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A Game Player/Buyer's Practical Review

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 55 / 59
Date: October 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I've reviewed a few X-Box games here, so before I continue, I ask that after reading this review, please vote as to whether or not it was helpful so I know how/if I'm helping for your game purchases. Thanks! I'm changing my reviews to give purchase/rent/buy recommendations, as well as the 5-star system.

"The Thing" is one of the more surprisingly enjoyable games I've purchased recently. For those on the fence, on my new rating system I would give this a "good buy". To give you a better understanding of this rating, I would give "Halo" a "definitely buy" rating, "GunMetal" would get a "rent only", and "Smashing Drive" would receive an "avoid" rating. With that said, let's get down to details:

Graphics: Graphics are well-done and rated about a 3.5 to 4 out of 5. The colors are well-integrated, snow/fog perception is visually well done. Texture mapping onto various "thing" creatures can be a bit redundant, but doesn't detract from game play. Conceptually, the graphics are similar to Halo. The mapping of character voices to mouth movements is a bit puppet-like, but it's understood that do so would require a much more programming effort, and again, doesn't detract from the story. There is some granularity on certain images, but the content is large, so some work is spared. Again, the graphics are fine, and do not detract from playability of this game at all. You may need to tweak your TV's video settings if you're used to watching DVD movies often because there are many dark scenes that may require a darkened room to play, or adjusted contrast/brightness (increased Gamma). Occasionally, when your character is too close to battle, the view switches from an "behind the back" third person, to a first-person. Sometimes this can be a bit jerky, or can be accompanied by video clipping (i.e., where parts of the characters seem to be "cut off" or disappear through walls), causing disorientation for the player, but again, doesn't happen enough to be a serious problem.

Sound/music: Sounds are rated 3.5 to 4 also. The sounds for certain weapons as the shotgun are superb with nice subtle additions, such as the clink of shells falling on hard floors, recocking of the gun, and the "schluck, schluk" of reloading more shells. The sounds of "things" dying is can be repetitive, and it would have been nicer to have a few more variations on this. The sound of the wind howling during outdoor missions never becomes overstated, and the repeating track works well. The background mood music is very well done. The tense sounds or sudden pizzicato play very well into the story. When I first started playing this game at night with all the lights out, the mood music started to give me the same fearful anticipation that watching a good horror movie will do. Sounds of doors shutting, computers working, electrical boxes being repaired, and circuit breakers being thrown are realistic.

Game play/controls: This category rates a solid 4. An interesting quirk of this game occurs during loading of missions, which in no way affects game play. During loading from the DVD-ROM a "loading progress" indicator graphic of a single alien cell morphing into a human cell moves with a very jerky motion from left to right, followed by the words "Assimilation Complete" typed out. This doesn't affect game play at all, but more care should have been taken to not detract from the mood between missions. Another slightly annoying thing is the fact that there is no directly accessible save function (from the start button menu). You have to find "data recorders" throughout each mission at various steps along the way to save your progress. Usually these are located in places just prior to some perilous action, however, sometimes they're placed near the end of a mission, and possibly nowhere near the initial action of a following mission. If your character is killed in a new mission, you can simply restart the mission as many times as you need, but if you exit the game, or have to shut down your X-Box, you may have to replay a bit more than you'd like of an earlier mission (from where you had saved at a data recorder location) up to where you'd actually left off in a following mission. The flow of story and action is smooth, and the addition of movie-like scenes between action is very cool, though sometimes at the end of a scene you may be placed right in the middle of critical action without enough time to assimilate your situation, and the next thing you know, you're toast. The controls are standard, however, the left thumbstick controls ALL of your movement, and the right thumbstick is only for "panning" left or right, or to lean outward left or right. This is different from Halo which uses the left thumbstick to move, and the right one to "turn your head" to view separately from movement. If you've played Halo often, it takes a little getting used to, but you'll adapt quickly. The other controls are very simple to use, and there are only a few functions so as to avoid complication. As I said above, playing this game at night with all the lights off can be creepy at first, so the anxious tension comes across very well. The game is rated "M" for Mature, mostly for occasional obscenities/language, and violence. I'm glad Black Ice (the creators) didn't hold back with language; it's probably about a "PG-13" rating, maybe pushing "R", but to have toned it down would have made the game into a parody of what it is now. The game features a great combination of problem solving with action-less action than Halo, but makes up for it with the heightened tension conveyed in playing out a Sci-Fi horror movie game.

I had no idea of what to expect when I had purchased this game, not having read any other reviews (which I usually do beforehand), but I was not let down, and I'd recommend it for purchase.

Atmosphere is everything

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 13
Date: October 13, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Normally, I find games made for multiple systems to be generally weak, or only as good as the weakest platform on the market. Since the Xbox is the baddest machine on the market, even though it might not always have the baddest games to accompany it, a lot of these games seem really watered down. The Thing is a nice exception to this rule. It's not the greatest game I've ever played, but it's definitely the best Xbox game I've played since Hunter: The Reckoning.

