Original Alien Cast Reunite for Alien: Isolation DLC

brendanvb

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The original cast of the 1979 film Alien have been reunited for Alien: Isolation’s pre-order DLC.

Sigourney Weaver will reprise her iconic role as Ellen Ripley for the first time in 17 years. She will be joined by Tom Skerritt (Dallas), Veronic Cartwright (Lambert), Harry Dean Stanton (Brett), and Yaphet Kotto (Parker).

The DLC contains two missions, both allowing players to relive classic scenes from the original movie.

Everyone who pre-orders the game will get a free upgrade to the ‘Nostromo Edition’, which includes the first of the two DLC missions, entitled “Crew Expendable”. Taking place moments after the death of Brett, it sees players assuming the role of Ripley, Dallas or Parker, as the crew of the Nostromo attempt to flush the alien from the air vents and into the ship's airlock. Depending on which character you choose, you'll have a slightly different perspective on events and will begin with different resources.

The second pre-order mission – “Last Survivor” – will be available through select retailers depending on territory. Set during the film's dramatic finale, you play as Ripley and must activate the Nostromo's self-destruct sequence and reach the Narcissus shuttle in order to escape.

The pre-order missions have been devised as ‘What If’ scenarios according to the game’s creative director Alistair Hope. Speaking to IGN, Hope says, “There’s no point in us trying to match beat-for-beat what occurs in the film. The film is much better at doing that than a game.

“We came with the approach these guys had a plan to try and take on the alien, to flush it out of an airlock. What else could have happened?”

And even though players will be able to freely explore areas of the doomed Nostromo, from the habitation deck down to engineering, Hope is keen to stress these aren’t interactive dioramas: “We’ve used those moments to give us some kind of structure; as to what occurs is very much down to the player.”

That said, the DLC is built on the same foundations as Alien: Isolation itself. “At its heart, it’s the same,” says Hope. “You’re still confronting the alien, which is dynamic and reactive. It’s not scripted, which I think fits perfectly with these characters trying to confront it and surprise it. Every time you play it’s different.”

In fact, the entire idea for the DLC started life as one big ‘What if’. “What if we could get the original cast back together? What if we could put them back on the Nostromo to face the creature? It just started from there,” Hope tells me.

And having the original cast involved – only Ian Holm (Ash) doesn’t return, though his character will feature – was crucial to making the DLC missions possible. “I suppose we could’ve generated something that was along those lines,” admits Hope. “But it was absolutely critical to have those characters reprising their roles for this to work. When Parker says, 'This plan is suicide' – it actually has weight to it, and that comes from having Yaphet Kotto delivering the lines.

“It was unforgettable when Sigourney came in and started being Ellen Ripley again. It was quite special. The real joy was having Sigourney say, ‘Ellen would say this.’ We’d all look at each other, and say, ‘yes, of course that’s what she would say’. That’s an insight we couldn’t possibly have without working closely with those guys."

Alien: Isolation will be available from October 7th on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

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Super amped for this! So awesome they got the cast back together. I hope these missions will be pre-order bonuses somewhere in SA too.
 
I hope these missions will be pre-order bonuses somewhere in SA too.

That's bullshit. Pre-ordering is bullshit. This should not be something people hope for. This is something that should be condemned. Why isn't this part of the actual game?

People forget way too easily. Remember the last Aliens game? How many people pre-ordered that? How many people were pissed off because it was a piece of shit? "Oh I'm sure this one will be good." Yeah you better fucking hope so.
 
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That's bullshit. Pre-ordering is bullshit. This should not be something people hope for. This is something that should be condemned. Why isn't this part of the actual game?

People forget way too easily. Remember the last Aliens game? How many people pre-ordered that? How many people were pissed off because it was a piece of shit? "Oh I'm sure this one will be good." Yeah you better fucking hope so.
I'm hoping that the fact the cast, including Sigourney Weaver, signed up for this speaks for the quality of the game. Not to mention there have been many positive hands-on previews which I believe Colonial Marines did not have (I didn't follow it's development but that's what I've seen mentioned often when these 2 games are compared).
 
I'm hoping that the fact the cast, including Sigourney Weaver, signed up for this speaks for the quality of the game. Not to mention there have been many positive hands-on previews which I believe Colonial Marines did not have (I didn't follow it's development but that's what I've seen mentioned often when these 2 games are compared).

Translation: "Oh I'm sure this one will be good."
 
Translation: "Oh I'm sure this one will be good."
Nothing wrong with being optimistic. I wasn't a fan of the action-centric approach the film sequels and games took on, so I am looking forward to this one and am hoping it'll be good. If the reviews are bad, so be it, and I will then cancel my pre-order.
 
That's bullshit. Pre-ordering is bullshit. This should not be something people hope for. This is something that should be condemned. Why isn't this part of the actual game?

People forget way too easily. Remember the last Aliens game? How many people pre-ordered that? How many people were pissed off because it was a piece of shit? "Oh I'm sure this one will be good." Yeah you better fucking hope so.

I sense some disappointment leading to significant irritation here :p
 

Great article.

I think this sums it up nicely:

But Sega doesn’t want you to wait for reviews, it wants your money now. It doesn’t want to risk you thinking critically or hearing from friends that the game isn’t great, it wants your money and commitment right away. So it’s going to set up a nice piece of bonus content, and say that you can only have it if you promise to purchase the game before we know more about it.

That’s not marketing, that’s consumer hostility. That’s a steak place saying you can only have potatoes if you show up and order before you see a picture of the food or hear from anyone else who has eaten it. We wouldn’t tolerate it in any other business, and we need to tell publishers who attempt this bullshit to get lost. This move should make you more skeptical of the game, not more excited.
 
Fear not, you don't have to adhere to silly pre-ordering rules - they'll release the DLC later on. (Source)

At least then after playing the game you can decided if the DLC is worth it or not.
 
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I'm hoping that the fact the cast, including Sigourney Weaver, signed up for this speaks for the quality of the game. Not to mention there have been many positive hands-on previews which I believe Colonial Marines did not have (I didn't follow it's development but that's what I've seen mentioned often when these 2 games are compared).

They had to sign up before the game was made. No guarantee of quality.
 
They had to sign up before the game was made. No guarantee of quality.
From their explanations in the article it sounds like the idea for the dlc came about quite far along in development, with the whole idea being whether they could get the original cast to sign on. They don't feature in the main game, so I struggle to see why they would have been approached long before development even began. I would also think Sigourney would be hesitant to join any project not faithful to the films that kickstarted her career, it's not like she's desperate for work. As previously stated, I'm remaining optimistic. As a big fan of the original film, I think the game looks really great, and from the hands on previews, sounds like it is able to live up to expectation following the previous Alien game disasters. To each his own :)
 
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