Area 51 (2005 video game)

Area 51(The Game)
Developer(s)	Midway Studios Austin
Publisher(s)	Midway Success Entertainment (Japan)
Series	Area 51
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2 Xbox Windows
Release date(s)	NA April 25, 2005 EU May 27, 2005 AUS May 26, 2005 JP November 9, 2006
Genre(s)	First-person shooter Survival horror
Mode(s)	Single-player Multiplayer

Area 51 is a first-person shooter survival horror video game that was released in 2005 (2006 in Japan) and it was developed by Midway Studios Austin and published by Midway for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Microsoft Windows, and is a loose remake of the 1995 light gun video game of the same name, and was followed in 2007 by the loosely related BlackSite: Area 51. The player controls Ethan Cole, a HAZMAT operative voiced by David Duchovny sent to the Area 51 base to assist in the cleanup of a mutagenic virus.

Area 51 at first starts out with intense combat where the player has several AI teammates with him (ranging from two to seven most of the time) versus hordes of mutants. Notable among the voice actors are David Duchovny as the player character and main protagonist of the game Ethan Cole, Brian Warner (Marilyn Manson) as Edgar the ancient and powerful Grey, Powers Boothe as Major Bridges, and Ian Abercrombie as Dr. Cray.

Gameplay

Area 51 is a first person shooter, played from the perspective of the protagonist, Ethan Cole. The game features operable machinery, including plasma turrets, besides the player's inventory of weapons. The player begins with a team of three other HAZMAT soldiers, who cannot be killed by the game world, unless it is scripted into the story.

Combat

Throughout the game, the player uses a variety of weapons, both Human and Alien in origin, to defeat their adversaries. Most weapons can only be wielded one handed, however the player can dual wield some weapons, such as the Shotgun and the Sub-Machine Gun. Each weapon can also be used as a melee weapon for close quarter combat, and for its original intended purpose. Each weapon has two modes of firing, the first being the primary method, while the second is of a much higher power level, at the cost of ammunition and accuracy to the player. The player can also use explosive grenades, one of Human origin, and the other of alien design.

At a later stage in the game Ethan Cole becomes infected with the mutagen, and the option to turn into a mutant temporarily is obtained. Mutating offers a variety of benefits, such as increased strength, stamina, as well as the initial ability to fire health-replenishing parasites as well as the later ability to contaminate enemies, both at the cost of mutation time reduction. While in a mutant form, players can easily spot enemies, which would otherwise be cloaked to the regular human eye, albeit with a slight ocular defect.

Players can replenish health and mutagen either through the use of medical syringes found throughout the game or by using parasites, and mutagen by melee combat or "using" infected corpses, or by finding mutagen syringes.

Other aspects

A notable aspect of gameplay is the ability to scan and analyze various objects in the game environment. This is possible by using the scanner present on the player's suit, worn throughout the game. While using a scanner, the player has no access to weapons, apart from melee, and must switch to an available weapon in order to fight. Scanning provides detailed information on a player's surroundings, as well as combated enemies.

The scanner, when equipped, adds a translucent bar to the player's HUD, which changes in color and height from light blue, to deep red. This bar indicates how near or far a player is, to one of many scannable clues, such as file folders or personal digital assistants. The scanner can collect information from the items without it being touched. The HUD shows red when the player is very close, and blue when very far. Items which are scanned are viewable in-game, providing insight into the workings of Area 51, as well as proving necessary to unlocking secret videos made by Dr. Cray or Mr. White.

Plot

In July 1947, an alien spacecraft crashed near Roswell, New Mexico in the United States. The craft was recovered by the U.S. Air Force and taken to Area 51 in Nevada, where the lone survivor of the crash; a powerful Grey named Edgar (Warner) was held captive by the U.S. military. Eventually, the Greys opened a dialogue with the Illuminati led by the ominous Mr. White (Proctor), and struck a deal with them; the Illuminati would give the Greys a research base 3 miles below the surface of Area 51, the use of the base as a landing site, and give them human test subjects, where they (along with human scientists) would research a mutagenic virus to use in a war on their homeworld, and in return the Greys would give the Illuminati exclusive access to Grey technology. The Illuminati used some of this technology to spy on the population.

The Greys and the human scientists eventually developed a powerful alien being - known as the "Theta", which spread the virus. Unbeknownst to many of the scientists working on the project, the Greys and the Illuminati were also planning to use the virus against the Earth population, and dominate the planet. When Dr. Winston Cray (Ian Abercrombie) found out about the plan, he let loose the "Theta" and the mutagenic virus throughout Area 51, in an effort to slow them down. This prompted the United States military to send in a Quick Reaction Force led by Major Bridges (Powers Boothe) to quarantine and contain the virus. HAZMAT Team Delta, the first team initially sent into Area 51 are ambushed by the "Theta" creature, sustaining casualties, before withdrawing deeper into the base. HAZMAT Team Bravo, composed of team leader Ramirez, McCan, Crispy, and mission specialist Ethan Cole (Duchovny) is sent to find Delta.