Ok, while the use of such an old, relatively tired license might seem a bit odd for those who don't remember the eighties as clearly as old guys like me, it lends itself perfectly to the survival horror genre. "Half-Life" always sort of reminded me of "The Thing" so it's nice to see the game steal a lot of inspiration back from games and movies it inspired over the years.

The one thing the game nails right on the head is the atmosphere. Paranoia rules the day. Are your allies infected, waiting to turn on you at any minute? Do they think the same thing about you? Are you all infected? The use of NPC's to further the plot and mold the atmosphere is used to perfection. NPC's might not be infected when you start, but in the heat of battle can become infected and turn on you. Everyone is a potential enemy. The game tries to further this by creating a NPC interface that revolves around building trust and quelling suspicion. While it's not a major part of the game, it does serve the atmosphere and keep you on your toes. The sound also helps build paranoia by doling it out in small or large doses. Footsteps in the snow or something banging on the wall can be really freaky. Aside from adding to the paranoia, the sound really isn't exceptional.

The graphics are good, but not the best. You can tell the graphics have been cleaned up considerably for the Xbox, but they are still a wee bit grainy and even laggy at times. I found the lag to be a personal irritant. This is the first game I've ever played on the Xbox with any lag at all, and although its minor compared to a lot of PC games on the market, it was still a little irritating. I personally think console games have no excuse for lag. It's not like they're dealing with an aging PC or something, they already have the specifications they need to build the game. The lag isn't horrible, but it's noticeable. Most people probably won't care.

The game-play itself is quite good and is what puts the game over the top in my book. All of the monsters remain threatening no matter how small they are. The big monsters are very difficult and the AI is exceptional. I spent a lot of time sneaking around with practically no health trying to avoid monsters, and it was easier said than done. A lot of times you are forced into combat, and when you are, get ready for a lot of gun switching. You have to beat the big guys down to nothing with machine guns and shotguns and then turn the flamethrowers on them which requires you to get very close. Not easy.

My only complaint about the control is the duck feature. In the control configuration I used, the stick for movement made you duck when you pushed it. In the heat of battle while running for my life, I would suddenly find myself in a duck walk getting beat on by some nasty critter. My only other complaint has to do with the save game feature. I'm sure checkpoint saves, or in game saves that require some device, in this case a recorder, are necessary for games that require memory cards, but with the Xbox's big hard drive, it's just irritating. Please, someone out there figure this out.

Anyway, there are lots of new Xbox games coming out, many of which I've played, few of which are good. The Thing is a good, safe bet. It's not the new Halo, but it's a great single player game. It's well worth your time and money.

Pretty Good

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: September 11, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Okay, so I buy this game, because I really like the movie. Don't buy this game if you don't like the movie. But even if you do like the movie, there a couple things about this game that'll probably dissapoint you. Like the blood test thing. The game gives you these blood testing syringes to prove if your team mates are the Thing or not. But there are points in the game where certain members of the team become Things no matter what, even if you tested him within a couple seconds before he morphed out and had it come up negative. I was really excited about the whole trust/fear levels aspect of the game, which the game advertises in all it's commercials and stuff. But as it turns out, the "who's the thing?" aspect of the game is only about ten percent of the game. The rest is running around finding keys and shooting the random Things that pop out at you. It's got great graphics, and does do some justice to the movie, but it seems like they rushed this one and didn't smooth the edges.

A Terrifyingly Fun Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: August 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The Thing rocks. From the very begining this game is scary. You start out as a soldier sent out looking for survivors in a destroyed science base in antarctica but find only mangled or frozen bodies, and scattered papers that describe some kind of mutating infection. Later you find a fellow soldier, cowering in a corner, surrounded by mutilated bodys and babbeling about an unknown horror. This horror, the thing, is a virus that mutates anyone infected by it into a nightmarish beast. Your fellow soldiers suspect everyone of being infected and paranoia sets in. In this game you not only have to fight the monsters, but also cope with your teammates fears. A great story, cool weapons, and managing fear make The Thing a grade A horror game. The gory content of this game also makes it scary. Finding an evecerated corpse impaled upon its own severed limb, while your men cringe nervously as they hear strange shrieks and growels coming from the shadows, really adds up to a terrify game. I love this game and all my buddys who have rented or borrowed it ended up buying it because they loved it so much too. If you enjoy horror games or are a fan of the movie than buy it because this will blow you away. (you should also see the movie if you havent already, its great)

Creepy

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: May 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is not perfect in design. But it is survival horror at it's best and the controls beat Resident Evil and Silent Hill. The Thing is one of the most tense games I have ever played. From the grotesque mosnters to your own squad mates commiting suicide, you never really relax. One great gameplay dynamic is that you have to dish out the ammo and food. But you have to be careful if your squadmate has turned into the thing. Fantstic game, even better if you like the movie.

