The Rest -
Playing through the game and trying to figure out the story is a one way street to Confusion-ville, population you. But simply taking the time to read the storyline inside the book will clear everything up. The Grays, aliens who have created a secret pact with the Illuminati to create a super weapon for use in intergalactic warfare are planning on unleashing terror on humanity. Dr. Cray, a shriveled, old, wheelchair bound mad scientist, unleashes a virus on the Illuminati in Area 51 to stop the Gray’s operations. A Hazmat team is called in to clean up the mess but they are soon reported missing and a second team is called in to find the first. That’s where you, Ethan Cole (voiced by David Ducovny) come in. This story is bolstered by interactions between you and your squad mates and soldiers you come upon while descending into the base.

Area 51 is not the most visually diverse game but it holds its own succeeding at making the ever deeper levels of Area 51 at least interesting to look at. Alien symbols and insignia decorate the walls, neon greens and test tubes housing monstrosities are about in laboratories and the dark, brooding atmosphere is consistent until the end. While character and enemy model designs are pretty standard it’s the effects that are more interesting to look at. Grenades and weapons explode in showers of color electrical impulses and pulses of light reflect realistically off of shiny surfaces. A bit more variation in character design would have been nice but it’s not a big complaint.

It’s pretty clear early on that Area 51 is a standard first-person shooter and that most missions consist of finding ways around obstacles to get to the next progressive gun battle. Early on, some of the mundaneness of this is removed with fast-paced gun battles in a squad setting taking orders from the leader. Later on in the game, Cole goes it alone but the shoot outs are just as exciting. Because Cole has a short life gauge it’s imperative that you don’t just run out shooting like Nino Brown in New Jack City. Hiding behind obstacles and leaning out to release gunfire bursts is the most effective way to get by. The game does a fine job of balancing the weapons with the game play and the environments so you are forced to switch weapons strategically to get through many checkpoints - you won’t be able to simply blast through the game using the same old gun. And, since you have to collect ammo for some guns and wait for regeneration with others, you’ll need to become proficient at all of them. The one exception is the “Scorpion” Pistol that you are issued at the beginning of the game which quickly becomes useless when you acquire the “Viper” Assault Rifle, the “Hammer” Combat Shotgun, sniper rifles, grenades, the BBG particle impulse gun and the Meson Cannon.

With standard FPS control, Area 51 is particularly easy to pick up but it takes time getting used to quick targeting in the intense fire fights. The PS2 controller is best suited for the button set up but it’s a bit tricky. Holding the R2 button uses a guns secondary ability or zooms in your aim a bit and using the triggers to shoot is pretty intuitive. I was also happy to see that Area 51 solved the dual weapons problem that plagued Halo 2. The second gun is held low enough that it is not in the way of the players view and you don’t have to use two triggers to control the guns, nor do you lose the ability to throw grenades when holding two weapons like in Halo 2.

Fighting the infected mutants at the game’s beginning is frightening as they come sprinting and leaping towards you but the difficulty is quickly ramped up once the Illuminati Black-ops soldiers come after you. More strategy is then needed to clear rooms and checkpoints since they use the same guns and grenades you use.

Aurally, Area 51 is notable. You won’t remember any of the tunes once you turn it off but the bleeps, buzzes and echoing sounds of the facility do well to create a confined atmosphere and the sounds and growls of your enemies are a bit disheartening. Voice talent like Ducovny, Boothe Powers and Marilyn Manson add a bit to the story lines style, especially Ducovny whose monotone, disinterested delivery is reminiscent of an X-Files episode which is no doubt what the developers were going for.

My only problem with the game was the failure to use the famous conspiracy theories that we all know and love to good effect in the game. Some idle documents around the facility touch on these subjects but the main storyline kind of sidesteps them in favor of a more typical good vs. evil format. Minus the typical frustration that one expects to experience when playing a game, Area 51 was a solidly good experience.

Posted: June 4, 2005