The Thing

"A little rough, but an enjoyable game."

SUMMARY: Games based on movies are almost never a good idea. The Thing manages to avoid the largest mistakes made by movie-based games (shallow gameplay, sell-outs), but still falls short of greatness. However it is still an enjoyable game with its own charm.

GRAPHICS: 8/10 - Not bad at all! I am a bit spoiled since I had beaten Metal Gear right before I bought The Thing, but still the graphics are decent. Don't be fooled by the Konami logo on the box - the visuals aren't close to what Metal Gear showed us. But it runs at a steady framerate and there are no glaring problems. I would have liked to see some ambient shadows - when you shine the flashlight around a dark room, it looks very unnatural.

SOUND: 5/10 - I have some issues with the sound. There is hardly any music, so most of the game is just silence and sound effects. The voice actors are fairly good, but they won't win any Oscars. I think the guns could have a bit more authority in the way they sound... they are too soft.

GAMEPLAY: 8/10 - This is where the game's gimmick comes into play - who is a Thing and who is human? The interaction between your team and you is interesting to see, and you will become attached to some of the characters. There is perhaps a bit too much scripting in the storyline. It would have been nice to have the team chatter amongst themselves more - this can be amusing. But overall the gameplay and storyline are not bad.

PRODUCTION: 5/10 - I hate the main menu... it is very ugly and simplified. And why is this game on CD? Many cool things (galleries, movie clips from the film, ect.) could have been added if it was DVD-based. There is too much swearing - and you will get the feeling some of it is just there ''because they could''. The 3D game engine is also quite buggy - several times I have had my teammates get ''stuck'' on a ledge or behind a door... and then by the time I notice they are gone, I have to backtrack and try and find (and unstick) the unfortunate guy. And WHY does this game need almost 3MB of space on my memory card???

OVERALL: 6/10 - This game is interesting, but it is hard to recommend. Either you will like it or you will hate it. I would suggest renting it first. I bought it without trying it first, and I am still happy with my purchase. But for anyone else, I would say ''rent''.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 09/04/02, Updated 09/04/02