Area 51

Written by Troy Matsumiya  on November 29, 2004

Hands-On Preview: The truth is out there Еnow shoot it!

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Area 51 is Midway's oft-delayed but highly anticipated entry into the crowded FPS genre. Originally a light-gun arcade game in 1998, the new Area 51 builds on its legacy of fun and is promising to provide some good old fashioned frag-fest frenzy.

Unlike Bungie with Halo 2, Midway has been quite open about the story. In the mysterious Area 51, infamous as a supposed real-life military research facility studying aliens, the brilliant scientist Dr. Cray is working on an alien virus. As always in situations like this, the virus is accidentally released and infects almost everyone in the base. You will play Ethan Cole, a member of the Special Forces Hazardous Materials (HAZMAT) Division assigned to investigate what happened. You quickly discover that the virus has turned everyone into snarling, homicidal mutants and the only cure is the big gun in your hands. During the course of the game you will meet Dr. Cray, who tells you that the virus can be used as a weapon against the mutants, so you agree to be infected; but unlike the others, you learn to control your mutations, which gives you a variety of cool alien powers (more on this later). You will also meet Edgar, an alien УgreyФ who helps you throughout the game by telepathically re-animating and speaking through dead bodies Ц and yes, it looks as creepy as it sounds. As well, you will begin to unravel a grand conspiracy involving the human Illuminati, the military, an intergalactic war between the УlightФ greys and the УdarkФ greys, and more.

It all sounds like an episode of The X-Files, and so it is appropriate that David Duchovny plays the main character, Ethan Cole. Rounding out the all-star cast is veteran actor Powers Boothe as General Bridges and shock-rocker Marilyn Manson as Edgar the alien.

You will start the game as member of a squad of intelligent AI teammates but as you progress, your squad will get whittled down by the onslaught of mutants and evil aliens until the fate of the world Ц nay, the galaxy Ц rests solely on your shoulders. Just another average day at the office, right?

You will begin armed with standard human weapons but will eventually find some potent alien armament, such as a gun that can bounce energy projectiles off walls and around corners. Yes, it sounds like something we've seen before in other FPS games, but this weapon features a handy laser targeting system that shows you the projectile's bounce trajectory, resulting in highly accurate shots. Most of the alien weaponry is still under wraps, but it is natural to expect a lot of pretty-looking energy and laser-based goodness.

Guns are not your only means of dispatching nasty mutants and aliens, however. As mentioned earlier, you will be infected with the alien virus but will have the ability to control the mutations so you don't turn into a mindless killer zombie. To mutate, you draw from a pool of mutagens in your system; once the mutagens are used up, you revert back to your wimpy human form. While mutated, you can use several alien powers such as Aggressive Melee, a super-melee attack similar to the Berserk power-up in Doom; Parasite, where you release alien parasites that suck both life and mutagens from enemies and transfer them back to you; and Contagion, which is similar to Parasite, except the alien bugs swirl around enemies and will only attack on your command, making this a good choice for taking out multiple threats simultaneously. Several other powers are also available for your killing pleasure, but these are still being kept quiet for the moment.

Single Player Hands-On
Midway has stated that their goal for Area 51 was to create a Уblend of Half-Life and HaloФ by combining the best of both games. Sounds pretty ambitious, but based on the single player demo we tried, they could very well pull it off.

Graphically, the game is beautiful Ц perhaps not quite as eye-poppingly impressive as Halo 2 or Splinter Cell, but it ranks right up there with what discriminating gamers expect in an Xbox title. I could watch the pretty flame and explosion effects all day, and little touches like how glass shatters or how the scope on weapons refracts the forward view in real-time (similar to the sniper rifle in Halo 2, but better) really add to the coolness factor.

The map we played was at the beginning of the game, where you still have your squad and are armed with human weapons like a SMG, sniper rifle, pistol and shotgun Ц all of which felt real thanks to excellent sound effects and controller vibration every time you pulled the trigger. The demo takes place in a dark office complex with a lot of shadows for enemies to hide in; the little light that is available comes from flickering flames or short-circuiting fluorescent tubes, each displaying impressive dynamic lighting and shadow effects. Your AI squadmates are pretty intelligent, knowing when to duck behind cover and when to jump out of the way of explosions. They call for help and yell out warnings; in fact, they don't shut up, which can get a little annoying but adds to the tension and frantic action.

The mutated humans we fought can move, jump and dodge with surprising quickness; they also carry guns, so simply keeping out of melee range won't protect you from harm. They're not terribly bright, however; they'll just keep running right towards you. What they lack in smarts they make up for in numbers; they must employ a lot of people in Area 51 because mutant zombies seem to jump out at you from everywhere, making the action fast and furious. Their creepy screams and creepier looks sent a chill down my spine Ц and these are just the Уentry-levelФ bad guys. I can't imagine what the tougher aliens will be like, though it is probably safe to say that they will scare the dickens out of you. All of the aliens were designed by Stan Winston Studios, the renowned creature effects specialists who worked on Aliens, Jurassic Park, The Terminator and other Hollywood blockbusters. Unfortunately, the only aliens we encountered during our brief hands-on were tiny spider-like creatures that attacked in a seemingly endless wave, so we can't wait to see what else Stan Winston has in store for us.

Unlike the average FPS where you dictate the pace and flow of the action, the AI moves at its own pace. So once we cleared out the first area, our AI squad moved to the next section without us and engaged more bad guys on their own. While this adds to the realism of the game, I wasn't too keen on chasing after the AI. Of course, everyone in your squad eventually dies, so this shouldn't be a problem in the later levels.

Multiplayer
Sadly, we didn't get a chance to try multiplayer, which will support up to 16 players on Xbox Live. The old standards like deathmatch, team deathmatch and capture the flag will available as expected, along with several new gametypes for our fragging pleasure. For example, you will be able to play humans versus mutants, and both sides can use the same mutant powers from the single player campaign, adding an interesting tactical element to the standard run-and-gun frenzy. Midway is especially excited about multiplayer because game industry icons John Romero and Tom Hall, both formerly from id Software and Doom/Quake fame, helped design many of the multiplayer components.