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Game has unresolved issues....

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: September 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The copy write of this program causes it not to run on all CD ROM drives... I have Samsung CD ROM SC-148 and it will not play.
Tech support stats "its a known problem with no resolution at this time."
Buy it and take chance it wont run even if you meet all system requirements...

Seira went past its limits (It was awsome)

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 10
Date: May 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

All I can say is its a difficult game with a few surprises. Ya sure they dont let you jump, but you never realy need to. Just buy the game and try it out... trust me you will certanly like it!

Sierra punishes its customers with bad game control

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 31 / 34
Date: September 12, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Yet ANOTHER game marred by a stupid control system. And it's tragedy here because The Thing has a lot going for it. The game borrows so heavily from Half-life that you'll swear you've played some of the scenarios before--but Half-life was so good I didn't mind. The Thing has some of the best AI I've seen for the characters you team up with. For the first time I found myself arming my team members better than myself because I could actually count on them to watch my back while I flipped switches. This trust builds great drama into the game because, at any time, these characters may wig out, turn into The Thing, and try to kill you, but until that point you're forced to depend on them. It's a powerful dynamic that gives you that "Who can I trust?" paranoia of John Carpenter's movie.

What kills this game is the INVISIBLE CERVICAL COLLAR the genius game programmers force you to wear as punishment for buying their game. Words cannot describe how stupid this is but I'll give it a try: Imagine any 3D shooter with standard mouse/keyboard controls. Now imagine disabling one axis of the mouse so that you cannot look up or down. Playing The Thing is like playing Half-Life with your neck vertabrae fused in place. WHY? Is this Sierra's sick joke upon its customers? Did they have a meeting where they said, "We have a great game here, now what STUPID, GLARING flaw can we shackle it with?"

The only way to look or aim up or down is to stop dead and go into "free look" mode. So the most natural movements, like backing away while aiming a flame thrower at an enemy's head, are impossible. Worse yet, the all-important flame weapons (necessary to finish off large "Thing Beasts") are permanently aimed at the ground 3 feet in front of you rather than outward (unless you go into "free look" mode). The result is an incredibly annoying tendency to set your own feet on fire, and I found myself fearing this more than the baddies. I cannot imagine how this game gets through even the most basic testing without people screaming about these flaws. This game wants to be so cool, (and I give it an extra star for trying) but in it's current form The Thing is an act of sadism of Sierra towards its customers.

And a futile plea to all game programmers from someone who shells out tons of money for your products: PLEASE put the "creativity" in the game and leave it out of the control system.

Don't Waste Your Money (PC Version)

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 16 / 21
Date: September 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The Thing is marketed as an enhanced first person shooter by Black Label Games and promises "an awesome blend of action, evasion, trust, and fear". I picked it up because I am a huge fan of John Carpenter -- Rowdy Roddy Piper in "They Live" consistently makes my Sci-Fi top ten. Unfortunately, this game fails to deliver on this promise, and even worse, it fails to deliver on even the fundamentals of first person shooter games. Net/net: I find it difficult to believe that any serious gamer could recommend this title. Here's why you should spend your money elsewhere...
1) Hyper linear, childishly simple, mouse in a maze game progression
2) No jump function (this is made even more ridiculous by the programmers use of a fence that comes up to the main characters knees to draw game boundaries)
3) No look-up or look-down capabilities
4) VERY limited weapon selection -- the weapons that they do offer have truly uninspired affects
5) Unforgiveably inefficient user interface

The reason I gave it 2 starts instead of one is because the programmers have made a moderately successful attempt at enabling the gamer to manage a squad. But since everything else about the game is so tremendously [bad], the novelty of this wears off in five or ten minutes.

Sorry Mr. Carpenter, looks like you'll need to file this one alongside of "Escape from L.A.".

Very disappointing

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: October 12, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Sierra, let me give you some advice. I should not have to tell one of the biggest gaming houses in the world this. In the year 2002 when I play a game I damn well expect to be able to look up and down. I didn't mind with DOOM cos that was in 93, but not in 2002. This flaw really irritated me so badly I can't be bothered completing the game. You cant look at or examine anything on the floor or above you - its really annoying. Secondly, the weapons are just awful. That assault rifle I've got just seems to fire all over the place. It doesn't even seem to fire in a straight line and I can't aim the damn thing. And the flame thrower, what is that all about? Why why why does it aim at the ground and set the floor on fire in front of you instead of allowing you to fire it across the room from a distance? The only way you can set anything on fire, except for yourself, is by going right up to it. Finally, I found this game totally failed to capture the building suspense of the magnificent film. Every time you meet someone they say something like "hey, I don't trust you, you're one of those things" blah blah blah. They even copied some of the well known phrases word for word from the film which I didn't like, couldn't they have had the imagination to think up something new. It's 20 years since that superb film and this game tries to borrow on its name but doesn't even come close to doing it justice. Don't waste your money. If you do don't say I didn't warn you.

eh. it's only the thing

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: October 02, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I thought this game was going to be cool with your teamates turning against you if your a bad leader. I was wrong. Your teammates turn on you and turn into monters no matter what you do. It's damn annoying and fighting the same monsters over and over again...boring! Get something else. anyTHING.

