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The Thing (review)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 30 / 33
Date: July 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

"The Thing" takes the video-gaming world into a new dimension. Consider one of the best games of the new century, as it contains aspects of the video games we all love and new aspects which will leave one speechless. It is an adventure game unlike any other, for its orginality, complexity, outstanding visuals, and fantastic gameplay.
The most intersting and innovative part about this game is the Trust Meter concept. The object of the game is for you and your squad to complete missions, which each memeber responsible for different tasks. As the game moves on you are drawn in by the emotions each memer feels. In this game the characters seem like real humans as they express themselves emotionally (as well as visually) as they begin to lose mental stability. These humans also become skeptical of you as well, this is where you must earn their trust so you can ultimately win the game and avoid being attacked by your own team. This is the most exciting, complex, challening, and original part of the game that sets it apart from its predecessors.
The graphics are amazing as well in combiantion with the gameplay. As you are stuck in the freezing Artic...searching for the surviving members of your team, you embark in an almost too realistic experience of the Artic. The creatures, your nemisis, put you on the edge of the seat as you can be amazed by seeing infected humans morph into the Thing. As you go along through heavy and empowering gun play, you also get to blow a lot of things up to. This always leaves on satisifed as the visual effects in this game make one feel proud of their accomplsihemnts after seeing creatues and structures get blown to bits.
This game has an effect on the player as well. One will be left biting their nail to kepp on playing, but at the same time leaves a player in such frightening suspense of what lies around the corner. The game plays so well with everything, using real human intuition and emotions, scary situations, and using the environment. A player must use everything around them to ultimately win, and this makes the game well worth it in my book!

WHO GOES THERE?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 19
Date: September 05, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I was lucky enough to snatch the last copy of this game off the shelf last week while I was out picking up SOCOM (also for PS2). I didn't get around to playing either one until I got off from work the next day. Needless to say, once I popped this game into the PS2, I spent all weekend playing it (and SOCOM, the game I originally went out for, is still wrapped up in it's box on my shelf). This is a great game that forces you to think instead of just pointing and shooting like some others. You must manage all your resources (equipment and men) while dealing with several elements (the weather, the men's trust and fear, and especially the "things") in solving problems and/or completing tasks. I can't say enough good things about this game and don't want to so that I don't spoil it for others. If you like the movie, you'll love this game. So grab your weapon and pull on your parka.

Where the movie left off... the true terror begins

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: May 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I played The Thing at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) and it totally rocks! The gameplay is intense and the story is terrifying. It is a sequel to one of the best action horror films ever created - John Carpenter's 1982 film by the same name. In the game, you must gain/keep the trust of your squad to get through the missions. This has never been done before in any game that I know of and it makes it really interesting. If you're easily offended by violence or bad language than this is NOT the game for you. They didn't hold back a bit. Very realistic. Really fun to play. Highly recommended.

Skin and Snowmen, The Playmates Cold Climates Create

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: August 05, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Its been years in the coming, too many to count in fact, so after seeing the previewed version of The Thing and having a short taste of its very "M for mature" greatness, I couldn't help but write a review about this unique roller coaster ride brought to us by the good people at Universal Interactive and Computer Artworks. (Give them a hand!!).

The elements of my deliciously enticing experience:
First, I feel compelled to try and stress how great the mood that this game was able to produce actually is. The look and the feel itself was so richly enticing, with the angles and the interiors drifting into darkened realms that were very much akin to those that the movie helped bring to the surface. It had that eerie ability to conquer goosebumps from the "seemingly hardened" and to make you look over your shoulder the whole time, pondering on the proximity the aliens the whole time. This combined with a second portion, the more unique "trust/fear mechanism," adding to your interaction with the people you met and gave those interludes a little slice of that down-home Antarctic paranoia we all know and love. Through this useful feature, you actually have the ability to calm freaked out teammates by giving them a confidence boost (and weaponry in the process) or to test them if you feel they could be part of the alien menace masquerading as your friends. Next, there are the aliens themselves, shambling nightmares that are somewhat like the movie but with liberties taken, and the feel of dispensed flame-thrower justice was about the only way to deal with such monstrosities (although splatter painting walls with their innards by shotgun dispensed glory was a fun idea as well). Added to this is the fact that the much expected gore is really plentiful, plus the mouths of the characters are of the unwashed variety.

