The Thing

"Such a wonderful Thing..."

Such an underrated game. Based on this old 80's movie called ''The Thing'', this game is quite fun. Take Resident Evil, mix it with Socom, take out the multi-player and Internet, then let it take place in Antarctica, and you got ''The Thing''. So what is ''The Thing''? Basically it's an alien that infects people with this weird virus. The whole game is unique and very fun.

Graphics- Wow, they are really good. I mean like almost some of the best to date. All the people look very detailed and realistic. The environments looks pretty good. Though not too much work is needed in a blurry snow storm anyway. The little small ''things, spider ''things'', walker ''things'', and such look realistic and creepy. The cinemas look great too. And as the box says, ''Experience State-of-the-Art environmental effects''.

Sound- Awesome. Everything sounds so real... so creepy. The weapons all sound good. The people's voices are all realistic and emotional. The dialogue can be quite funny at times. They swear a lot just in case you don't like that stuff. The music, well there really isn't much. It's more of the dead quiet type game. But it does feature the song ''After Me'' by Saliva (In case you like Saliva I guess it's an added treat). The cinemas also sound good. Can't say anything real bad about the sound.

Gameplay- Original. Like I said Earlier, a mix of a few styles. So the story is you are sent in to investigate a few weird happenings at a research station in Antarctica. You get there and find blood stains everywhere. Most people are dead. In the opening Cinema, you see a Security Camera's view of some Norwegians trying to fight it and get eaten. Then some guy laughs (uh oh a villain!). So the game style is you walk around in and out of buildings trying to advance in the game. You get teammates who help you. You must gain their trust. This can be done by giving them weapons and such. Also you can take a blood test to see if they are infected or not. Infected people become monsters and attack. Then you must kill them. There are several assorted ''Things'' in the game. Too many to explain, but basically you have to kill them or they'll kill you. It's very fun really. You get guns, grenades, med-packs, flashlights, blood tests, and such. Also men can panic at horrific sights and you must calm them or they can start shooting randomly or such. It's very realistic. Things can only be truly killed with a flame weapon though. Also some people are mechanics and medics. There's a lot to go over but I think you get the idea.

In conclusion, this a great game. It's only about $30 these days so pick it up. Compared to the PS2 and PC versions, it gets the best of both, Controller and Graphics. As for one small bad thing, the replay value is pretty low. The game doesn't vary much. So overall, I give ''The Thing'' for XBOX a 9/10.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/22/04