Oh, dear, it seems that our dear friends at SEGA are at it again with the Alien franchise. This time, instead of making a grossly inadequate "sequel" to an all time classic...they're making a grossly inadequate "sequel" to an all time classic. This time, instead of Aliens, they're going right back to Alien...with a plot line that is slightly less of gigantic plothole creator. Apparently developed by British studio The Creative Assembly (with nary a Gearbox in sight, and my opinion improves immensely) since some time in 2011, where Sega West boss Mike Hayes was quoted as saying: "This is very much a triple-A project. We want this to be a peer with the likes of Dead Space 2."
So...over the top gory whilst taking itself way too seriously? Doesn't sound like Alien at all.
This time, instead of breaking canon in a way that makes fans of the films throw their controllers through their televisions in blind rage, we're getting a protagonist in the form of Amanda Ripley, the daughter of Ellen Ripley who passed away in the fifty seven years between Alien and Aliens. This in theory can work, given that Wayland-Yutani is known for fabricating or outright suppressing the truth when it suits their needs, and they really wouldn't have had anything to gain from informing her mother of any of her exploits or - if it comes to it - her ultimate fate. So point there. From a storyline perspective, this could work.
Work far better than - say - the surface of a planet that should by all rights be uninhabitable being the setting, a not only improbable but completely impossible return of a character from the end of Aliens that only gets a throwaway line that actually doesn't explain anything, and a crappy cliffhanger that really drives home just how much time we wasted on the steaming pile of crap.
Where I have a problem is in concept. Apparently, there's only one of the Xenomorphs running around for most of the game. This make sense, much like the original Alien, where there was only one such creature running about the Nostromo. Being within the confined space with such a creature only added to the tension, which Alien played with very well. Now, this could theoretically work for this game...
...except it's an FPS.
...and the developers have dropped the words "clones and soldiers".
If you remember, one of my criticisms for the game that must not be named was that SEGA and Gearbox decided to juxtapose fighting the titular Alien menace...with Wayland-Yutani soldiers that really didn't have much of a place in a Survival Horror game. Then again, there really was nothing horrific about that game besides the fact that it was so much as greenlit, so nevermind that.
I just really hope that this game doesn't turn into Colonial Marines 2: Electric Boogaloo, because after that abysmal mess of a game, we really deserve a lot better. It seems, though, that SEGA is at least trying to learn from the mistakes of the past - and I say more power to them. Not having Randy Pitchford anywhere near it is a good first step. The next good step is the first party studio working on the game to "ensure it hits a higher quality bar".
Really, guys, when your latest competition is still under the floor of Satan's wine cellar, you don't have too far to shoot for.
Just make a game that's not a walking reference, an enemy AI that's actually halfway competent, and drop the whole "clones and soldiers" crap for a real survival horror game. Y'know, like the one that we were promised earlier this year? Please? And put the funding where it belongs, though with a first-party developer, I won't imagine we'll have that problem.
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