Area 51 takes an intriguing subject and mutates it more than the pathogen that mutates the protagonist's body.
Area 51, for some reason, struck me as a brilliant game when I first heard about it. I can't remember if I saw some positive reviews or if the trailers simply appealed to me, but oh how very wrong I was. The story is explained more in the manual than it is in-game, and this is the first of many, many crucial downfalls.
You play the role of Ethan Cole, poorly voiced by David Duchovny, whose talent in portraying Ethan's voice seems to wither as the player moves on in the game. I get the feeling that Duchovny didn't bother reading the script until he had to read the lines, thus slowly realising how utterly poor said story was. Cole is sent in as part of a specialist team of Military Hazardous Materials field agents when Area 51 is stricken by a deadly infection. As you play the game, you unravel the story of what has happened even though the game's intro cutscene tells you anyway.
As I said, the story is the first of many downfalls. While it starts off fairly promisingly, it later becomes stagnant and begins to regurgitate the themes of almost every other FPS ever made in the history of civilisations. Alien ones too. Midway have introduced far too many conspiracy and paranormal elements to the story's background, creating a "too much of a good thing" (the TMOAGT I reference in disadvantages) effect which seriously detracts from the player's enjoyment of the game.
As far as gameplay goes, it's sub-average. Before your team is killed off (and then the utterly pointless deaths of the second team you hook up with) the so-called team-based aspect of the game is laughable. Your AI-controlled teammates are invulnerable to damage, and in theory you could leave them to their own devices killing everything in a given area, then go and reap the rewards. Assuming you don't do the above, then all you are met with is seemingly endless hordes of spawned monsters which, amusingly, stop when there is a bit of dialogue or a mission objective is met (such as defending, against the clock, a teammate who is trying to open a door. The timer reaches 0, and the monsters stop spawning). Gameplay is almost linear, but there were a few times at which I could take one of two doors out of a section; one leading onwards, and one leading to just one or two other rooms in which I can have fun. Aside from this, it's just moving forward and shooting everything that gets in your way. Ammo and health pickups are constant, providing NO challenge whatsoever. The health pickup is also funny, since it is described as a liquid which promotes coagulation of the blood and acts as a 'filler' for lost blood. But in any given level there are so many of these things that it's a wonder your veins aren't running yellow-green.
The weapons in the game are your bogstandard shooters; - Pistol (start the game with this) - Submachine Pistol (first pickup, in the first level) - Grenade: Frag (comes shortly after the SMP) - Grenade: Alien (this little cutie is actually quite powerful, but in low supply) - Shotgun (Comes a little later) - Sniper Rifle (Coming around halfway through the game, there is barely much point to this) - Alien rifle (3-shot burst, can bounce off walls) - Meson Cannon (The usual "big gun", this comes only within the last few levels, and ammo is relatively sparse)
The game offers the worst dual-wielding logic I have ever seen in a game; the SMP and shotgun are both dual-wield, which is pathetically unrealistic. Of all the weapons, I found myself using the SMP in nine out of ten engagements. The other weapons are irrelevant.
[[ Spoiler in this paragraph: Last line. ]] Area 51's graphics are one of its saving graces. Although ported straight from the console version of the game, they receive a little bit of tweaking to take advantage of the PC's superiority over consoles. You'll find the same old textures being used over and over, but this is reasonably plausible since the game takes place in just one place (two if you count the alien base in the later levels).
The sound is adequate for a game like this. Ambient sounds are the game's strong point, although it has an annoying tendency to play sounds of events that are taking place nowhere near the player. The music is... Well, I turned it off since I preferred my own. As I already said, the voice acting is weak. Duchovny is by far the worst voice actor in Area 51; Powers Booth speaks too little for me to judge, though I noticed no overt problems. Marilyn Manson, although I hate the guy, does fairly well as Edgar and I begrudgingly admit that I have no problems with his talents within the game.
In conclusion, Area 51 is a game that could have been so much more if only it had done so much -less-. By all means rent it, or borrow from a friend, but don't feel you're missing out on anything if you don't buy it.
