The Thing

"A survival horror experience unlike that of resident evil."

What is survival horror? It's a genre of games baring likeness to horror films. At the top of the list is the originator, Resident Evil. Capcom's 1995 Playstaion hit, undoubtedly is the bar that which ever survival horror game is measured to. Unfortunately many games have tried to stray from that formula, games like Clock Tower, Extermination, and others have all tried new gimmicks, but in the end they couldn't live up to RE and its numerous sequels. Those that were successful (read: fun) are just clones of RE. What does this have to do with The Thing, Well The Thing happens to be the only survival horror game available to the ps2 that is unlike that of RE, while being a great game to play.

gameplay:9/10
The Thing is a survival horror game that takes place after the movie of the same name, though prior knowledge of the movie isn't required. Your an military expert sent in with a team of soldiers to an military base in Antarctica. Without spoiling any more of the story, something is horribly wrong in the base and you and the numerous teammates have to battle horrible aliens that can infect and mutate your own teammates.
This is where the games main gameplay mechanic is involved: teamwork, you and who ever is left human must work together in order to advance. The incredible AI really helps bring life to the whole teamwork situation, your teammates will fight for themselves, repair things they notice, complain when things go bad, and even question your authority. That's where teamwork situation deepens, however when you and your teammates start questing each other. Since any of the teammates can become Thing aliens, paranoia sets in as you begin to suspect which of your teammates are Things. It doesn't stop there though as your buddies will wonder the same about you, you'll have to discover ways to earn there trust.
Other than the teamwork issue, you will have the typical survival horror duties of killing thing beasts in 3rd person shooter style and, solving the rather simple and sparse puzzles here and there, all the while piecing the story together through the very crude cut scenes.

Graphics:7/10
While not horrible, the graphics aren't going to win any awards. Character models are blocky and plain, while the games textures are drab and have a ps1 look to them. The animations are especially crude, you and your commando buddies all move, shoot, duck, jump, and breath alike. The monster animations look choppy and seem to need a couple more frames of animations. On a brighter side, the fire in the game does look good, and at least the graphics aren't so bad they ruin the game's mood and atmosphere.
The camera itself stays in a fixed behind the man 3rd person view. Only a few sparse times does the game use the typical fixed-view camera angle that's so typical in Survival Horror games (though the angle creates problems with controls). My only complaint is that once in a while the camera gets stuck in cramp areas, though its very rare.

Sound:7/10
Looking for rich orchestrated music, composed by the video game industry's brightest and most talented sound producers? Well look somewhere else, cause there's barely music in the game and while they fit the mood they are totally forgettable (I had to stop writing this review and boot up The Thing and play it again, just to make sure there was music in the game!). The sounds are fitting to each environment. Each weapon in the game has its own sound to it. Not to mention the evil cries and roars of the individual Thing monsters are, well, evil.

controls:9/10
Fluid controls make a good game great. That statement holds true to each and every game made, it also holds true to The Thing. As with most shooters you run and shoot (well, DUH!), and in The Thing the controls are very responsive. A changeable first-person view helps the aim (though the games auto-aim is very good on its own right), however it can only be used to aim. The several menus take time to learn to navigate, in time most will get the hang of it(it helps to read the helpful manual). One complaint, however, when the game switches to fix camera view the control some times get screwed up.

overall:8/10
The Thing is a great survival horror game, that is very long, has great gameplay mechanics and near-perfect controls. The length of the game is somewhat long as it would take a couple of weeks even for die hard fans to beat, with the teamwork gimmick giving enough reason to beat it again. The Thing is recommended to both Die-hard survival Horror fans and to causal fans. Heck even fans that disliked survival horror games because of the controls are encouraged to buy this survival horror diamond in the rough.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/05/02, Updated 09/05/02