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"The Thing"

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This thread has been linked to the game 'The Thing'.
Tue 28/08/07 at 23:11
Regular
"Braaains"
Posts: 439
If there's one game that was heavily hyped and subsquently failed to deliver, it'd be Fable, of course. A close second, however, would have to be The Thing, based loosely upon the John Carpenter film of the same name. Like the film, the game takes place at a polar research station and has you dealing with an organism that can infect and flawlessly mimic any other creature. Which, in theory, means that anyone you encounter could in fact be The Thing and you won't know about it they decide to reveal themselves, or until you find a means of testing them for the infection.

At least, that's what the developers promised - and being a fan of the movie I was certainly looking forward to the game. The various previews and puff pieces mentioned how the game would never be the same twice, how any members of your team could become infected. In actual fact, the infection aspect of the game that was so heavily promoted is in fact totally absent. It's true that you do get to fight the various monsters - which range in size from tiny crawling heads to giant monstrosities - as part of a team. And when you've got seven headcrabs coming right at you, you'll be grateful of your help. But you can't count on their help, because all your team members will, at some point, turn out to be infected. And they'll inconveniently attack you, leaving you to face the boss monsters on your own.

'But wait' you may be thinking 'perhaps they were infected as you were fighting all those creatures?' No, not at all. How do I know this? Because throughout the game, you get given a number of infection test kits which, when used on a character, should reveal whether they're infected or not. Apart from two characters on the second level, who are always infected, no other characters in the game react to the blood tests. What actually happens is that when a character walks past a certain scripted point on a level, they burst out and attack you. If you stand just to the side of that point and test the character, they'll be shown to be uninfected. Walk past that selfsame point, and they attack. This always happens if you have any surviving team members with you when you're near the end of a level. And it's annoying as hell because having infection being truly dynamic or, at the very least, random, would make the game a hell of a lot scarier than it is. Which, as it stands, is not particularly scary at all.

That's not to say that The Thing is a terrible game - it's just so utterly average. The monsters are reasonably gruesome, and the levels are pretty to look at, although they're a little linear. And there's a gruesome touch whereby team members can get so freaked out that they'll turn their gun on you or themselves. But the problem is that the game just doesn't make good use of the licence that the publishers likely paid a lot of money for. And given how highly regarded the movie is, that's a real shame.
Wed 09/12/09 at 07:25
Regular
Posts: 5
I got this game
Tue 17/11/09 at 09:22
Regular
Posts: 4
the game is excellent,i always enjoy playing it,it is a shame that now with the game engines available that a second installment has not been made.i agree in a small way with the other reviewer about the infection rate,but i know that certain.medics/engineers will be available in the next level! so thats perhaps why the game sort of becomes stuck at that point,some levels you cant take the other squad members with you!.thats the flaw in the game so far otherwise
it runs very well,each level has its own unique way of getting through it,so really its a question of using the engineers in those levels as for
medics i dont really need them at all now ive defeated the game.
the only thing im not quite happy with is the characters movements
and the menu selection for equipment.anyway all in all its a scary game and i recomend it,i only have the ps2 game im not sure if the game is a little different on the other formats.
i love the game and will play it all the time.
9/10 for me.
Sun 25/11/07 at 16:48
Regular
"eeast weeeeeeeeeezy"
Posts: 320
i got the full game on pc
Tue 28/08/07 at 23:11
Regular
"Braaains"
Posts: 439
If there's one game that was heavily hyped and subsquently failed to deliver, it'd be Fable, of course. A close second, however, would have to be The Thing, based loosely upon the John Carpenter film of the same name. Like the film, the game takes place at a polar research station and has you dealing with an organism that can infect and flawlessly mimic any other creature. Which, in theory, means that anyone you encounter could in fact be The Thing and you won't know about it they decide to reveal themselves, or until you find a means of testing them for the infection.

At least, that's what the developers promised - and being a fan of the movie I was certainly looking forward to the game. The various previews and puff pieces mentioned how the game would never be the same twice, how any members of your team could become infected. In actual fact, the infection aspect of the game that was so heavily promoted is in fact totally absent. It's true that you do get to fight the various monsters - which range in size from tiny crawling heads to giant monstrosities - as part of a team. And when you've got seven headcrabs coming right at you, you'll be grateful of your help. But you can't count on their help, because all your team members will, at some point, turn out to be infected. And they'll inconveniently attack you, leaving you to face the boss monsters on your own.

'But wait' you may be thinking 'perhaps they were infected as you were fighting all those creatures?' No, not at all. How do I know this? Because throughout the game, you get given a number of infection test kits which, when used on a character, should reveal whether they're infected or not. Apart from two characters on the second level, who are always infected, no other characters in the game react to the blood tests. What actually happens is that when a character walks past a certain scripted point on a level, they burst out and attack you. If you stand just to the side of that point and test the character, they'll be shown to be uninfected. Walk past that selfsame point, and they attack. This always happens if you have any surviving team members with you when you're near the end of a level. And it's annoying as hell because having infection being truly dynamic or, at the very least, random, would make the game a hell of a lot scarier than it is. Which, as it stands, is not particularly scary at all.

That's not to say that The Thing is a terrible game - it's just so utterly average. The monsters are reasonably gruesome, and the levels are pretty to look at, although they're a little linear. And there's a gruesome touch whereby team members can get so freaked out that they'll turn their gun on you or themselves. But the problem is that the game just doesn't make good use of the licence that the publishers likely paid a lot of money for. And given how highly regarded the movie is, that's a real shame.

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