If you want a game that delivers something that will grant you a sweet plague to go with your otherwise monotonous dreams, then this is the game for you. Just make sure to have a testing kit handy in case your friends suddenly seem a bit more fiendish afterwards.

The Thing.... a great horror game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 16
Date: August 30, 2002
Author: Amazon User

First of, being a big horror movie fan, I must correct one of the reviews. Someone titled theirs "a horrific game from the creater of holloween & freddy." It's spelt "Halloween," and John Carpenter did not create Freddy, or have ANYTHING to do with him (Freddy from the Nightmare On Elm Street series).

Now, The Thing...a GREAT game. Everyone who likes shoot-em-up or alien games or anything like that will love this game. And fans of the movie will love the game even more. The weapons, the Things, the interaction will your squad...it's all just great. (for more details on the game, just read others reviews).MAJOR WORD OF ADVICE........... Personally, I don't think you should BUY this game. Don't get me wrong, the game is great...but very short too. I bought this game, not knowing that. I bought it, and 4 days later (playing a few hours each day) I beat it. This is a good game, but you may just wanna rent it rather than buy it. It will save you a lot of money this way.

An exciting new game with a twist on gameplay.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 16
Date: June 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I've had the E3 build of this game for two weeks now to do a review for my website about The Thing.

The game has many great features. The game can be viewed in a 3rd or 1st person viewpoint depending on what you are dealing with during the game. Typically, you move around in either a Tomb Raider style view, but this is often accented by a Resident Evil viewpoint as well. During a battle you'll want to switch to 1st person, though, and at no fault of the game itself, as with all console based shooters the controls are lacking compared to a mouse/keyboard.

The atmosphere or environment are well done as well. Interiors are dark with plenty of nooks and crannies. Exteriors are just as well done but believe me, you won't want to wander from the buildings or guidelines... it's quick to get lost in the flurries and that fact may be just as nerve-racking as having to deal with the Thing beasts wandering around.

Speaking of the enemies, while they may not have the "fluidity or variations" of those seen in the movie (according to the producer, technology on hand wasn't up to the task), they can be quite a handful to deal with. Watching one of your NPCs "burst out" can be quite gruesome and very well done.

And when your NPCs aren't turning inside out, they are well done and somewhat distinct... the don't suffer from the sameness of the "Barneys" in Half-Life. Also, they react to the situation. Not only to they talk to themselves, or other NPCs, to reassure themselves, they may also kid around or if a scene is really bad, throw up.

An interesting feature has been the trust/fear interface. As I've only played the first couple levels, I suspect I've not seen it when things get really bad. I've encountered a couple particularly shaken NPCs, but I've not had the chance to really put this through it's paces either.

So far, it's been really fun, though I've limited my play as I want to be able to enjoy the full game when it releases.

The Thing: A Terrific Survival Horror Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: January 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Right when I heard that they were making a game from the 1982 John Carpenter movie I was immediately interested in The Thing. I had never even seen the movie but the game looked so good that I right away went out and rented the movie and loved it.

The game's graphics arn't too bad. The only questionable responses I have of them is the cut scenes. When the characters speak its like a third rate foregin chinsese movie. Their mouths arn't in sync with their words. The sound is eerie and the game can stir up quite a fright sometimes. The grouns and wails of the monsters set in your mind and its especially scary when they comeup from behind you.

The controls to this game in my opinion are flawless. I like having the crouch button on the L3 button. If I accidently press it, it only adds to the excitment and besides there is a pause button and if you crouch by mistake you know what to do.