Stinks

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: October 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game stinks.
The graphics are good but you can't save (or at least I haven't found it) and always have to start from the beginning.
You can't adjust the video card setting to 1280 X 1024. .
Can't jump, can't look up or down, can't do diddly squat.
Don't buy it. Spend the money on Return to Castle... Medal of Honor, or Jedi Knight Jedi Outcast.
I give it two stars for the graphics.

Hillariously Stupid A.I.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

sure this game is kinda fun if you're into the movie but really not all that great. The only thing I found entertaining about it is how hilariously stupid the A.I. is.

I even have a story to tell...

Upon the point where you have to crawl into the ventilation shafts outside into the underground levels, I realized I couldn't bring my AI helpers with me since they do not know how to crouch.

So rather than leaving them out in the cold to freeze to death, I decided to take them out of their misery. So after a good half an hour of trying to command them to walk into a corner, eventually having to physically push them slowly into that corner.

Upon doing so, I backed up a good distance and equipped the grenade launcher, switched the first person view and right as I raised the cross hair to their general location, one of my team members said the most random, yet most hilariously appropriate thing ever...!

"I have a bad feeling about this..."

A further review of The Thingee...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: November 09, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Ok, I'm back. I've played the game for over a week now and as I said before, it has some really fun and exciting spots. And yes, it might even scare you at times. And yes, the trust thing is kind of interesting, although I never really like squad-type games where you have to babysit somebody else. One thing that really bugged me with finding an "engineer" to fix some junction box and open a door for you, is that the SOB wouldn't stay put! I'd tell him to stay in one spot and as I went to clear the way of evil critters, I'd find the jerk standing out in an exposed position, where he could get killed! I finally resolved that by crouching and pushing the idiot into a corner or locking him in a room. There are a couple (so far) spots where you have to battle a HUGE alien critter. THOSE spots really got me screaming and cussing. The character moves too slowly, and firing is awkward and it always seems like you have no place for cover! I don't like that. But overall, I really DO like the game. I think the graphics are excellent, and for the most part, I enjoyed the scenery. I still don't like that you can't save on the spot and have to search for the room that holds the save machine. It's always a mile away from the action, so you have to run forever to get to it or to get back to the action! I do agree with the criticism of the whining character when he uses the flamethrower. I mean, c'mon... I fired that and/or the fire grenade a safe distance away and got killed! That really bugged me... And, right after saving the game, I get a loud "BOOM!" sound and my health is down by half - which I certainly don't appreciate, considering the lack of health packs... Right now, I'm stuck in a room with a huge critter hanging from the ceiling and another in a glass case and no way out. I finally figured out that I could push the engineer towards the door to get it to open and then shoot the critter in the glass cage and kill it. Then I just killed the engineer... No need to keep excess baggage... I found out that I could kill the critter hanging from the ceiling by firing constantly by running in circles and then when I see it's weakened, switch to the flame thrower and circle it while I sprayed fire on the ground surrounding it and it would die. But, I got way to the end of the game where I have to kill a humongous critter outside, from a helicopter. Problem is, the computer keeps crashing at this point! I don't know why it does that! I tried to download the two patches, but every time I do, it totally screws up my computer! So, Like Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb and Angel of Darkness, I now have a ANOTHER game I can't finish... I don't like that... Is this game worth the money? Not if you buy it new in the store. I'd recommend buying a used copy to get the value from it. It's not as bad as the detractor's say, but it DOES have some considerable flawes that seem to make it very frustrating at times...

a licence off target

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: September 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

When I knew that a game from the Thing had to be released I was excited and eager to play it; also knew from some previews it had new features that made the game different from others. Now that I played I was disappointed: the graphics are top notch (wonderful storms) but all the rest is quite repetive and uninspired, the gameplay is the usual find the button and smash the monster/soldier. The movie was set in a little Antartic Base with few men fighting for survival, in the game we have everybody available from the Army and monsteropoly, a festival of people who help you and die little after, some become a monster because infected also if you checked and were sane few seconds before(the test kit is useless)! Also the thrust and fear method is relatively used because most of the time (and in the most difficult parts) you are alone; people are scripted persons at the right moment to help and go away.
Also the "Army wants kill you" is an usual clichè introduced firt in Half-Life and here repeated to make you kill more in the game.
In conclusion too many monsters and shoot-around; the thing was one, here we have the whole family. The only "things" similar to the movie are the snow and the title. If you like a normal shooter with little additions it is good entertainment but, please, forget about the movie and you'll have more chances to enjoy it.

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