In an exclusive from VentureBeat, Al Hope, the creative director of the upcoming survival horror game Alien: Isolation, has released an audio commentary for Ridley Scott’s original theatrical cut (which just so happens to be my current favorite film of all time). Based on the trailer above (not to mention all the amazing gameplay footage), Alien: Isolation has become my most anticipated game of the year. Per VentureBeat’s Dan Hsu:
“Hope, the creative lead at developer Creative Assembly, has seen the 1979 sci-fi classic over 100times. Granted, some of those are attributed to research. Not that wink-wink ‘research’ that people use to excuse time pursuing extracurricular activities but legitimate ‘I need to do this for my job’ work.
It makes perfect sense that he’s spent so many hours of his life studying the source material because this new adventure is all canon. Isolation takes place shortly after the events of the original Alien and well before its sequel, Aliens. It doesn’t star film-franchise protagonist Ellen Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver), but it does feature her daughter, Amanda, who’s looking for her mom in this game (and was briefly referenced in the extended cut of Aliens).
But before there was Hope the Alien developer, there was Hope the Alien fan. He has a genuine appreciation for the film, which I witnessed for myself when I sat down and watched it with him in my studio apartment.
We recorded our viewing session for an audio commentary track that you can listen to while watching the original 1979 theatrical version of the movie (We give you some warning so you know when to hit play – hopefully on your Blu-ray player). Hope gives us some fantastic insight into all things Alien, including set design, characters, plot, special effects, the writing, kitty cats, exploding stomachs, and the legendary space monster – and how he and his team are integrating everything into their game.”
Here’s the link to the MP3. Windows users can right click and choose ‘Save As…”, Mac users can hold the option key and click the link to download. Happy listening!