The Thing

"I like alot of Things, but not this game."

I had high hopes for this game as the movie, starring Kurt Russell and directed by John Carpenter, was quite entertaining. To my disappointment however, this game was a huge letdown. It in no way translated the feel of the movie, nor furthered its storyline(this game is a sequel to the movie, although you undoubtedly know that). As a last note, this review will contain minor spoilers. Anyway, here we go:

GAMEPLAY(3/10):
You take control of MacReady, exactly where the movie ends. You and Childs stare eachother down. He goes for the flamethrower, and you go for the last stick of dynamite left in your pocket. He pulls the trigger, sending a wave of flame your way. You duck and juke, but let the dynamite get lit by his flame. Then, you toss it toward his feet, and run like the wind. Doesn't that sound fun? Too bad nothing like that happens in the game. You take control of Blake, some military man who has no idea what is going on but is following orders blindly (hmmm, Metal Gear Solid)from some maniac named Whitley. This game borrows heavily from Resident Evil. You have your various types of enemies, some faster than others, some smaller than others, some tougher than others. But does it really matter? No, they all will fall to your mass onslaught as long as you know which button fire is. That is part of where the problem lies. The enemies in this game are so EASY, yet there are hordes after hordes after hordes. And to make matters worse, anything larger than a Scuttler must be torched by a flamethrower for it to die! This might be okay if it were like the movie and they died at the very taste of the flamethrower, but sadly, it is not so. They must be shot various times until they reach the critical phase, and then torched, all the while your guy is dancing around the screen straight out of Riverdance. Boss's all have weaknesses that, once found, can be used to finish the job in no time (c'mon, if you stand on a square during the 3rd boss fight, he can't even touch you). Puzzles are nowhere to be found in this game, and during the latter portion of the game, you start fighting humans (I thought this was THE THING). Oh, and I can't forget the ''FEAR/TRUST SYTEM''. It had the potential to be so cool. But alas, yet another thing done wrong. All transformations of your teammates into the Thing in this game are scripted, so you never really grow attached with them. It is very rare when your teammates actually proceed on to the next level with you. And forget the Blood Test Kits. They only work on yourself, your mates will always pass. And no, it never explodes and you transform into the Thing (that would be really cool though). Manual aiming in this game just doesn't work out, and auto aiming is just plain BORING. The worst thing about this game however is its fear factor. It just isn't scary. It doesn't even have any loud noises that make you jump (ala Resident Evil). The Thing itself doesn't even frighten in the least. And its a shame because that was the movies strongest point. Carpenter is good at scaring audiences; whoever developed this pathetic game is not.

GRAPHICS(7/10):
Probably the game's greatest achievement. Characters look realistic, as does the enemy, as does the gunfire. Outpost 31 and the Swedish (sorry, had to) Base look exactly like their real-life counterparts. The snow is quite bland however, but then again, it is snow. All later levels in the game not present in the movie are quite boring to look at but do appear as though some time was put in making them. The boss's (excluding the last one of course) are beautifully done and are the most frightening thing to be found in this game. Other than that however, this game has no real eye-candy and cannot compare to the likes of (do you even have to guess? Halo).

STORY(3/10):
This section will contain spoilers:
Blake must journey Antarctica to learn of Whitley's diabolic plan and put a stop to him, once and for all (heh heh). Bleh. That doesn't sound ''Thing-ish'' in the least. But that is pretty much what it is. Along the way the story hints that Blake was a military test subject and was sucessfully combined with a Thing virus, giving him his superhuman abilities and his resistance to The Thing. It is never discussed however, and is only found in documents. Boo. During play, you really don't care about Blake, his teammates, or Whitley for that matter. All you care about is Childs and MacReady. That is the sole driving force in this game; to discover what happened. To save you $50, i'll spoil it for you right here:
1) Childs is found frozen/dead/hibernating in the first level; the game neither discusses nor further mentions him; all that is said is ''the nametag reads Childs''. Good job whoever made this game.
2) MacReady shows up during the final boss fight in a chopper wearing his cowboy hat (and no, he is not voiced by Kurt Russell :(). You and him defeat the final boss together, and then, well, you talk about nothing. Nothing at all is revealed about his character. Neither how he escaped from Childs, or if he is the Thing. Yet again, nice job developers.

CONTROLS(5/10):
I used Type C, as it is most like Halo's :). This game uses the wonderful ''Auto-aiming'' feature, so shooting the enemy takes no skill whatsoever (whoever invented that crappy system should be shot). Everything else is average just like Max Payne/Resident Evil. That is, except for manual (first person) aiming. In this mode, you cannot freely move except for a step or two to the right and left. It is an extreme difficult to shoot the fast-moving enemies when you cannot move, therefore proving it to be utterly useful, cept for the sniper rifle that is (why this gun is in the game totally mystify's me(yet again, Halo comes to mind)). And to make matters worse, the game FORCES you to use it when you have to take on a whopping ''5'' snipers at once. Blake was obviously not meant to be a sniper, as you will no doubt see as you are pelted with bullets while you are switching targets. To sum it all up, auto-aiming is BORING.

MUSIC/SOUND(2/10):
I've ''heard'' that this game includes music from the movie. I don't recall it however. In fact, I don't recall this game having any music whatsoever. And that is not good. Oh wait, the end credits are done by ''Saliva''. Wooo Hooo! I've never ever heard of them, and I don't think you have either. And yes, they suck. Sound in this game is pretty bland. Gunshots sound good, but honestly, how hard is it to replicate a gunshot? All in all, this game has nothing notable whatsoever in this category.

REPLAY(0/10):
No secrets. No cheat codes. No alternate routes. No methods of saving NPC's. No hidden items. No reason to replay this game EVER.

OVERALL(3/10):
If your a fan of the genre, stick with either Silent Hill or the early Resident Evil's. Or check out the movie. It definitely warrants a rental, possibly a purchase. Does the game warrant either of these? No, not in the least.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 10/06/02, Updated 10/06/02