The Thing (video game)
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| The Thing | |
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| Developer(s) | Computer Artworks |
| Publisher(s) | VU Games (North America) Konami (Europe) Konami (Japan) |
| Designer(s) | Andrew Curtis |
| Release date(s) | August 19, 2002 (U.S.) September 20, 2002 (EU) February 27, 2003 (JPN) |
| Genre(s) | Third person survival horror |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Mature (M) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows |
| Media | CD, DVD |
The Thing is a video game sequel to John Carpenter's 1982 film The Thing. The game was released in the United States on August 19, 2002, and released again on February 27, 2003, in Japan.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
- US Base
- Blake and his squad are instructed by the Colonel to recon the destroyed U.S. Base. Blake finds MacReady's recording of the paranoia the original base crew is having and the body of the team member known as childs is found frozen in a shack. Blake's team also finds a undergroud passage, leading to the flying saucer that Dr. Blair never finished. After Blake reports back to the colonel he informs him that C4 charges have been airdropped near the base and that Blake is to plant them and evacuate the area so they can be detonated remotely.
- Nor-Outpost North
- Blake convinces the colonel to let them drop him off at the Norwegian base. Upon entering he finds engineer Carter injured in a corner after his squad was ambushed by hordes of thing beasts. Blake gives Carter medical assistance and unlocks a door to the lower level of the Norwegian base where they find soldier Cruz. Cruz informs Blake that he heard that he received radio transmissions from Pierce at the northern part of the base saying he found something. Blake, Carter, and Cruz head north.
- Nor-Outpost South
- Blake meets Pierce who threatens him with a flamethrower unless he goes to the kennel and retrieves the blood serum tests to prove that he isn't infected with the alien virus. Blake than goes back to Pierce with the blood tests. Blake gives himself the test and is proven negative. Blake then tests Cruz and he fails the test. Cruz and Carter than transform into thing beasts that Blake & Pierce defeat. Blake & Pierce leave the building and head west.
- Nor-Research
- While Blake & Pierce are heading west towards another part of the Norwegian base. Blake arrives he realized that Pierce must have gotten lost on the way. All of a sudden Blake realizes that someone is throwing grenades at him. Alpha team member Pace was thowing them from a watchtower thinking that Blake was one of the thing beasts. Blake and Pace go into the watchtower and he describes to him that him and Williams were chasing "some kind of weird animal" and then lost track of it. Than a Norwegian started to attack them and they chased him but ended up losing him. Williams got separated. Blake & Pace go into the main building too and find a paranoid Williams with a flamethrower. Blake wants to get into the communications room but Williams won't go anwhere until all the thing walkers are killed. Blake & Pace kill the thing walkers one by one and report back to Williams who gets them into the comm room. They are attacked by 2 walkers who they kill and then leave the building to continue on.
- Nor-Medi-Center
- Blake, Pace & Williams reach the medi center where they are assaulted by waves of scuttlers. After the waves of scuttlers are killed 2 bi-pedal thing beasts break through the door and attack the squad. After Blake & his squad defeat the bi-pedals they travel through the broken-down door to catch a glimpse of a man wearing a red & black jacket running away from them heading southwest along the lightposts.
- Weather Station
- Blake, Williams, & Pace arrive to see the red & black jacket man run into the warehouse. After entering the first building on the right side Williams turns into a thing beast. After clearing out that building and moving towards the second building on the left they see the red jacket man go into the weather dome. After entering the building Pace transforms into the thing. On the second floor Blake reads a computer log saying that people from Gen Inc. were moving equipment underground. Blake finds Pierce in the weather dome who says that the thing got to him and the only way out is to kill himself. Pierce shoots himself in the head. Blake reads another computer log that says people were seen moving things in and out of what looked like a crashed flying saucer through the telescope. Blake walks across a fallen antenna pole to get into the warehouse through an air vent.
- Pyron Hanger
- Blake jumps out of the airvent to hear a man in a room yelling for help because there are things outside the door. Blake rescues the man who's name is Colins. Colins says that he was following the red jacket man thinking he was Pierce but he lost track of him but thinks he's downstairs. After fighting hordes of things on the groundlevel of the warehouse they open up a gate that allows Blake to climb up on a fallen pipe that leads to the trusses on the cealing. From the trusses he carefully makes his way to the broken in roof of the locked room and he opens the door from the inside. Inside he finds a keycard and reads a computer entry stating that "3 workers were killed in an accident last week but the boss doesn't think that's a good enough reason for being behind schedule". He uses the keycard to gain access to the underground levels of the warehouse when Colins transforms into the thing. Later on down the hall Blake discovers the first boss. The boss is a thing beast with 2 arms & root like headcrab spawning tentacles that attach it to the ground. After inflicting a certain amount of damage to the boss a mutated human spawns out of its main stalk. After defeating this boss a tentacles erupt from a vent in the wall that attack Blake as he tries to repair the fuse box that opens the door to the next level.
- Pyron Sub Alpha
- Blake jumps down a door in the basement and into a research submarine hidden under the pack ice, to find out that Gen Inc is conducting experiments on the alien lifeforms. However, they have lost control and are running amok; much of the sub is damaged and on fire. Blake goes into the control room and reads a computer log by Dr. Faraday saying that the dead specimens have responded to treatments showing 400% cell growth. Blake makes his way through the sub to hit a hydralic control that activated another control that unlocked the door to the prep lab. He eventually encounters an engineer, Price, and moves into the holding pens. After finding a medic, Parnevick, (Who is most likely Norwegian, as he does not talk at all) and killing test subject B4 which was said to have high resistance to flame weaponry (Although this is ironic, as the creature is easily killed), he meets up with Dr. Faraday, who is eager to leave. Eventually, Blake's new squad makes it out of the sub (Which seems to have sustained damage as the place in which you start has extensive bending and warping when you return with Faraday). Blake and Faraday (The squad members you find disappear, as is the case with many others in the game, such as Fisk from later in the game: sometimes they turn into Things and you have to kill them, explaining their absence) are surprised to find Col. Whitley in the Hanger with many soldiers. Eventually, Whitley shoots Blake in the neck with a tranquilizer dart and has him and Faraday taken to a lab.
- Strata Research Lab
- The level begins with a cutscene in which Dr.Faraday is ordering a complete evacuation of the lab, but Whitley stops him. Whitley tells Faraday that he has injected himself with the B4 Strain of the Cloud virus (The name given to the Thing virus). Eventually, Whitley shoots Faraday in the back and leaves. Blake wakes up later in the same room on a table and has none of the gear he has when he is captured. The base has been overrun by Things, and Blake must struggle to survive and acquire new weapons and gear, while rounding up a small team of survivors. Trying to fight their way out, Blake's new team is involved in a three-way fight between themselves, an army of security guards, and hordes of Things which are now running rampant.
[edit] Critical reaction
The Thing received a luke-warm reception. Edge magazine awarded it 7 out of 10 in issue 116[1], highlighting the well-managed tension and atmosphere, and the impressive weapon effects (such as the flamethrower.) However, the reviewer was ultimately disappointed by the game's linearity.
[edit] Trivia
- John Carpenter, who directed the 1982 film to which this game is considered a follow-up, lent his likeness to the character of Dr. Faraday. Carpenter also gave the game a very good review.
- The character of Col. Whitley was voiced by William B. Davis, who played Cigarette Smoking Man on The X-Files.
- Featured in the game is the song, "After Me" by the band, Saliva.
[edit] External links
- Official website
- The Thing at GameFAQs
- The Thing video game at Outpost #31, a fan site.
