Gaming Target - Xbox: The Thing

Written by Gavin Wright on September 26, 2002

Full Review: It's great that we're finally starting to see classic movie franchises made into video games, but I refuse to die until I play the Xbox version of Footloose.

The Thing is a classic 80's horror film about a group of American scientists that uncover a parasitic alien species in a Norwegian base deep inside Antarctica. The Сthing' is capable of turning itself into any life form that it has killed, inducing paranoia and mistrust among the remaining scientists. The survivors eventually destroy the base in an effort to contain the species and save the world from infection. The ending of the movie left the doors wide open for a sequel, which unfortunately never happened on the cinematic front. But Universal Interactive has now brought us a survival-horror action game based on the 20-year old franchise, picking up directly after the events in the movie.

In the game, you control the leader of a rescue team sent into the base after its destruction to investigate and report back their findings. However, they soon discover that the Сthing' had somehow escaped the explosion, and has already begun infecting inhabitants of the base. The Thing sets itself apart from typical survival-horror games through the integration of squad-based gameplay, with the ability to control up to four squad members at a time. Through the use of an innovative Trust/Fear system, you can keep track of your teammate's sanity levels via facial gestures and spoken dialogue. The system has been integrated into the game with surprising results, giving The Thing a unique feel that's entirely unlike other entries in the genre.

Your squad is controlled through a simplistic interaction menu that allows you to manage their trust/fear levels and issue basic commands. Through the menu, you can give squad members weapons and ammo, call for repairs to electrical equipment that's necessary to progress in the level, and order your teammates, either individually or as a squad, to follow you or hold their positions. The system works well with the possible exception of a few odd glitches and inconsistencies, but the simplicity of it all lends itself to few practical uses within the game.

Your squad is made up of three different classes Ц medics, soldiers, and engineers. Medics are capable of healing other squad members without the use of medkits, but are unable to heal themselves. Soldiers are most proficient with firearms, and giving them a weapon should be a top priority since they serve no other function in battle. Engineers play an invaluable role in the squad, as they're able to repair power boxes and other complex electronical equipment.

As I touched on a bit earlier, the game actually keeps track of the fear level exhibited by your squad members. If one of your NPC's is low on health or ammo, or perhaps they see a particularly gruesome corpse, or even if you accidentally shoot one of them in battle, they'll fall into a state of shock, suspecting that you may be infected. As they begin to lose their sanity, they'll jerk their head around in paranoia. But as their mental state continues to decline, they'll start convulsing, followed by vomiting and loss of bodily controls. Once they have lost all trust in you, they may attempt to shoot you themselves, or simply turn the gun to their own head. To restore their trust, you must prove to them that you are not infected. The most direct way to achieve this is by giving yourself a blood test, although this isn't always the best way to go since you don't come across many test kits. Giving them medkits or ammo will also boost their trust, as will exterminating all the enemies in the immediate area. It's a novel effect, and you'll find that it's been implemented into the game quite well.

Your NPC teammates are very capable in battle thanks to some advanced AI routines. They are very accurate with their weapons, and they'll selectively target enemies based on their threat level in a combat situation. With weapons like the flamethrower, they'll rarely catch themselves on fire despite the environment's tendency to go up in flames with relative ease. In many cases, they will realistically react to your actions through spoken dialogue. If one of them is hit with a stray bullet, they'll turn around and curse at you, and if something happens that results in a change to their Fear/Trust level, they'll comment accordingly. The monster A.I. is another story altogether, since they are basically scripted to run right out and attack with little variation. If you lay down a wall of flames, they'll either try to get around it or wait until the fire has burnt out before resuming their attack. The game could stand to see some advancements in this respect, but what's there is nearly flawless.

When people think of survival-horror games, they typically link the gameplay to something along the lines of Resident Evil, with excruciating item-based puzzles and inventory screens. It's not often that you find a game that strays too far from this tried-and-true formula, as is the case with The Thing. Most of the puzzles in The Thing are simplistic in nature, usually involving your teammates in some way or another. Closed-circuit televisions can be used to survey certain areas and also play a part in some puzzles. For instance, early on you come to a locked door that requires an access code to pass through. If you head over to the television, you can observe the locked room, and eventually you'll find an access code written up on a chalkboard.

The entire game takes place deep in the heart of Antarctica, set in a partially destroyed Norwegian base. The frigid Arctic environment doesn't encourage much outdoor exploration, particularly with the exposure meter that continuously drops as you stay outside and eventually leads to health loss. Consequently, most of the game takes place within the base, in dimly-lit, blood-drenched rooms and corridors. Most of the indoor areas are put together really well, despite the occasional lapse in design inspiration. The outdoor portions of the level mostly consist of barren tundra, dotted with structures and poles to keep players from straying too far off into the directionless landscape.

Most of the enemies you encounter in the game are small, spider-like creatures known as scuttlers that can be disposed of relatively easily. The larger, human-sized monsters put up a bit more of a fight, since they require a two-stage attack that first entails shooting them until they are nearly dead, then dousing them in flames to finish off the job. Combat is done through a simple lock-on targeting system that automatically attaches itself to the enemy directly ahead of you, and then locks on to a new target as soon as it has been killed. The targeting reticule changes color from green to red, indicating the amount of health the enemy has left. The system works very well, and combat in the game never really grows old.

The controls can take a little getting used to, but after some initiation they work quite well. The left joystick is used for movement and turning, and the right joystick is used to sidestep; the R trigger fires your weapon; the L trigger uses a selected item; the A button goes into first person firing mode; B opens the squad interaction menu; Y opens the inventory menu; X is the context-sensitive interact button; and the D-pad cycles through weapons and items.

The Thing is a solid-looking Xbox game. The environments are well-detailed, with terrific lighting and smoke effects that really intensify the atmosphere. The flashlight is not only a functional device; it also creates an excellent effect that rivals even that of Halo. Character models look great, and your NPC teammates' animations and facial expressions are nearly lifelike. The textures show a consistent level of detail throughout, and can hold up nicely even when inspected closely. Blood covers the walls and floors with a clean, reflective sheen, an effect that's used liberally throughout the game. The Thing isn't necessarily the best-looking game around, but its graphics are by no means bad.

Interestingly, the game borrows a lot of its musical scores from the movie, with some eerie mood-setting tunes and tension-inducing silence. The voice acting is top-notch, and even the lesser roles have been well represented in this respect. The larger creatures can be heard from rooms away, giving off low-pitched screams and growls that sound as if they've been ripped right out of Alien. The Thing doesn't depend on its sound department to deliver the nail-biting suspense of a game like Resident Evil, and instead uses it mostly to exemplify action and mood within the game's cutscenes.