The X-Files: Resist or Serve

"A failed super-project becomes a "nice" diversion."

I think that we, as in you and I, developed a relationship upon your opening of this web link. For whatever reason you chose to read this review, you are now at the point where there is no turning back. At the very least, you're going to skim to the bottom of the page to see if I have summarized something/anything in a manner quick and brimming with magnificent efficiency, as you expect nothing less from a site of this caliber. So now that you and I are here, I must warn you about who you're dealing with.

The opening visual bells of The X-Files: Resist or Serve are that of a montage of series' highlights, listed chronologically. Oh, no, you just figured it out, didn't you? There's only one type of person who would know that the visuals on the menu screen are played chronologically. He or she may know this through an assortment of ways, but they all point back to one horrific fact. This reviewer is an X-Phile. So, I write this review from a completely biased perspective. If anything in this game, like in the last FMV X-Files game, disturbs the continuity of the mythology or disrupts the nature of the characters, I will point it out, and you will beg me, via the screen or hate mail, to get to the actual topic at hand: Is the damn thing worth a buck? And thus, I begin a review.

Explaining the particular motives or motifs of The X-Files seems completely redundant to anybody who lived through the 90's, yet nonetheless, some of the readers of this site may not have. In a metaphorical nutshell, Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are members of a disenfranchised branch of the FBI called The X-Files. There's a bad guy named the Cigarette Smoking Man. He, like many in positions of governmental authority take such pleasure in, covers up the truth about the government and aliens. Mulder thinks the truth is out there. Scully doesn't. Mulder is always right, with several exceptions that are irrelevant to the topic at hand. You remember the topic at hand, don't you? It's in paragraph two.

The television show The X-Files lasted nine seasons and has, to date, spawned off one feature length motion picture. Resist or Serve takes place in the seventh, and this is important because the seventh season took the mythology of the series and hacked it up like an unscrupulous child would a small undeserving, innocent animal before he grows up to become severely mentally ill and in need of immediate attention from the society that he would otherwise lash out at if he did not receive the necessary treatment for his disturbed outlook on the state of modern humanity. It was shambolic, minimal, and contradictory. While Resist or Serve's storyline does not answer some important questions and denies the addressal (is that a word?) of certain problems, it ties up some loose ends magnificently, although it does not appear it would do so at first.

Resist or Serve starts out dangerously, with our protagonists on their way to a small town called Red Falls in Colorado. They're supposed to be investigating some mysterious murders, of course, but this time around they end up in a town full of zombies. Now this is the sort of thing that could have turned Resist or Serve into a complete disaster, which is making it a completely formulaic action game, where the only connection between itself and the franchise it is based after are the character names - IF that, in some other cases. Not to mention the fact that the game is written by Tom Schnauz. We were promised a script and story from writers of the original series, although I can't remember for the life of me who Tom Schnauz is or what he has to do with The X-Files. I looked him up and, lo and behold, it's the guy from the last season of the show who wrote what are arguably the two worst episodes of the entire series. However, Resist or Serve pulls out by serving us a plate full of connections to the series' general mythology, and eventually tying together some of seventh season's questions. Who would have thought this dude named Schnauz had it in him? That's not all! While we wait around for the big reveal, we are treated to the voice talents of none other than the actual cast of the show, and when I say the cast, I mean the CAST. Not only are David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson here reprising their roles as Mulder and Scully, but there's Mitch Pileggi as Skinner, Nicholas Lea as Krycek, EVERYONE in the Lone Gunmen, and and and - !!!!

This seems to be the perfect icebreaker for a series that has been scheming to return to the mainstream spotlight ever since it went off the air, but there's some problems. It's as if Vivendi Universal amassed the entire cast of the original series, hired a collective of development talent that had been waiting their whole lives to put the effort of their lifetimes into this project, got an original script with witty dialogue and an interesting story that would reignite interest in the series, and then didn't bother to edit any of the pieces together and threw it out on the market for thirty bucks in case anybody wanted to be bothered with it. Not a hardcore gamer myself, even I realized that this is one of the most shoddily put together super-projects ever created, putting it at a scale of almost Phantom Menace proportions.

