Aliens colonial Marines Stasis Interrupted Review (RIOT|Stalkermaster review)

[Pixelated]

Hi guys, here is a quick message from me. First of all I got banned unfortunately, for being a little too aggressive at the internet while I was waiting for the dlc, So I apologize moderator, it’s just I was waiting all day for the dlc because it was the 23rd and was annoyed that it never came until the next day. But Good news ill be back tomorrow on the forums and I see the haters are back, so it’s another day in the office then.

So Ill post the score then go into the review
9/10 Amazing, dlc
any ways back to the review, yes that’s right they can’t stop me reviewing the dlc. This dlc is very impressive from the start to the finish. I honestly thought this would be very bad, but I was completely wrong with this. Now it’s a little sad how they couldn’t do some of the things they did here in the actual game. There are a few bugs but never the less it is fantastic.
The first Level is packed full of scares that I would not of seen coming. During the first 40-45 mins you are without a gun. Playing as the female, who I won’t name because I forgot, (woops) Is nice, even though she feels a little like Ripley by doing some of the same actions, it’s still a nice touch to play as her and how she does react with a few new responses. I like how during this part there is quite a lot of running away from the aliens, as you see them tear up the PMC’s, yes there are PMCS but during most of this mission is completely aliens, which is the same for all of it really. All missions contain PMC’s but there are more aliens here. Thanks to all the updates to the Ai and how they react it really does show here. I met some smart aliens as they run off from me to jump to the ceiling and then come around behind me to attack me.
I have to admit I died quite a lot of times in this small campaign but that is good.
However what I found most impressive about the very first mission was how you learnt everything. Like you got introduced to the motion tracker, then to the guns etc. Which was quite nice. People you have to remember that you to remember that you are a Marine in the sp. So you are kind of meant to be tooled up, but overall this was a cool mission.
Now I’m not going to go through each level so detailed. But I will touch on them briefly and try not to avoid spoilers.
The second mission shows who was in the other cyro pod. Which is good, but this also leads up to some more questions that this cut scene has like how did Ripley survive while having a hole in her tube? But this does answer a lot of questions many of us had. The second mission does introduce us to an Apone style guy who seems similar but is not, which is good. I was amazed how during this mission which takes place on the sulaco how it does NOT reuse the same levels as the single player does, which is quite nice as I liked exploring the USMC basketball court etc. and the new bits like using a plasma cannon to blow up a bridge.
The third mission takes place as a different guy AGAIN. But what stung me was that it was not hicks. I was lead up to this thinking I would be playing as Hicks, but I didn’t which is fine. As his Ai was quite good. Apart from a few teleporting bits in both levels, it was fine. The same can also be said with the PMC’s unfortunately I couldn’t get a screenshot in time, but I did see a couple of them doing roles to dodge my bullets.
But the last mission deserves special attention as we find out quite a lot. This mission and the previous does use 1-2 bits of same things but it’s all completely different. Though playing this solo was quite hard. It had a few alien boss battles like the crusher and queen bits, and it also explains how hicks got captured and how only 75% of his transmission got through. There was a turret defense scene which was nice but quite hard. This was a brutal mission, in terms of deaths. There were bucket loads of Xeno’s trying to kill me and they did a great job at it. Even on solder this was a challenge which is Fantastic to see as they killed me like a true Xeno should. Shooting gallery this is not.
The Ai in all the missions i OMG awesome. I was constantly running low on ammo, I was constantly falling into traps. An example of this is when I was chasing after a Xeno he ran in a corner, only to turn into a ball to soak up damage, then he jumped over my head and attacked me in a combo which spelt death.
Overall I could go blabbering about how awesome this is and how good it looks and how the story is great and how the Ai is good. So here is the verdict

Pros:
Excellent Ai (both human and Alien)
Looks Amazing
Uses different areas of the same place
Story makes sense and concludes some story arcs.
Playing as a female is great
Hearing all the different things they say is also nice
Fighting with hicks a lot is also good.
First mission packs lots of atmosphere and tension
Co-op is an option :]
Cut scenes are very cool

Cons:
A couple of bugs
A wired stealth but which was a little broken
Occasionally the Ai gets stuck, but it’s not too bad
Still a few ??? Moments
A couple of Audio Problems (the audio logs I mean)
A couple of checkpoint problems

Overall I’m glad Gearbox put the effort into this to make it worthwhile, I don’t know if they made it, but whoever did should remake the entire sp except the first mission. While I did hope there was some free bug hunt maps with this. It’s still an awesome Sp Dlc and I highly recommend you buy it.

9/10,

[knootewoot]

I agree. I ahd a great time playing it. When it was over I just wanted more. I haven't seen much of the queen escape level as it was to dark. I can't even remember how i got out of there.

Hopefully we will see more of this.

[PTCGho5t]

great review :) i agree 9/10.

[[CPC] Koma Nouragan]

Great review. Could you give approximative duration of playing time to conclude this DLC ?

[RIOT|Stalkermaster]

Originally posted by CPC Koma White:

Great review. Could you give approximative duration of playing time to conclude this DLC ?

Im back from my ban and it took me about 3.4 hours

[RIOT|Stalkermaster]

This is my review btw, I just want to thank you Wheatly, for posting this for me, I hope you guys liked my review

[The Traveler]

Nice review, I also confirm the WY mecrs do make a roll to avoid your shots! Like in Unreal or Prey, they tougher enemies now and smart, that's true for the Aliens. Many ceiling attack and sneak attack.
But I never felt running out of ammo and.. yeah, it was hard I played on UBA and alone, take me ~4 hours to finish it.

Oh, and who made it. I watched the credits after finishing it. Same credits list, but they included the DLC one, casts and devs. It was Dark Side Studios (or Team?). We can read them working on the main game to. Plus after the credits there's a short cut-scene. Who watched it? :D

[knootewoot]

The short scene also goes if you skip the credits. It's good DLC and i really hope to see more. Finished all on soldier and UBA. Co-op is great.

[RIOT|Stalkermaster]

Originally posted by knootewoot:

The short scene also goes if you skip the credits. It's good DLC and i really hope to see more. Finished all on soldier and UBA. Co-op is great.

I want more as well