The Thing (game)

[MinionZombie]

Recently got into this game again, after playing it once through a couple of years back, and I have to say it still stands up quite well, pretty good for a game that came out in 2002. It's great that they managed to maintain that sense of isolation and fear of the unknown - which the movie had - throughout the game. The first area (the US base from the film) is rather tense to sneak through, heading into the blizzard obscurity with nothing but light poles to guide you. The whole trust system in the game is also an excellent touch, as are the blood hypos to prove you (or others) aren't a "thing". I'd basically forgotten most of the game (except that it scared me when I first played it - still giving me the creeps), so when a couple of guys you picked up the level before explode into "things" when you test the blood of yourself and a new guy you've met, it comes as quite a surprise - just like in the movie. Another nice touch - anything above the little running type "things" you have to shoot till they're 'in the red' and then burn. Anyone else been recently playing this game? I remember someone was or had or was going to...

[Danny]

ive never played this but my memory is good for one thing, i have an amazing capacity for video game cheats, i got 1000's of em in me head, point your gun at there head then give it to em and then there trust for you goes way back up.

[DVW5150]

Eeeew... I am glad you posted Minion , because I had forgotten to get it and play . I rented it a few years back and couldnt make it past the first level . I have played the heck out of some really authentic horror games , but this one gave me the creeps ...

[slickwilly13]

I played it back in 2002 on the PS2. Cool game. I got real far into the game, but never beat it. There are boss fights, too. I would like to see another one for the next generation consoles.

[Bunker65]

I picked it up for $4.99 used at Gamestop but haven't had a chance to play it again yet. I've been busy with Gear Of War & Call Of Duty 3. I plan on playing it again in the very near future though .

[MinionZombie]

An interesting part of the game is that - at the US research base from the movie - only the body of Childs (complete with bottle of booze) remains amidst the wreckage...spooky, eh?   So, no MacReady then? Well, no, he appears right at the end of the game in a chopper, complete with that rather large hat - however, it's never made clear or not whether he is a Thing or not, you can take it either way. I'd prefer to think Mac made it - heck, it's Kurt-freakin-Russell, he HAS to survive!

[capncnut]

Love both the movie and the videogame. When I first played it, I got stuck about a third of the way in and really had no interest to persue it any further. One day I watched the movie again and felt a sudden urge to re-play it. I began to get to grips with the whole shooting/torching combo quite naturally and I found myself cruising past my previous point in a very short time. Controls are a bit twitchy but the overall atmosphere of ice-solation (groan) and the randomly generated scares more than compensate. Toppas notchas matey!

[MinionZombie]

Indeed, it's a surprisingly good movie-tie-in game, I was yomping through a bit more of it last night, and then had trouble getting to sleep as I suddenly felt every slight creak of the house was a thing coming to get me. There's one bit where...   A guy commits suicide and he blasts his head open all over the wall he's sat against - you don't see that too often in games. And is it just me, or do all of my team-mates keep turning into things ... sons-a-bitches ... guess I should use those hypos more often.

[slickwilly13]

What I don't understand is how a team member can become infected when they never leave your side.

[TwoGunBob]

I liked the game alright but it did get annoying that you reach certain points and the characters with you automatically change regadless of whether or not you tested them two seconds earlier. The treatment of the Thing as more of a virus rather than an alien entity was also a bit off. It started strong and the storyline sort of fell apart and it devolved into some kind of Metal Gear Solid scenario by the end.

[MinionZombie]

Indeed, it's not the greatest story and it kinda manipulates the film a bit, but it's a pretty good tie-in game. The random "thinging" of your team-mates is a bit weird, it feels at times that you'll never have anyone with you for any length of time. Perhaps they get infected when attacked by the monsters too much, I duno, but it'll be a triggered event... Not genius by any means, pretty darn good though...

[capncnut]

I think the randomness of the 'thinging' was put in by the developers so that you have a different experience each time you play it.

[MinionZombie]

Figured as much, makes it a surprise when you haven't hypo'd them, which I rarely bother with unless I have to (according to the game, e.g. an early level with that guy with the flamethrower when it all goes pear-shaped with your other two guys).

[MinionZombie]

Almost finished playing this game, it tails off the further you get into the game and gets significantly less scary - if not not-at-all scary. And it's annoying when I've got a couple of guys in my posse, but one or all of them don't make it to the next level - like they don't get on the elevator or they're just left behind, weirdness ... poor chaps. Also, on the level where you have to blow up the planes, there's some fencing around part of a building, I had two men with me, anytime I had to pass that area the NPCs got completely dumbfounded by the friggin' fence, and just stood there. I left one NPC there and had to push (walk gently into him in small lurches) my Engineer along the fence to 'unstick' him from there, geez. I'm on the last level now, so once I'm done with that ... I'm thinking I might go and enjoy Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory again (3rd time in that case) as I wasn't able to play Double Agent. (Apparently Double Agent is awful on the PC, weirdness...)