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 Art tips and techniques, reviews and interviews from my studio. Archived here and at World Famous Comics. Comics 101 for 10/24/2002 Video Game Review - 'The Thing' I recently picked up this game for X-Box and it's turning out to be a great game so far! It's appropriately in the survival horror vein like 'Resident Evil' but the graphics aren't as sharp as compared to the latest version of 'RE' on Gamecube - which was such a beautiful game! 'RE' for Gamecube played alot like the original for Playstation but with a few new twists and even more incredible looking graphics. The lighting and creatures were beautiful in a super-creepy way. Great job Capcom! But I digress, Black Label Games and Universal Interactive's 'The Thing' has a sense of eeriness and dread not unlike 'RE' and appropriately envokes the mood and paranoia of Carpenter's film by picking up like a true sequel where his movie left off. In fact, it plays faster, more like 'action horror' than the true survival horror of 'RE' or 'Silent Hill' since there is only some puzzle solving involved. The game's focus is more on the paranoia between you and your team members and the fight against the creatures (at times fast, bloody and furious). The action itself plays like a twisted combination of 'Max Payne' meets 'Aliens' which is actually abit refreshing in it's unique way. The gore and creatures (it's Rob Bottin meets H.P. Lovecraft gone digital) are really over the top (good) and the characters in your group that you 'control' add a complex yet fun dimension to the game especially when they wig out and proceed to blow their own brains out or even worse, try to kill you! And you never know when they might 'Thing-out', thus inducing frights and chaos (very good). But the camera control and character movement can be a bit funky (a'la 'Obi-Wan' for X-Box) at times (not so good). The voice-acting is decent so far but the dialogue can be a little hokey at times though not as painful as 'Max Payne'. It's truly a thrill (at least for me) to torch 'Thing' creatures with the flamethrower and watch them burn and flail about the room or frozen tundra just like in the movie. You can tell the guys at Black Label were true fans of this masterpiece of horror cinema. And giving a random teammate 'the blood test' makes you think at least twice about 'who goes there'. MacCready would be proud. The plentiful variety of combat weapons and beneficial survival items all have their use throughout the dangerous levels of the game. Playing the first few levels you'll notice the game may seem typical and a little slow but it builds nicely and finds it rhythm pretty quickly. 'Resident Evil' and 'Max Payne' may have tackled horror and action slightly better than this but 'The Thing' is faster paced than 'RE' and obviously scarier and more tense than 'Payne'. It's a good balance of the two genres and it's one of the better games I've played in a while. I think knowing of the uber-coolness and artistry of the movie and really enjoying Carpenter's film makes playing this game that much more of an en-gross-ing experience. Grab your sombrero, a blow torch and a bottle of Jack. Hit the lights and start hunting. Trust no one. (*Note -It also helps if you turn down the heat in your apartment too when you playing the game this winter). 'The Thing' is now available and retails for $49.99 on both the Playstation 2 and X-Box platforms. You can pick up a new or used copy at Amazon or eBay. -Joe Recent Columns:
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