Being my new job requires that I know my product, I am going to be in the process of playing video games, some wonderful, amazing, and unique. Some might end up being the crappiest thing ever programmed!
So here is a review on
Area-51
Genre: First person shooter
Systems: X-box and PS2
*Review of Xbox version
Review, single player: Playing the game was a unique experience. The game starts off in some very unique and interesting backgrounds and comments. If you are into the whole extra-terrestrial stuff and all that, then this game is definitely for you. The detail placed into the game's story is amazing. Going all the way down to the biology of the mutations involved, it is needless to say, amazing. (Makes me wish I had more of a strive to study Biology.)
The voice acting is definitely there, no idle or stupid voice overs here; featured voices from actors include, David Duchovny, Powers Booth, and Marilyn Manson as Edgar the grey alien. The cutscenes were a first for me in the amount of detail they had placed in them. Everything was taken into account, even down to where the flashlights fade into darkness, amazing. Gameplay graphics are definitely there with the detail to shadows, faces if you can see them, and so forth.
Actual gameplay was very interesting. You start out like any other first person shooter as a human carrying some form of firearm. As a first person shooter it is very nicely done, you feel like you are actually the character running through the levels seeing as how there are very limited number of scenes where you actually see yourself. The loading scenes were excellently done with the concept of no moore loading/blank scenes, you actually watch a short clip of Duchovny speaking about the recent events that happen in the last level you played so you do not realize the game is loading. Gameplay can get a bit difficult as a human, you generally can't take much punishment from say the BlackOps you run into later in the game, but in the context of range you are at an advantage. The array of weaponry is good as well, ranging from the usual handgun, which for some reason you cannot dual wield, yet you can dual wield the assault rifle and shotgun. In general the assault rifle will be your all-round weapon of choice. You can get much in the way of stopping power as opposed to the handgun, but you have a bigger clip and semi-auto fire definitely helps in accuracy rather than just holding down the trigger. Now as compared to the handgun and assault rifle when you press the secondary fire trigger you zoom in I guess you could say, the shotgun will be your baby for the close quarters fighting. A standard issue 12-gauge double barrel shotgun, but with the second trigger both barrels fire, so you have the choice of 10 rounds or 5 depending on which trigger you like to use. Upon dual wielding the shotgun, the secondary fire of 4 12-gauge barrels going off will drop anything that WAS in front of you in a heart beat and most likely send their bodies flying. Of course you get the usual sniper rifle as well as another weapon I cannot remember right off hand and an alien weapon that I never used as much as the shotgun of course.
No on the mutation, as one point you can change into a monster/alien creature, which allows you to take a hell of alot more punishment, you can kill anything with one melee hit, (as compared to being a human where you might as well bend over and take the fact your going to die trying it.) you can fire parasites that will give you life and hurt other the other person, close enough upon firing the parasites you will kill them, and one other ability that I forget what they call it, but you get in close and you can release a gas from your back that will kill everything around you. But be aware that being in alien form you have limited range, and a limit time you can be in that form before reverting to your human form again. But one cool thing that I loved about being an alien is the fact that you can see everyone in infrared and say a BlackOps LT. goes invisible you can still see the outline of him in ultraviolet which is awesome!
Nevertheless this game does sport a multiplayer and online play, but I did not play test either seeing as how cheesy they made the shotgun in the game would undoubtedly make it a bitch against someone else running around with it.
Overall a great game if you are looking for a fun first-person shooter with an extremely detailed and deep story that will keep you intrigued for days to come.
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