The Thing

""Now I'm going to show you what I already know...""

First off, let me say that you will appreciate and enjoy this game MUCH much more if you're a fan of the 1982 John Carpenter movie. I myself rank The Thing among one of my favorites, and this game was made for horror and gaming geeks more than the casual gamer. People who rent this game seeking cheap enjoyment for 5 days will probably be disappointed. Now that's out of the way, this is honestly one of the best action/adventure games I've played. This game feels like every detail was meticulously designed in order to stay true to the original story while stil providing a fresh gaming experience. From the loading screen featuring the computer model of the virus, the fact that the base in the first level of the game actually LOOKS like the movie, to John Carpenter going over the design aspects of the finished product, it's all made to make the player feel immersed into the environment surrounding him.

Gameplay

The Thing plays like a lot of other third-person shooters (i.e. Hitman, Head Hunter), and the auto-aiming feature is pretty precise. The controls are confusing at first, but the learning curve is slight. The main thing you want to concentrate on is your teammates. The game's much-hyped Fear/Trust system actually isn't complete BS like other gameplay devices. You'll have to carefully manage your team to make sure they give you cover fire, heal you when needed, don't blow their gray matter over the walls, or morph into a REALLY unpleasant walker. You can issue a lot of commands through just a few buttons, so the game becomes a pseudo-team-based strategy game during battles. The combat turns out to be pretty intense for a game, as your teammates scream in terror and shoot blindly as a Walker comes crashing through the wall, letting out some god-forsaken howl and clawing you. The gameplay outside of battle is cookie-cutter adventure fare (go get the key, find some documents, plant C4), but it's not bad.

Story

Must I flesh out the story? You're investigating the disappearance of the staff at U.S. Research Outpost #31, the setting for the movie. You soon discover the death of your colleagues, your former friends growing three claws and lots of teeth, and the creepy monsters scurrying about aren't the only shady things going down at the base...

Graphics and Sound

I need to geek out for a few seconds...OHMYGOD they actually used the original theme music as the theme of the game!!!! Sorry...I'll say it again, you NEED to watch the movie to really appreciate this game. If you weren't lucky enough to receive a free copy of it on DVD with reserving the game, go buy it. The tape you find in the game is the actual tape Kurt Russell's character records in the movie, and that is his voice. You can find about 40 or so other references to the movie sprinkled throughout the game. The idea that you're in the middle of a white hellhole is really stressed throughout the game, what with the shrieking winds, decrepit buildings falling apart, and exposure to the cold damaging you over time. The NPCs talk a lot, and the in-game and cutscene voice acting is decent for the most part (though whoever voice's Blake's character watched too many Kurt Russell films). The graphics are really smooth, and the dramatic lighting used in the interiors couldn't be creepier.

The only gripes I have about the game was the slippery controls. I don't want to try for 2 minutes to center my character over a hotspot, I don't want to accidentally burn myself with a blowtorch, and I definitely don't want to accidentally spray my fire extinguisher at a rushing Thing (take that, Scuttler! (psssssh)). Other than that, please get this game if you like action-adventure but are tired of rehashed Resident Evil clones. By the way, I'll give brownie points to anyone who can find MacReady's corpse. Wasn't he just chilling(heh heh) next to Childs at the end? Hmmm...

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/19/02, Updated 09/19/02