All of the acting, dialogue, even the story itself seems to hit the target with dead accuracy, but then there's putting it into the context of a game. Cinemas abruptly interrupt the action of the game, without even bothering to change the soundtrack, so the same music plays and the same sound effects, no matter how unnecessary to the scene, and thus the scent of cheapness that already fouls the air of Resist or Serve continues to heighten in intensity. Despite the credit of “Motion Capture Talent”, the characters are all stiffer than a looping .GIF file originally formed from pictures made in Microsoft Paint (translation: they are stiff). Limbs alternate between simple actions as pointing to flailing about in comical mastery in a way that only a computer could create. Nobody moves their eyes, which, in factoring creepiness, is much worse than the actual zombies themselves.

The music is taken directly from “The Truth and the Light”, an X-Files music collection from composer Mark Snow. Although the production qualities on the soundtrack itself leave much to be desired, mostly thanks to creator Chris Carter's demand for putting dialogue over the music itself, it integrates itself wonderfully in the game, although the problem stems from it all coming DIRECTLY from that very CD. Apparently nobody could get a hold of the original theme music, so the cheesy “extended” version is included here, making the main titles deliriously awkward to watch. Otherwise, however, the music is very good, and the implementation of it is very well done and adds to the atmosphere nicely.

Typical standards of survival-horror games make up the skeleton system for Resist or Serve, and it doesn't extend much beyond that. You run, you shoot, and you pick up things that may or may not be of any use at all. There's also the survival-horror camera, which generally is cinematic and centers around the area rather then the character, and in some cases, this game included, it moves with the player, for better or worse. That camera is a big problem in this game sometimes, and that problem corresponds with the controls. When the camera changes, you are usually expected in Resist or Serve to change your controls with it. If you are trying to move in the same direction, let's say it's left on the analog stick, and the camera abruptly changes to make it so you must start moving RIGHT, well be quick or you're going to have to readjust yourself while being chased by zombies. Worst of all is that this rule, for some bizarre reason, does not apply in certain areas. Luck of the draw, I guess! Mercifully, auto-aim is very functional and easy to use in this game, with the exception of crawling zombies directly below you. Here's a game tip: Back up!

You can play as either Mulder or Scully in Resist or Serve. The games actually differ to a degree other than player appearance changes, but the system is the same. Scully's game is touted as the “puzzle” version, while Mulder's is the “action”, but I'm afraid I must put that rumor to rest. They're both “action”. Different “action” games, but one or two puzzles for Scully doesn't make it that much of a radical difference in gameplay.

Outside of the camera and controls, there is still a glaring problem, being it's impossibility. Hate to break it to purists, but the player must use cheats in order to complete Resist or Serve, because it's impossible. Not just hard, impossible. Don't doubt it, as I've already explained that the game was, while envisioned by the Gods, assembled by monkeys. Of the game's three main acts, the first two are possible to struggle by, but when you get to the final boss, you have run out of ammo, although you've done your best to conserve, and your health meter is failing you. I won't spoil what the boss is, but it is a multi-part boss with little rewards in between in each battle, none of which could help you out in the slightest. For the most part, the boss battles are difficult to an agitating extent. Usually the only way to beat them without using up all of your ammunition and health items is to run past all of the other enemies and collect every available bit of ammo or health lying around. Good luck, sailor.

Most of the time the game is just generic, and it's easy to get through a generic game with as many easter eggs and in-jokes to fans of the series as Resist or Serve does. There's already documents that list these things, but they're really wonderfully done and although the game might not hold as much interest to a casual viewer than it does to a hardcore fan, at least it has an audience. That audience would be the one that bought it. We're at the point in time where we can stop kidding ourselves and just say that this game failed. It's not going to do a very big part in the big X-Files rejuvenation that should occur around the next movie, and other than get us mental ward kids a kick, all we're left with now is an average game with a great premise. It's a must buy for X-Philes, but we already have it. There's a very likely chance the game is only ten dollars now, to which I'd say it's a must buy for anyone, but that's if you can find it. You probably won't seek it out for yourself, but do it for me. Do it for Mulder. Do it for Samantha. Do it for The Truth.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/29/04