a great multiplayer horde-mode type of game. Good variety of player classes, good variety of enemy types. Many maps, custom maps work just fine. Player classes can level up a great many times, experience earned from killing enemies and completing random objectives that change on a daily basis. Can also earn free loot boxes that net you some skins that can not be earned in any other way, not even with real cash. Very few toxic players. Much content has been added that is free, a majority in fact. There is nothing that can be bought that gives an advantage over other players. There is a PVP mode but I have not played it.

UPDATE 4/9/2023: Game management was sold off to another company at some point. Numerous useless weapons have been put up for sale as DLC, as well as even more skins. The ability to play solo has been removed, this angers me greatly. It makes no sense, there is no reason for it.