Really good game. go get it.

Not a perfect, but good1st survival horror for Xbox

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: September 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I'm a hardcore PC gamer and picky console gamer, so I rarely purchase console games unless it's worth it. The Thing lived up to what I expected and delivered even more in terms of graphics and sounds, not to mention the AI of "The Things" are pretty good too. Controls are decent and the story plot definitely give those who saw the original movie a feeling of sequel in action (if you didnt see this 1982 sci-fi classic movie, get it, its worth it, the special effects in there are still good to date). There are few minor flaws, such as the trust/fear system that comes in conflict with scripted story/character development, so even after bloodtest those team members who are not infected might become infected due to story development or scripted plot. It's not bad, but it sort of cancels out the fear/trust system as. One minor issue I have with the game is that ammunition tend to be so readily available that it makes the game lean towards action than a survial horror game... but the blood and gore is this game will make up for that. Conclusion is this game is a much better choice for Xbox owners that wants a true resident evil type game (Silent Hill 2 was way too slow for my taste), and with the ability to be able to control a squade, good story and challenging AI this game should warrant any Xbox owner's investment.

One of the best yet...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: October 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

OK, where to start. I bought "The Thing" not expecting much other that you normal shoot-em-up no-brainer, but have been pleasantly suprised. The game IS action-packed, but with enough strategy and mission objectives to keep it interesting. The gameplay isn't extremely difficult, but requires enough thought to keep the player in the game. As far as the controlling your "squad's emotions" feature, I found this aspect to be slightly disappointing. Yes, you can control their morale and trust, but I found that you rarely held on to a squad member long enough to build up a "cozy" relationship with them. Most likely they changed into monsters, died, or were factored out by the scheme of things (fighting bosses, end of level, etc.) But it definetly made this game unique, and using other characters to help you get through situations was interesting. The graphics were very good. Not quite as good as Quake, but close. The monsters were intimidating, if repetitive, sharing the likeability of the Resident Evil series. Handling was EXCELLENT, i.e when maneuvering, changing weapons and using items. The arsenal was extensive, but I was disappointed with the lack of control the player has when throwing grenades. Sniper mode was most satisfying. This game most closely resembles Metal Gear without all those annoying movie clips. I definetly recommend this game for some exciting hours spent in front of the screen.

WHOA--So Scary

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: June 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Yo-- thats all I can say after playing the Thing. This game is so sweet and scary. You will see the thing pass by your window as you look out it while playing the game... the suspense kills me-- 5 stars- all the way.

And no Wilford Brimley!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: September 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

My fear was that it would be like the Evil Dead: Hail to the King game which was only enjoyable for the fact that it had recognizable lines, etc from the movie and I found that non-fans of the movie series were completely unhappy with it. I found the gameplay on Evil Dead to be horrible and the game itself tedious beyond all belief.

Not so with The Thing. Not only does the game replicate main aspects of the movie quite well, the gameplay is good and the graphics are sharp. It is instantly engaging and a great way to make several hours fly by. It is scarier than Resident Evil which only enhances it. The backgrounds and sound effects are perfect and the dialogue between characters is great as well. They mean it with the M rating on this one. Through only the first 3 levels I've heard more profanity than in many other console games, but it is intelligently used and not gratuitous in any fashion. While there are parts that require patience, this game always keeps you on your toes and there is one part I just got done with where we were attacked by wave upon wave of Scuttlers. I don't believe I've ever been attacked in a game by so many creatures at once. Hint: Conserve your ammo and flamethrower fuel.

If for some reason you haven't seen the John Carpenter classic this is based on, rent it first, then get the game, it can and will only enhance the experience. I have found that most that say they dislike this game, have no idea of the movie it's based off of.

This gets 4.5 stars

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: October 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I thought that this game was going to be real crappy when I saw the commercial. It looked interesting enough, but so did Azurik, Nightcaster, and many other games. I rented it, and now I love this game. It's so fun and involving! You are a squad leader on Antarctica, leading other marines into and out of the grip of death. The graphics for the most part are great, the mouth movements arn't exact, but there is no great loss with this. The sound is great, the marines talk about the situation, the enemies, and the cold. They also express in great detail their fear level, and their trust in you, which you have to prove. They even have physical feeling, for they get cold, call for help if wounded, yelp, and even throw up if they see something disgusting, such as a mangled corpse. There is a good variety of weapons, and an even better variety of items, such as flashlights, flares, fire extinguishers, grenades, and many other instuments that come in handy. And of course, the action is intense, thrilling, and scary. This game is a great shooter, thinker, and is beautiful to the senses. I highly recommend it.

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