The Thing

by Computer Artworks

Product Features

• PlayStation 2
• ESRB Rating: M (Mature)
• Action/Adventure

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000066RKC
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: August 20, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,011 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: PlayStation2

Amazon.com Product Description

Based on the same elements that made the movie so enjoyable--fear, suspense, and the possibility that your teammate might be infected--The Thing lets players slowly creep into the action with the help of several nonplayer characters (NPCs), whom you control and use to protect and aid you and your group. Using a core team of engineers, medics, and soldiers, players must manage and control their level of trust in, and fear of, you. They react to your actions, and might betray you if they think you might be the Thing. Conversely, you must constantly monitor which one of them might be infected and dispose of that person. Other characters must trust you, but if they fear you, actions as drastic as coercion might be necessary. For example, if a soldier doesn't have confidence in you, you may have to put your gun to his head to convince him you're not the Thing. For his sake, he'd better believe.

Product Description

MODEL- 71436 VENDOR- VIVENDI FEATURES- The Thing Knowing who you can trust is the difference between living and dying. Dropped into the frozen wastelands of Antarctica, youre the leader of a military rescue team sent to investigate the mysterious death of an American scientific expedition. In the punishing wind and cold, your team encounters a strange, shape-shifting alien life form that assumes the appearance of the people it kills. This monster is difficult to see, hard to kill, and seemingly impossible to evade. And when you see it, its often too late. Try to control your panic-stricken squad - and your own fear - in the face of spectacular alien destruction, gruesome carnage, shocking plot twists and immninent death. Your only hope is to trust your team.and hope that they trust you. ESRB Rating : M for Mature Genre/Category : Action System : PlayStation 2 Number of Players : 1 Compatible Peripheral Features: MANUFACTURER WARRANTY: 90 DAYS

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Thing (review), July 15, 2002

By 

playhatinyou (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Thing (Video Game)

"The Thing" takes the video-gaming world into a new dimension. Consider one of the best games of the new century, as it contains aspects of the video games we all love and new aspects which will leave one speechless. It is an adventure game unlike any other, for its orginality, complexity, outstanding visuals, and fantastic gameplay.
The most intersting and innovative part about this game is the Trust Meter concept. The object of the game is for you and your squad to complete missions, which each memeber responsible for different tasks. As the game moves on you are drawn in by the emotions each memer feels. In this game the characters seem like real humans as they express themselves emotionally (as well as visually) as they begin to lose mental stability. These humans also become skeptical of you as well, this is where you must earn their trust so you can ultimately win the game and avoid being attacked by your own team. This is the most exciting, complex, challening, and original part of the game that sets it apart from its predecessors.
The graphics are amazing as well in combiantion with the gameplay. As you are stuck in the freezing Artic...searching for the surviving members of your team, you embark in an almost too realistic experience of the Artic. The creatures, your nemisis, put you on the edge of the seat as you can be amazed by seeing infected humans morph into the Thing. As you go along through heavy and empowering gun play, you also get to blow a lot of things up to. This always leaves on satisifed as the visual effects in this game make one feel proud of their accomplsihemnts after seeing creatues and structures get blown to bits.
This game has an effect on the player as well. One will be left biting their nail to kepp on playing, but at the same time leaves a player in such frightening suspense of what lies around the corner. The game plays so well with everything, using real human intuition and emotions, scary situations, and using the environment. A player must use everything around them to ultimately win, and this makes the game well worth it in my book!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where the movie left off... the true terror begins, May 27, 2002

By 

Daniel Baker (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Thing (Video Game)

I played The Thing at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) and it totally rocks! The gameplay is intense and the story is terrifying. It is a sequel to one of the best action horror films ever created - John Carpenter's 1982 film by the same name. In the game, you must gain/keep the trust of your squad to get through the missions. This has never been done before in any game that I know of and it makes it really interesting. If you're easily offended by violence or bad language than this is NOT the game for you. They didn't hold back a bit. Very realistic. Really fun to play. Highly recommended.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Kind of hit-or-miss, but I liked it, November 7, 2005

By 

Avery "Cantankerous" (Springfield, VA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: The Thing (Video Game)

"The Thing", as if you didn't know, is a game based on John Carpenter's 1982 film of the same name, and features the same conflict as the movie--alien/monster infestation. Amazingly, this game draws you into the world of these frightened soldiers in a very effective manner so that you actually sense yourself feeling all of the "is he...?" distrustfulness of the characters. The backdrop of the icy and isolated Antarctica in both the film and the game plays very smoothly beneath all of the human turmoil.

If anything, it's the atmosphere of the whole deal that will keep you coming back for more.

