The Thing

"Imaginative and enjoyable, but not without its flaws"

I have always been a great fan of Resident Evil, horror movies and shooters. So when I found a game that mixed all of these great elements in, it was nearly a dream come true.

The Thing was a popular 1982 horror with Kurt Russell, but since its debut over 20 years ago, nothing had been made from it. Those who had wished for a sequel to come out would be disappointed, but this new installation hopefully would not. There were so many questions that many longed answers for, such as, ''what happened to Childs and Macready?'' or ''were there any others left that were not killed by the member of Outpost 31?''

So I, and many others, had a look at the game in order to answer these questions, kill some aliens and have a damn good time. When I first popped this into my Playstation, I was nearly amazed at what I saw; there was a lot of killing, but strategy was a huge part too, which is something many shooters today lack. So far, so good. My first impressions were very positive. But after a while of gameplay, I started to notice the flaws this game possesses.

Basically, you are Blake, a soldier sent to investigate the outpost 31 disaster. Along the way you uncover a fiendish plot that threatens all life on Antarctica, and perhaps the world. Unfortunately, this storyline is not very imaginative, nor does it shed any real light on any of those questions mentioned earlier. This was a huge disappointment for me and other alike, as the plot was barely furthered, and sounded more like a sci-fi James Bond than an addition to The Thing.

But as I pressed on, through the harsh environments, the blood splattered rooms and the increasing tension, I noticed how innovative this game really is. You are able to control around 5 other squad members through some very exciting battles, which is another addition that I have never seen in a shooter before (other than those tactical ones such as Ghost Recon). What made this even batter is that these members are not mindless robots that will follow your every command; they get very afraid and can lose trust in you. If either of those happens, you are in big trouble. Your squad will kill themselves is they become terrified, or will become paranoid if they lose confidence in you. This can happen in a variety of ways, so the cause of their problems is rarely repetitive. Unfortunately, the cure is. It seems very unrealistic and unlikely that a squad member who just got shot by you, would gain 100% trust in you in a minute or so because you gave him a lot of ammunition. Also, I would not remain calm if I had hundreds of slimy aliens after me and only a handgun to show. Because off all that, these concepts fail.

I would have also appreciated a lot more character development. Blake remains a totally static, gung-ho character with a gritty voice and large shotgun. He does occasionally feel a slight amount of grief if a good friend dies, but if a trusted squad member does, he cannot care less. What makes the lack of emotional attachment worse is that you rarely will be able to know your squad members. As a general rule, your allies will always die in a level or 2; whether they 'go thing' or just disappear is based on the storylines, but they are not with you either way. I also found that the characters are a flat as Blake. Soldiers are good in combat, medics are not as good ect; they are too stereotypical. I only found 2 NPC's out of around 25 that I commanded actually had a personality; Dixon, the engineer, was too headstrong, while another engineer (I forget his name) is scared by a blot of ketchup on the floor.

But at its heart, The Thing is impressive and very enjoyable game. Though with its plain storyline, there are a few plot twists that I won't spoil for you. It is also a very intense shooter with some very enjoyable battles. One such battle is on an early level where you have 3 against around 5 scuttlers and 2 bipeds. There is so much commotion on screen that you cannot help but smile at what carnage is unfolding. Of course, this gets a little repetitive through the game, which could have been redeemed by adding a few more scenarios. Basically, all you did was run around, killing everything and controlling squad member on a few rather detached missions. To help, there were boss battles and several different enemies to kill, but it got tedious after a while.

The one thing that really lacked though was the feeling of horror and paranoia. There was one person that suspected you, but there were seldom any arguments or debates about who is the thing. It would have been nice to see a cut scene of everybody fighting so that the suspicion is aimed at one person, but turns out to be another. The horror was also totally lacking. The film was not scary in the slightest, but it is easy to create horror in a game. If I could have a partially morphed thing smashing its arm through the wall or a boss coming from underground, that would cause some anxiousness.

As for the visual and sound effects, they were very well done. The environments were detailed and realistic, though sometimes overused, and the characters rarely looked blocky or unrealistic. Even with 50 character and aliens on the screen, there was never any slow down die to the fluid frame rate. A minor criticism is that it was not as graphic as the film; sure there is a lot of blood, but the bosses do not suddenly appear from underground and launch a bloody head at you. There also seemed to be very few FMV sequences, which did lessen the overall storytelling. Still, the graphics were technically impressive, but could have been improved slightly.

The sound effects were very well done, from the pounding from a shotgun to the screeches of irate scuttlers to even the sound of a fire extinguisher. They were usually true to real life, though the MP5 sounded flat, and added to the feel. The voices were also very well done, as many of the characters had a lot of expression in their voices. This helps to add the horror feeling and intensifies the gameplay. As a side note, I would like to point out that there was too much swearing. The movie did have a lot, but that was only when it was necessary.

The music, was unfortunately a total failing. Why? Well, there is no music. The film at least had that ominous, suspenseful music, but the game has none other than the ending music (which is performed by Saliva). This could have greatly added to the horror and made the game so much better.

The game is not too long, but is difficult towards the end, but there are no special features or cheats to liven it up. Because of this, the longevity is low. I say 6 hours of gameplay is all it will last for.

Overall, The Thing is very fun to play and introduces many new concepts, but they are integrated poorly. 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/07/03