Area 51, for some reason, struck me as a brilliant game when I first heard about it. I can't remember if I saw some positive reviews or if the trailers simply appealed to me, but oh how very wrong I was. The story is explained more in the manual than it is in-game, and this is the first of many, many crucial downfalls.
You play the role of Ethan Cole, poorly voiced by David Duchovny, whose talent in portraying Ethan's voice seems to wither as the player moves on in the game. I get the feeling that Duchovny didn't bother reading the script until he had to read the lines, thus slowly realising how utterly poor said story was. Cole is sent in as part of a specialist team of Military Hazardous Materials field agents when Area 51 is stricken by a deadly infection. As you play the game, you unravel the story of what has happened even though the game's intro cutscene tells you anyway.
As I said, the story is the first of many downfalls. While it starts off fairly promisingly, it later becomes stagnant and begins to regurgitate the themes of almost every other FPS ever made in the history of civilisations. Alien ones too. Midway have introduced far too many conspiracy and paranormal elements to the story's background, creating a "too much of a good thing" (the TMOAGT I reference in disadvantages) effect which seriously detracts from the player's enjoyment of the game.
As far as gameplay goes, it's sub-average. Before your team is killed off (and then the utterly pointless deaths of the second team you hook up with) the so-called team-based aspect of the game is laughable. Your AI-controlled teammates are invulnerable to damage, and in theory you could leave them to their own devices killing everything in a given area, then go and reap the rewards. Assuming you don't do the above, then all you are met with is seemingly endless hordes of spawned monsters which, amusingly, stop when there is a bit of dialogue or a mission objective is met (such as defending, against the clock, a teammate who is trying to open a door. The timer reaches 0, and the monsters stop spawning). Gameplay is almost linear, but there were a few times at which I could take one of two doors out of a section; one leading onwards, and one leading to just one or two other rooms in which I can have fun. Aside from this, it's just moving forward and shooting everything that gets in your way. Ammo and health pickups are constant, providing NO challenge whatsoever. The health pickup is also funny, since it is described as a liquid which promotes coagulation of the blood and acts as a 'filler' for lost blood. But in any given level there are so many of these things that it's a wonder your veins aren't running yellow-green.
The weapons in the game are your bogstandard shooters; - Pistol (start the game with this) - Submachine Pistol (first pickup, in the first level) - Grenade: Frag (comes shortly after the SMP) - Grenade: Alien (this little cutie is actually quite powerful, but in low supply) - Shotgun (Comes a little later) - Sniper Rifle (Coming around halfway through the game, there is barely much point to this) - Alien rifle (3-shot burst, can bounce off walls) - Meson Cannon (The usual "big gun", this comes only within the last few levels, and ammo is relatively sparse)
The game offers the worst dual-wielding logic I have ever seen in a game; the SMP and shotgun are both dual-wield, which is pathetically unrealistic. Of all the weapons, I found myself using the SMP in nine out of ten engagements. The other weapons are irrelevant.
[[ Spoiler in this paragraph: Last line. ]] Area 51's graphics are one of its saving graces. Although ported straight from the console version of the game, they receive a little bit of tweaking to take advantage of the PC's superiority over consoles. You'll find the same old textures being used over and over, but this is reasonably plausible since the game takes place in just one place (two if you count the alien base in the later levels).
The sound is adequate for a game like this. Ambient sounds are the game's strong point, although it has an annoying tendency to play sounds of events that are taking place nowhere near the player. The music is... Well, I turned it off since I preferred my own. As I already said, the voice acting is weak. Duchovny is by far the worst voice actor in Area 51; Powers Booth speaks too little for me to judge, though I noticed no overt problems. Marilyn Manson, although I hate the guy, does fairly well as Edgar and I begrudgingly admit that I have no problems with his talents within the game.
In conclusion, Area 51 is a game that could have been so much more if only it had done so much -less-. By all means rent it, or borrow from a friend, but don't feel you're missing out on anything if you don't buy it.