The length of the game is very satisfying. It took me about two weeks to beat it, and thankfully, never once did any level feel like a carbon copy of the last. The environments are always changing, and there is always some new way to interact with them. It would have been cool to see some sled dog infections like we did in the film, but the closest you ever get here is running through a gutted-out kennel with several dog corpses lying around.

Getting back to the concept of trust, though, it was a very pivotal plot point in the film, and it is no less of a factor here in the game rendition. You will come across various members of an army squadron stationed all over the continent of Antarctica. Some already know you, some don't. But unless you were pals prior to meeting up, and good pals at that, most characters will refuse to follow you or take any of your orders unless you give them a weapon or give yourself a blood test in front of them to prove that you're not infected with Thing-ness. Even then, it might still be hard to get them to believe you and if they ever once sense that you're not leading them with their best interests in mind, they'll think nothing of turning on you and gunning you down in an instant. It would definitely be wise to tread lightly with your team members!

If your NPCs (non-playable characters) ever get particularly stubborn, the game also gives you the option of "coercion", which is achieved by going into first person mode and pointing a gun at one of your team members' heads for about five seconds. You can get him to do something that he doesn't want to do by using this technique, but don't expect him to believe anything you say after that. I kind of wanted to be forced to use it at some point, but you can easily make it through the entire game without having to do it once. It's a very intriguing idea, but I sort of feel that it's tacked on to add authenticity to the game, because the characters in the movie did it.

There are some pretty big cons in this game, despite its overall coolness. The layout for the weapons and supplies is pretty slick, but it would behoove Blake to not run into his own grenades and flames quite as much. And this isn't because I suck, it just genuinely gets very difficult to avoid hurting yourself in a lot of situations. Sure, it's very realistic that your own weapons are as lethal to you as they are to your enemies, but also pretty perplexing when you notice around 1/3 of the way through the game that your character's health is taken down more by his own weaponry than by a bite to the face from a psychotic alien monster.

The danger of your own weapons is especially aggravating in a game where the weaponry is primarily focused on flame throwers, blow torches, and other various fire-spewing arms. The worst is when you've happened to equip one of your team members with the flame thrower and you run out ahead of him to attack some of the smaller Things, and the only way he can defend himself is to fry not only the creatures, but you as well. Thanks a lot, a - - hole, you're welcome for the weapon.

Despite their stupidity, I still found myself very concerned for the well-being of my squad. I tried to kill all of the Things before they had a chance to bite any of my team, even if it would pose a risk to my own health. But no matter how hard I tried to keep everyone calm and safe, the game automatically infected them and caused them to explode into the Thing after traveling through only a few stages with them. It took me a while to figure out why some guy I had grown to trust had randomly turned into a monster, but I went online and found out that the programming is the reason why. So if you're in a similar frame of mind, don't worry: it's not your fault. There was nothing you could have done for the guy.

The blood tests that the game provides are completely pointless in this regard. Supposedly, you can test your team members to see if they're infected with Thing-ness, but since the game is preset to have them burst out into a monster at some point, it's totally moot and a complete waste to even try testing them. I think another reviewer has already said it, but I'd just like to reiterate that your tests are put to much better use testing yourself to gain the trust of any new soldiers you may encounter.

You will need a ridiculous amount of patience for the last three or four levels, as health supplies tend to be low and the monsters and soldiers you will be shooting at are relentless. I was pretty lenient and forgiving of my dying over and over and over again, but even I got fed up after a while and had to shut off my Playstation. So there's one more thing you have to look forward to.

The ending, while it might not bother others, didn't really live up to my gaming expectations. I come from an era where you'd battle your way through a gauntlet of foes and arrive at the end to receive a fun, satisfying tying up of the story, as opposed to just another cutscene. Tragically, this seems to be the preferred method these days, and a lot of games just don't satisfy by their end as much as they should. In this one, you are given what basically amounts to another cutscene once you've defeated the last boss; the whole thing couldn't have lasted longer than twenty seconds.

On the plus side, by the game's end, some of the original lingering questions from the John Carpenter film are answered. It may not be canon, but it's still kind of fun. If you're a fan of "The Thing", you'll really appreciate this game ending's subtle nod to the movie.

So all in all, there are many plusses, but the many minuses can really detract from your experience with "The Thing". It's fun, and it's pretty original, so I'd say it's worth a look, at least. Just be aware of the setbacks and then try your damndest to ignore them. I think it's pretty safe to say that everyone would have liked a more "finished" game in the sense that some of the controls and the game dynamics could have been improved before it hit the shelves, but at least this game is challenging, unlike many titles. I had fun with it, anyway. Maybe you will, too.

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