The Thing
There are only two movies in the history of my childhood that possessed the power to truly disturb me, creating night-terrors from which I would awaken in a cold sweat, catching myself in time from screaming out in pure fear. Only two movies were capable of causing me to pull the covers over my head, and make sure not to dangle any exposed body part over the side of the bed. John Carpenter's The Thing was one such movie. The other was Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. The Brea-Thing The Aural Thing Related Links:
Now year's older and wiser well at least older, I took it upon myself to face the demon that troubled me through much of my youth. Universal Interactive offered up the challenge, to which I, boldly if not blindly, accepted. I had put myself through years of desensitization since my childhood that could stand against anything any game developer could possibly dish out even if it did tackle head-on, my adolescent apprehension. Or so I thought
If you haven't seen the movie, do yourself a favor and do so unless you are a young lad as I was when I first witnessed this horror. The story takes place in the extreme bareness of the Antarctic. An alien life-form that crash-landed in the frozen desert millions of years ago has been brought out of a cryogenic slumber by a small team of researchers quickly spelling their doom and the potential doom of life on Earth as we know it. The movie featured a relatively young Kurt Russell, still trying to further his name as an adult actor, after a wealth of Disney movies he starred in as a youth. Quite the departure from the magical kingdom, John Carpenter's 'The Thing' offered some of the most realistic special effects aimed at one thing: Scaring the crap out of you!
The Thing the game, (sounds silly, I know), picks up where the movie left off. As Captain Blake, your mission is to lead a small rescue squad in uncovering the mysterious disappearance of the research team from the movie. Odds are with you however, as you are a trained soldier, and armed to the teeth with enough men and firepower to overwhelm any terrorist situation. The mission: A piece of cake
if we were dealing with terrorists!
The What Thing?
From the get-go, the game shines at what it sets out to do: Scare the can you guess crap out of you! Darkness abounds, and so does the threat of which you will soon discover. Sorry, no motion radar ala Aliens vs. Predator to aid in the location of potential threats, though that added an element of fear in and of itself. Your only visual aid much of the time: Your trusty Mag-lite. Doesn't quite seem like enough considering the capabilities of what we're up against here, but hey, it's better than nothing!
"The Thing" that Blake is up against here is capable of taking on the precise shape and form of any living creature it samples (through rather bloody means of course), be it man or animal. The alien's mimicry ends not at mere form however. It is also capable of "becoming" the person, in all aspects speech, knowledge, and otherwise. Sooner or later though, the beast tires of its new form and transforms into quite the frightful blend of man and alien typically at the most inopportune times.
The game builds upon the premise that it is virtually impossible to discern whether someone is "infected" or truly themselves. Blake will require the aid of many other characters throughout the game, which may or may not be "infected". Regardless of their status, to get through this nightmare, Blake will be forced to trust even the unlikely, and vice-versa.
Blake enters the fray lightly armed from the beginning of the game, though he possesses a team of definitely NOT infected individuals, each capable in a helpful skill. Throughout the game, Blake will come across many other characters, each a specialist in one of three fields: Military, Medical, or Engineering. Aside from the hired help, assistance will be dealt out as the game progresses in the typical game fashion; more firepower! The whole arsenal line-up includes the standard issue, highly accurate pistol, MP5 machine gun, combat shotgun, grenade launcher, flamethrower (most important weapon of them all), sniper-rifle, hand grenades of all assortments (flame, explosive, high-explosive, etc.), and of course, one melee weapon (stun-gun which you'll NEVER use). Most weapons are simply found along the way, as well as ammunition, because, duh, that's the way it is in real life.
A gimmick that the game uses, which actually works quite well within the context of the movie, is that of trust. While Blake will encounter many a mankind throughout the many a missions in the game, not all will follow or cooperate in a desired fashion. Many characters will require a bit of coercing, through one of several means. Each character will display a "trust" meter, which will rise and drop, depending mostly upon the actions of Captain Blake. Giving a character a weapon or health will raise their trust in you. Shooting them will not. Killing them will indefinitely fully deplete their trust in you. Aim carefully! Some missions require the aid of certain individuals, such as an engineer who is the only one capable of opening a locked door or hacking a power terminal. Also, having a Medic around is like having an endless supply of first-aid kits at least until he turns into some ungodly beast and they ALWAYS do, sooner or later! Gain their trust, but keep an eye on them. [perhaps two ED]
In addition to the trust meter is the fear factor. If a character has seen all he can stand as far as violent, bloody gore is concerned, he will begin to freak out. Once someone starts to lose his cool, it is best to either; take them out of the environment, give them a weapon and/or ammo, give them an adrenaline shot, or shock the hell out of them! While shocking them will generally always cause their trust to fall (and possibly the trust of others following you), you can at least get their weapon away from them, before they totally lose it, and open fire on you and your other teammates!
The many missions will take you from one snowy environment to another. If you're looking for a game with differing locales and exotic locations, this is not it. Snow, snow, and more snow. Most every level looks like the last, buildings being the only slight change in scenery. This is pretty much how the movie played out, so this is an acceptable exception. Blake will, for the most part, be minimally exposed to the great white open, as he would realistically eventually die from hypothermia. Most of the action takes place in the many research compounds (now highly populated by the alien-life form) scattered throughout two locations of the Antarctic. And for the fans of the movies; There are many recognizable outposts and events from the movie revisited throughout the game. (Remember the tape MacReady said he was hiding? Guess who finds it!)
