Well, although I’m still sort of taking a break from horror games, I couldn’t help but get the 2014 “Crew Expendable” DLC for “Alien: Isolation” (2014). Since a DRM-free edition of it had been reduced to less than a quid during the site’s summer sale and because it was an actual gameplay-based DLC, it seemed like a no-brainer. Plus, unlike the main game, it is directly based on part of Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror classic “Alien” 🙂
Since this is DLC, you’ll also need a copy of the main game to play it (which probably explains why it’s a very reasonable 268 Mb download). And, even though “Crew Expendable” technically tells a short self-contained story, it’s probably worth both watching the film (so you know the characters and premise better) and also getting some practice with the main game before playing it.
Sorry about the slightly random screenshots in this review though – I used Windows 10’s built-in screenshot tools, but they only seemed to work some of the time (and caused an annoying mouse-cursor to appear on screen occasionally). So, a few of the things I’d planned to screenshot for this review – such as the ship’s entire crew in the intro cinematic – didn’t get captured.
Anyway, let’s take a look at “Alien Isolation: Crew Exependable”. This review may contain SPOILERS.
Woo hoo! It’s the Nostromo 🙂
Set on board the spaceship Nostromo, the crew have gathered in the mess hall to work out a plan to get rid of a ferocious alien creature that is lurking on board the ship. Playing as either Ripley, Parker or Dallas, you have to avoid the alien and find a way to lure it towards the airlock…
One of the first things that I will say about this DLC is that, although it is relatively short, it’s slightly more suspenseful than the main game and it is also really cool to actually play part of the original film too. The original cast provide voice-acting and everything about it looks a lot like the original film as well.
You can even find the dissected “facehugger” from the original film on one of the tables in the med lab too.
In terms of the DLC’s horror elements, they consist of suspense, dynamic jump scares, claustrophobic horror, brief gory horror and monster horror.
Whilst there isn’t quite the range of horror elements that there are in the main game, the fact that the entire DLC takes place in a more claustrophobic location and the use of checkpoint saving actually makes it feel mildly more suspenseful than the main game.
Not to mention that the game also includes a few larger areas, like this one, to make the cramped corridors and ducts feel even more claustrophobic by comparison too.
The DLC focuses on a few objectives and set-pieces. In the beginning, you’ll be following the map to press buttons, but the game becomes a bit more complex later on – with a wonderfully tense segment set in a maze of gloomy ventilation tunnels where you have to follow instructions relayed via the ship’s radio and a segment where you have to figure out how to get the alien into the airlock for long enough to allow you to press the door button.
Unlike the main game, there are no manual save points here – with the game using checkpoint saving instead. These checkpoints happen after every 1-2 objectives and whilst it could be said that they are a cynical way of padding out the game (since you have to re-play more of the game after failing) and the loading times also seemed a bit longer than the main game too, the fact that you can lose more progress if you screw up does add a bit more suspense.
Yes, this feels slightly more suspenseful than the main game since you’ll lose more progress if the alien catches you. However, you aren’t as defenceless as you might expect…
But, saying all of this, the fact that you are given a flamethrower at the beginning of the game – and can find lots of ammo for it- means that it isn’t always as suspenseful as it could be. Still, given the claustrophobic corridors and small spaceship, this is probably there because there are fewer places to run and hide. Sometimes you will have to scare the alien away with the flamethrower. So, I can understand it from a game design standpoint.
It’s cool that the game lets you choose which character to play as – I chose Ripley – but this doesn’t really seem to have that much effect on the game. From a brief partial playthrough as Parker afterwards, things like the main character’s dialogue and the locations of some other characters do change to reflect that you’re playing as a different character, but the basic plot and objectives seem to remain identical. Still, character selectors are always cool 🙂
For example: If you’re playing as Ripley, then Parker will be waiting here. If you’re playing as Parker, you can find Ripley waiting on the ship’s bridge etc…
As for length, this is a short DLC. It took me about fifty minutes to complete it without walkthrough use, and with a few “game overs”, on normal difficulty. But I imagine that a more skilled player could probably get through the whole thing in about 20-30 minutes or so.
All in all, this is a fun little add-on to the main game. It’s cool to see a re-creation of part of the original film, and it did feel mildly more suspenseful than the main game too. Still, things like checkpoint saving and the seemingly identical missions for all three characters might be a little annoying. Even so, it’s still really good 🙂
If I had to give it a rating out of five, it would get a four.
PekoeBlaze - the official blog 