After initially encountering the mutants, McCan is killed when a mutant decapitates him. Deeper into the base, Crispy and Ramirez are both ambushed by the Theta and killed, leaving Cole on his own. Cole manages to locate the rest of Delta, however they are attacked again by the Theta, and all but Cole and Lieutenant Chew are killed. Making their way topside, the Illuminati disables the cargo elevator, killing Chew and leaving Cole bitten by one mutant, partially mutating him. Able to switch between human and mutant form, Cole is guided deeper into the base by Edgar reanimating corpses to deliver information telepathically. Cole is guided to Dr. Cray's bio labs, where Cray claims there is time to decontaminate Cole, and rid him of the virus. Before he can be cured, the Illuminati attack, killing Cray and stopping the process.

During one level of the game, Cole stumbles on a film set built exactly like the surface of the Moon, with a model of a spacesuit, and the Lunar Module, alluding to the well-known conspiracy theory that the moon landings were faked, in order to beat the Soviet Union in the space race. In two secrets that can be acquired in the game, Dr Cray admits that the moon landings did indeed go ahead but what they found there could not be announced to the public. A second secret alludes to a planned similar faked landing on Mars.

Cole eventually finds Edgar, miles beneath the surface, where he reveals the scientists used his DNA to create the virus, and the nature of the experiments at the base, which killed dozens of his species to harvest it. He then tells Cole the history of the Greys and Area 51. Edgar gives Cole the cure to the mutagenic virus, and instructs him to destroy the Grey's ship, that is leaving with dozens of Theta duplicates. Cole locates the vessel and destroys it by overloading its reactor, and uses a teleporter to escape into the Nevada desert. He lands by the "White Mailbox" area and watches Area 51 being destroyed by the exploding ship in a tornado like explosion. Cole watches as a truck drives past, with a green, alien-like container on board with unknown contents inside and walks away from the site, not knowing what is going to happen next and saying that Jean-Paul Sartre was only half-right about "Hell is other people."

Voice cast

• David Duchovny as Ethan Cole, HAZMAT Team Bravo's Mission Specialist.
• Powers Boothe as Major Bridges, Commanding Officer of the Quick Reaction Force, sent into quarantine Area 51.
• Marilyn Manson as Edgar, an ancient and powerful Grey, whose DNA was used to create the mutagenic virus. Vocalist Marilyn Manson was particularly attracted to the role, as he saw parallels between himself and Edgar, both having a general distaste of humanity, and Manson himself feeling alienated at times.^[1][2]
• Ian Abercrombie as Dr. Winston Cray, a scientist who releases the mutagenic virus, and the Theta weapon inside the base.
• Phil Proctor as Mr. White, the ominous leader of the Illuminati.
• Marc Rodriguez as Ramirez, Team Bravo's Team Leader
• Josh Keaton as Crispy, a member of Team Bravo
• Nolan North as McCan, a member of Team Bravo
• Beng Spies as Lieutenant Chew, Team Delta's Team Leader
• Sean Donnellan as Marco, a member of Team Delta
• Brian Cummings as Victor 5, Dr. Cray's lab assistant

Steven Jay Blum, Dan Hagen, John Vernon, Lori Allen, Brian Tochi, James McCaffrey, Nicholas Guest, and Michael Gough all provide additional voices.

Reception

The game received largely average to positive reviews on its release, scoring 6.9 on GameSpot , who praised the game for its audio effects, sharp-looking visuals and the multiplayer, but criticised the game for its weak voice acting, and repetitive gameplay, coming to the consensus that "For shooter fans in serious need of something new to play, Area 51 fits the bill adequately. But for anyone looking for something more than an average shooter, it probably isn't worth it." Likewise to GameSpot's review, the game scored 6.2 on GamersHell, with the graphics and sound scoring the highest.^[3] IGN gave the game a positive review, with an average user rating of 7.5 out of 10 - a "Good" rating. The graphics and the sound scored the highest in IGN's review, like GamersHell's review, scoring 8.5 out of 10 each.^[4]

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 78% of 100% Review scores Publication Score 1UP.com 6.5 of 10 Game Informer 8.5 of 10 GameSpot 7.2 of 10 IGN 8.5 of 10

Freeware release

The game was released as freeware for U.S. based consumers by the United States Air Force.^[5] It is no longer available on DoubleFusion.com.

Film

In 2004, ahead of the game's release, Paramount Pictures announced that they had reached an agreement concerning the film rights for the game.^[6] In March 2007, comic book author Grant Morrison was hired to adapt the game as a screenplay.^[7] This project is unrelated to the upcoming movie Area 51 by Oren Peli.^[8]

References

External links

• Area-51 at MobyGames
• Game Rankings PC reviews
• Game Rankings PlayStation 2 reviews
• Game Rankings Xbox reviews

Area 51 series Area 51 (1995) Site 4 Area 51 (2005) BlackSite