The level design in this game is extremely detailed and enormous. You go from snowy caves to high tech facilities with monsters and soldiers shooting after you. The plot is pretty good and even includes Kurt Russel's tape that he made in the movie. At times it is kind of hard to follow but when you're playing a really great game the plot isn't the first thing that comes to mind.

Overall if you are a fan of the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series and liked the movie, I could reccomend no greater game then, The Thing.

Compelling game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: September 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game draws you in... It has great cinematic sequences, and they aren't too long like other games so you can jump right into without having to know a lengthy pre-plot.

This game is violent! But it's not gore for the sake of gore. It's gore for the sake of realism.

It is incredible mix of a storyline game, suspense, first person shooter, strategy and more.

The fact that you have to be aware of your teammates at all times makes this a revolutionary game and adds to the realism.

I usually don't like movie adaption games, and I haven't seen this movie, so I was hesitant to play it. But even without knowing much about the story beforehand I think it has an excellent plot, graphics and music. This is a must-buy.

Exciting, scary, challenging, fun & not for young children

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: March 13, 2005
Author: Amazon User

What a game! I bought this game because I really enjoyed the film, and I was not disappointed. This game exceeded all of my expectations.

The missions require you to think, but are not too difficult to solve. In addition to the missions you are handed, you must also manage your crew, which is a great challenge in the sense that the outcome of your mission could be affected depending on how you treat your support staff. This is something that I really haven't experienced in a role-playing game before, and it was a great addition to the game.

Then, of course, there are the encounters with "The Thing," or "Things." Their presence offers a constant threat to your mission and they are by no means easy opponents. A lot of your encounters with them (it) will even cause you to jump because they often show up unexpected!

I also thought the storyline was excellent and well-crafted. The creators of the game obviously put a lot of thought into the plot and it really showed. Excellent stuff.

As great as this game is, there is room for improvement. The biggest gripe that I had with the game is that it didn't seem to automatically save your progress as you complete each mission. In fact the only time when you are allowed to save your progress is midway into your mission. So as a hint, make sure that you save your progress when you are given the opportunity to do so, because there are often long intervals between saving your progress. Another issue is that once you complete a mission, you are not allowed to replay your mission. So if you miss out on an opportunity earlier through your mission, you cannot go back to change it once the mission ends. But those issues are by no means significant towards the overall quality of this game, and are not intended to deter someone from purchasing it. The pros greatly outweigh the cons in my humble opinion.

A word of caution however - there is a lot of scary situations, violence, gore and adult language in this game, so parents take notice of the game's rating. This game is not meant to be played by younger children.

So I'll end this review by saying that it's a great game for people who enjoy adventure/role-playing/horror games. If you're someone who has enjoyed other titles like "Silent Hill" or "Tenchu" then you won't be disappointed with "The Thing." I highly recommend it.

Kind of hit-or-miss, but I liked it

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: November 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

"The Thing", as if you didn't know, is a game based on John Carpenter's 1982 film of the same name, and features the same conflict as the movie--alien/monster infestation. Amazingly, this game draws you into the world of these frightened soldiers in a very effective manner so that you actually sense yourself feeling all of the "is he...?" distrustfulness of the characters. The backdrop of the icy and isolated Antarctica in both the film and the game plays very smoothly beneath all of the human turmoil.

If anything, it's the atmosphere of the whole deal that will keep you coming back for more.

The length of the game is very satisfying. It took me about two weeks to beat it, and thankfully, never once did any level feel like a carbon copy of the last. The environments are always changing, and there is always some new way to interact with them. It would have been cool to see some sled dog infections like we did in the film, but the closest you ever get here is running through a gutted-out kennel with several dog corpses lying around.

Getting back to the concept of trust, though, it was a very pivotal plot point in the film, and it is no less of a factor here in the game rendition. You will come across various members of an army squadron stationed all over the continent of Antarctica. Some already know you, some don't. But unless you were pals prior to meeting up, and good pals at that, most characters will refuse to follow you or take any of your orders unless you give them a weapon or give yourself a blood test in front of them to prove that you're not infected with Thing-ness. Even then, it might still be hard to get them to believe you and if they ever once sense that you're not leading them with their best interests in mind, they'll think nothing of turning on you and gunning you down in an instant. It would definitely be wise to tread lightly with your team members!

