# on alien isolation and video colonialism > garmes are no longer garmes. they're territories carved up and handed over to individual warlords > ~ stephanie sterling "video colonialism": the establishment exploitation maintenance acquisition and expansion of video garme ip colonies in one territory by publishers from another - the extension of nationalistic (corporate) sovereignty over such artistic territory beyond its borders by the establishment of either settler colonies or administrative dependencies (developers) - in which attempts are made to directly rule displace expel or generally exterminate (/mind-rippingly terrifying) non indigenous lifeforms (for example) "alien isolation": permanent estrangement from (/within) the primordial reality-sea even in in the fractured 'pc space' (who talks like that?) where nobody can hear anything over the constant moaning and sobbing it still appears nobody can 'rule' (ie. make a decent garme featuring) the awe-inducing hyperalien entities known as xenomorphs for that's what it is to be an alien; indomitable and unconquerable displaced rootless - never fully manifested but always a metaphor forever from some extreme 'ultimate elsewhere' (despite shallow promises by developers to take the franchise "back to it's roots") ripley: "it's just down there in the basement" aaron: " the whole place is a basement" ripley: "it's a metaphor" while aliens bow to no man (/company) they will to ir sovereign queen ("let me tell you about my mother..") image here: hello to mother one wonders about the holographic parallels (if any) between the relentless aggressive colonial expansion of big video garme companies in ir mindless quest for market dominance and the 'colonial expansionism' / genetic survival instincts of insects like ants or bees ("these things ain't bees man" - "i know that") in both the case of aliens: colonial marines and the predictably reactionary next iteration alien: isolation - both arguably just 'work for hire projects milking franchises' - the key term is 'colonial isolation': cumbersome blind independent bodies pitching forward into ir own largely unaccountable ignorance of the tastes desires and needs of modern postmodern garming communities (m.p.g.c) they are also utterly alienated from xenomorphs - who will not 'fyou over for a goddamn percentage' key features of alien isolationism **+** overcome an ever-present deadly threat (of being ripped off): experience persistent fear of failure as a partially truly-dynamic and reactionary alien uses its dim senses to hunt you down and respond (predictably) to your every move **+** (developers) improvise (hype) to survive (criticism): hack systems at scripted points scavenge for vital yet uninteresting resources and craft generic items to deal with each pre-planned situation. will you evade your badly designed enemies distract them or face them head on? **+** explore a world of fake mystery and betrayal: 'immerse' yourself in the detailed yet bland setting of sevastopol a decommissioned trading station on the fringes of boring space. encounter a rich cast of inhabitants with bad acting abilities in a re-hashed alien world scarred by fear and mistrust of modern franchises attached parasitically to the face of video garmes facing the alien: character building // video here it seems the creative assembly are unable to clearly explain to players the differences between a a decent premise a half-decent back story and exciting garme mechanics (arguably none of which they've even managed to prove they have) in fact the whole actual justification for teh garme rests on merely repeating dubious hype about 'remaining true to the original story' (as if that's even a good thing) - something players have all heard before // image here: randy pitchford from gearbox - doing 'whatever the **** ey wants maybe they imagine hiring strictly linear warhammer 40k paperback writer dan abnett to pen inherently cheesy dialogue will possibly help gloss over any potentially poor / hopelessly traditional and essentially uninteresting core mechanics - despite the fact every player will forget all ir lines mere seconds after they've been delivered by innately flat creepy and unreal looking characters note ir almost entirely wrong emphasis on shoe-horning in 'believable' characters. who cares? the entire garme isn't really about 'characters' but rather the raw horror of survival against impossible odds manifested as some thing right out of an incredible nightmare the emphasis therefore should be entirely on the true existential 'impossibility' caused by the very existence of the alien - which by its very look and hyper-bizarre nature is 'psychologically impossible' to deal with: "that which is truly alien just does not compute" it's very presence - mostly unseen - means ripley's entire reality is somehow already infinitely far out of joint - massively distorted torn asunder ripped apart into shreds which get sucked rapidly back into the silent unconscious darkness from which the creature itself seems to be formed as far as any of the characters they meets actually reinforce the terrifying truth of such an 'alien reality' fair enough - but surely there are far better (more directly interactive) ways to express psychological narrative and philosophical ideas than crappy sci fi cut-scenes and heavily expositional storytelling? why do we even need a bunch of dead-eyed npc's to tell us what we should be already feeling obviously and immediately? aliens: colonial marines as modern garming (/life) metaphor rather than simply giving an excellent and damming review of aliens: colonial marines it's as though garmespot are also talking about the hideousness of everyday existence (in the context of xenomorphic indomitability however this could be something positively generative / dangerously organic - for 'as humans recede the alien springs forth') [..] little more than strictly functional; one deserves better than this - bland corridors - unremarkable in every way - desperately lacking in variety [..] while scraps of unsettling atmosphere seep into your bones brief moments of dread and excitement are quickly supplanted by more a general shrug-worthy 'meh' aura [..] a cumbersome cloak of nostalgia that frequently relies on copy-pasted pop culture references to fill in for a proper existence [..] interactions are characterized by snippets of awful dialogue delivered without a hint of irony - humans look every bit as synthetic as once famous androids like kim west / kanye kardashian [..] an air of careless nonsense: while life in the wider universe as a whole seems steeped in mystery and anxiety these qualities are all but absent in this current lacklustre interpretation / on this miserable rock - instead it's a shallow bit of science-fiction fluff with cheap production values and an indifferent attitude [..] it's almost forgettable enough to deem unnecessary which is a grievous sin for a life in a universe brimming with so much potential feel the isolation: pre-order dlc creepy dead eyed shiny skinned rubber doll people - and that's just the idiots falling for the plastic temptations of this naked dlc cash grab one suspects another "solid" review for this one > jarhead 1: what happened in there? > jarhead 2: it was a liquid situation > jarhead 1: you mean we shit the bed // video here mind you the reason ign reviews like this exist is probably just to make the other gushing utterly uncritical / paid-for reviews seem legit through simple comparison // republic of bob