Developer : Konami
Release date : September 20, 2002
Synopsis :
The Thing is a 2002 third-person shooter survival horror video game developed by Computer Artworks and co-published by Vivendi Universal Games under their Black Label Games publishing label and Konami.[5] It was released for Windows, Xbox, and PlayStation 2. GameCube and Game Boy Advance versions were also planned, but both were cancelled early in development.
Set as a sequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 film of the same name, the story focuses on Captain Blake, a member of a U.S. Special Forces team sent to the Antarctic outpost featured in the film to determine what has happened to the research team. The game was endorsed by Carpenter,[6] who has a cameo appearance in the game.
The Thing was a commercial success; selling over one million units worldwide across all platforms, and received generally positive reviews. A sequel was in the early stages of development, but was canceled when Computer Artworks went into receivership in 2003.
The game begins at U.S. Outpost 31 in Antarctica, a short time after the events of the film. Two teams of U.S. Special Forces have arrived to investigate the U.S. camp and the nearby Norwegian camp. Captain J.F. Blake (voiced by Per Solli) is the leader of Bravo Team, who are investigating the U.S. camp, whilst Alpha Team, under the command of Captain Pierce, investigate the Norwegian camp. Both teams are under the overall command of Colonel Whitley (William B. Davis), who is in constant communication via radio. Whilst investigating Outpost 31, Bravo Team soon discover the small spacecraft made by the Blair-Thing and a tape recorder with a message from R.J. MacReady, describing how nobody trusts anybody anymore. They then find information detailing how the base has been infiltrated by an extraterrestrial lifeform that is capable of imitating the physical appearance and characteristics of any living organism it assimilates. They also find the body of Childs, one of the two survivors at the end of the film, who has died from hypothermia. The film’s other survivor, MacReady, is nowhere to be found. Under orders from Whitley, Bravo Team set up C-4 explosives throughout the facility, which are detonated remotely, destroying the outpost.
Whilst the rest of Bravo Team are airlifted to safety, Blake heads to the Norwegian camp to locate and reinforce Alpha Team, with whom contact has been lost. He soon learns they have been attacked and scattered by a horde of “scuttlers”; small limbs and appendages of much larger Things. Eventually Blake finds Pierce. However, he has become paranoid, believing everyone to be infected and demanding Blake agrees to a blood test to prove he is still human. Blake does so, and he and Pierce set out to find a way to reestablish communication with Whitley. However, they are soon separated, and with no other choice, Blake continues on, finding the radio room, but discovering someone has stolen the radio and fled into a nearby warehouse.
En route to the warehouse, Blake encounters Pierce in an observatory. However, he is infected, and rather than allow himself to turn into a Thing, Pierce shoots himself in the head. Blake continues to pursue the man with the radio, eventually discovering that he is a Thing. Blake kills him, and takes the radio. Moving on, he enters the “Pyron” sub-facility beneath the Norwegian base, learning of a company called Gen-Inc., who have installed a research team under the command of Dr. Sean Faraday (John Carpenter). Gen-Inc. had been conducting biological experiments on the Things when their team was infected, and now only a few survivors remain within the facility. Blake rescues Faraday and attempts to leave. However, he is prevented from doing so by Whitley, who shoots him with a tranquillizer gun, and reveals to Faraday that he has infected himself with the Thing gene, claiming it to be controllable, something of which he is living proof, and therefore demonstrating its capability as a weapon. When Faraday attempts to eradicate the Thing virus, Whitley kills him.
Blake awakens in the now abandoned “Strata” research facility, and learns that his cells have a unique resistance to infection by the Thing virus. After escaping his confinement, he unearths a government conspiracy whereby Gen-Inc. isolated a microbiological form of the Thing called the “Cloud virus”, which was intended for use in biological warfare. However, the Thing infected everyone at the facility. Blake learns that Whitley was in charge of the entire operation, and has injected himself with a strain of the virus known as “Cloud Virus B4” in an attempt to cure his terminal cancer.
Blake fights his way through the facility, battling numerous black ops under Whitley’s command, as well as many Things. Learning that Whitley plans to distribute the Thing virus around the world using a fleet of airplanes, he is able to destroy them before they take off. Eventually, Blake confronts Whitley himself. He sets him on fire, but Whitely is unhurt. He explains that an airlift team is on its way and when it arrives, he will begin global exposure. Whitley flees further into the base, pursued by Blake. At the partly excavated site of the original Thing’s spaceship, Whitley transforms into a massive Thing creature. Blake encounters a helicopter pilot, who helps him defeat the Whitley-Thing. As the helicopter flies away from the base, the pilot reveals himself to be R.J. MacReady.
Source : Wikipedia
