To make it short, yes. I picked up The Thing for the Xbox at my local
Gamestop for only $4. A steal on any grounds. I first played the PS2
version a few years back and the atmosphere of a chilling station
overrun with mutant beings brought me back to this version.
You are Blake, the leader of a squad sent in to investigate mysterious
events at a desolate and snowy military base. As the leader of a squad
you can well lead your followers. In a Sims-ish way your team members
are very smart. If you need health, the medic will know to heal you
without you telling him to. In the same way the engineer will also do
his job, usually repairing a blown out fuse box, when you order him to.
Your squad members can be either medics, soldiers, or engineers, each
with their own respective job. While the friendly and enemy A.I. is
usually smart they can tend to get stuck on the environment or just
stand while bullets hit them.
Since there are alien mutant enemies everywhere you need some serious
firepower. Don't expect to find it here. The Thing features average
weapons like the shotgun, submachine gun, and a flame thrower. Speaking
of flammable things, the only way to kill bigger mutants is to shoot
them until their health is so low that you can whip out your flame
thrower and roast them.
The game mainly compiles of you moving toward the next area, surviving,
finding your lost squad members, and escaping from the corrupt
government soldiers. At many times I got frustrated because of
difficulty or having no ammo to shoot some stupid, annoying
headcrap-esque aliens. The atmosphere of The Thing is very intense but
the gameplay experience is bogged down by frustrating areas and
sometimes bad camera angles. If you are looking for a cheap and
worthwhile niche shooter, The Thing is for you.