The Visual Thing
While The Thing may not represent the state of graphical technology we should start expecting from more games, it does stand out as one of the more polished releases of 2002. The game is played almost entirely in third-person, and features some of the best human character models available in a game to date. They are highly realistic, and only intone the slightest quality of an animated look. I would actually go as far as to compare them to the quality of the recent Tom Clancy's release, Splinter Cell. While the characters may not boast as much animation as the aforementioned game, they do possess the quality. The graphics are top-notch in this respect. However, the environments don't share the same quality of definition. Most structures are rather square-ish and featureless. Oil drums, which in my experience are round, take on an octagonal shape something I thought I'd seen the last of. Oh well. At least the levels are well thought out, and somewhat well decorated with blood and carnage, giving it a decent amount of atmosphere.
Much of the game is spent in the relative darkness, as I mentioned before, so really this game is not about the graphics one bit, though the niceties offered are welcome. Perhaps one great achievement, if any, of this game is the flashlight. This is the best use of a flashlight I have ever seen in a game. It isn't spectacular, just realistic, and actually useful.
The aliens, while not all that scary in and off themselves, are detailed enough, and given the right amount of animation to add the element of fear to the game. Not much unlike the head-crabs in Half-Life, much of your ammo will be spent on human heads with spider-like legs, as they endlessly chase you, lunging when close enough. (see "night-terrors" above).
By far, the most unsettling horror effect used in this game is the camera. The only way I can explain it is this: Ever see Poltergeist? Remember the scene where the mother was standing in the middle of the hallway (towards the end of the movie), pondering the outcome of what was behind door number 1? As she stood there, the camera focused on her, and then, through camera trickery-dickery-doo, the hallway she was standing in seemed to get longer. This technique is employed throughout the game, whenever a large alien-threat is nearby, and you are facing in the general direction of it. The effect is simply astonishing, and no doubt adds to the horror aspect of the game. It wasn't until a friend pointed out that its occurrence coincided with a threat that I realized the pure genius of it. Nice touch!
All games rely, to some degree (higher than most think), on the sound of it all. Certainly a nice soundtrack and believable sound effects should be part of any media, be it film or game, but some subject matters require that extra degree of care. Both horror movies and horror games rely greatly upon this factor as a tool to create just that: horror. While I can't conjure any memorable moments from The Thing, that does not mean that it failed in its task. To be honest, there is absolutely nothing that stands out in my mind, as far as the aural experience goes. Personally, I accept this as being an adequate to very good experience, as it was enough to not get in the way, and at the same time, enough to avoid becoming blaringly absent.
I am certain of this however. Without what sound there was in the game, the game would have been exceptionally boring. There was just enough tension created through the soundtrack, without being overbearing or calling too much attention to itself.
Voice-over work was par, most of which was done in brief conversations between Blake and other characters in cut-scenes. During game play, other characters will blurt out a line or two, usually giving you an indication of their well-being. These quick blurts served their purpose in lessening the need to take a moment to check the status of a team member, but nothing more.
The Whole Thing
I actually had to go back and re-watch John Carpenter's The Thing midway through playing the game, as I, admittedly hadn't seen it since age 8 (that's how bad it scared me). I wasn't totally up to speed on the whole plot and concept of the movie, as an 8 year old generally isn't. After reassuring myself that "everything would be okay", and that the "head-crabs couldn't really come after me", I prodded through the second half of the game. Only after having watched the movie again had much of what already occurred in my travels of the game made sense. As I watched the movies, I recognized many of the locations, and those pesky Norwegians. Playing through the rest of the game uncovered even more treats from the movie; including the cameo appearance of
well let's not give too much away.
The Thing is a solid game overall, though it did rear an ugly head of "been there, done that" right from the beginning. The game is pretty linear, and highly repetitive. As the game progresses, one would expect a higher degree of variance in enemies, and to some extent, the game offers it. But it isn't quite enough. There are only a handful of enemy types, with a few "bosses" scattered throughout the game. The exception is the few times when the environment itself becomes an obstacle, almost an enemy, giving the player a break from the norm.
A serious case of "been there, done that" occurred about midway though the game, when I felt like I was Gordon Freeman again, battling both man and alien. There are certainly
many parallels one could draw between The Thing and Half-Life, though truly, The Thing came first (at least the movie).
If you're looking for a decent sci-fi horror game, you can do no wrong with The Thing. It offers just a notch below what Half-Life offered, though with a sharper bent on horror.
Fun Factor: 7 Slightly addictive action, though highly repetitive
Gameplay: 7 Decent control scheme. Cannot move while in first-person view. Few camera issues for a third-person shooter.
Graphics: 8 High quality character models. Acceptable level design.
Sound: 8 Unobtrusive, but resident.
Value: 7 Very low replayability no incentive given.
Universal Interactive (Publisher)
Computer Artworks (Developer)