If your NPCs (non-playable characters) ever get particularly stubborn, the game also gives you the option of "coercion", which is achieved by going into first person mode and pointing a gun at one of your team members' heads for about five seconds. You can get him to do something that he doesn't want to do by using this technique, but don't expect him to believe anything you say after that. I kind of wanted to be forced to use it at some point, but you can easily make it through the entire game without having to do it once. It's a very intriguing idea, but I sort of feel that it's tacked on to add authenticity to the game, because the characters in the movie did it.

There are some pretty big cons in this game, despite its overall coolness. The layout for the weapons and supplies is pretty slick, but it would behoove Blake to not run into his own grenades and flames quite as much. And this isn't because I suck, it just genuinely gets very difficult to avoid hurting yourself in a lot of situations. Sure, it's very realistic that your own weapons are as lethal to you as they are to your enemies, but also pretty perplexing when you notice around 1/3 of the way through the game that your character's health is taken down more by his own weaponry than by a bite to the face from a psychotic alien monster.

The danger of your own weapons is especially aggravating in a game where the weaponry is primarily focused on flame throwers, blow torches, and other various fire-spewing arms. The worst is when you've happened to equip one of your team members with the flame thrower and you run out ahead of him to attack some of the smaller Things, and the only way he can defend himself is to fry not only the creatures, but you as well. Thanks a lot, a - - hole, you're welcome for the weapon.

Despite their stupidity, I still found myself very concerned for the well-being of my squad. I tried to kill all of the Things before they had a chance to bite any of my team, even if it would pose a risk to my own health. But no matter how hard I tried to keep everyone calm and safe, the game automatically infected them and caused them to explode into the Thing after traveling through only a few stages with them. It took me a while to figure out why some guy I had grown to trust had randomly turned into a monster, but I went online and found out that the programming is the reason why. So if you're in a similar frame of mind, don't worry: it's not your fault. There was nothing you could have done for the guy.

The blood tests that the game provides are completely pointless in this regard. Supposedly, you can test your team members to see if they're infected with Thing-ness, but since the game is preset to have them burst out into a monster at some point, it's totally moot and a complete waste to even try testing them. I think another reviewer has already said it, but I'd just like to reiterate that your tests are put to much better use testing yourself to gain the trust of any new soldiers you may encounter.

You will need a ridiculous amount of patience for the last three or four levels, as health supplies tend to be low and the monsters and soldiers you will be shooting at are relentless. I was pretty lenient and forgiving of my dying over and over and over again, but even I got fed up after a while and had to shut off my Playstation. So there's one more thing you have to look forward to.

The ending, while it might not bother others, didn't really live up to my gaming expectations. I come from an era where you'd battle your way through a gauntlet of foes and arrive at the end to receive a fun, satisfying tying up of the story, as opposed to just another cutscene. Tragically, this seems to be the preferred method these days, and a lot of games just don't satisfy by their end as much as they should. In this one, you are given what basically amounts to another cutscene once you've defeated the last boss; the whole thing couldn't have lasted longer than twenty seconds.

On the plus side, by the game's end, some of the original lingering questions from the John Carpenter film are answered. It may not be canon, but it's still kind of fun. If you're a fan of "The Thing", you'll really appreciate this game ending's subtle nod to the movie.

So all in all, there are many plusses, but the many minuses can really detract from your experience with "The Thing". It's fun, and it's pretty original, so I'd say it's worth a look, at least. Just be aware of the setbacks and then try your damndest to ignore them. I think it's pretty safe to say that everyone would have liked a more "finished" game in the sense that some of the controls and the game dynamics could have been improved before it hit the shelves, but at least this game is challenging, unlike many titles. I had fun with it, anyway. Maybe you will, too.

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