The Thing: Remastered Review - Cold Fear

As a seasoned gamer with decades of gaming under my belt, I’ve played my fair share of innovative titles that have left lasting impressions on me. The Thing, released way back in 2002, was one such game that piqued my curiosity and kept me hooked for hours on end. With its unique take on the squad-based survival genre, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of excitement as I navigated through the icy tundra, never knowing who among my comrades might be an alien in disguise.

For my money, there isn’t a better horror monster than The Thing’s shape-shifting alien organism. Even 42 years later, Rob Bottin’s practical effects are still incredible, capturing each freakish amalgamation of tentacles, sharp teeth, sinew, and traces of malformed humanity with ghastly clarity. I’ve seen The Thing dozens of times, yet seeing Norris’ decapitated head contort and grow arthropod-esque legs will never fail to twist my stomach in knots. These are the everlasting images of The Thing, but it’s the alien’s ability to perfectly imitate anyone that genuinely terrifies, permeating each scene with an unnerving sense of dread and paranoia that affects both its characters and the audience watching. Who do you trust when anyone could be a clandestine threat?

In the year 2002, Computer Artworks developer aimed to bring the eerie atmosphere of The Thing into a licensed video game. Despite ultimately closing its doors, the studio almost achieved success by creating a third-person horror-action game featuring an innovative squad system that instilled a sense of uncertainty about the ally fighting alongside you. Since then, it has gained cult status, leading to a remastered version from Nightdive Studios – a developer recognized for their faithful restoration of various games like Shadow Man and Star Wars: Dark Forces. The Thing: Remastered delivers a similarly genuine experience, though with enhancements to the visuals, controls, and certain user-friendly features. Essentially, it’s the same game as in 2002, with its strengths and weaknesses remaining intact.

The Thing: Remastered Review - Cold Fear

The game’s setup is one of its better aspects, acting as a direct sequel to John Carpenter’s iconic 1982 film. You play as the bland, one-dimensional Captain Blake, leader of a U.S. Special Forces rescue team sent to investigate Outpost 31 in the isolating tundra of Antarctica. Of course, we know what transpired when MacReady and the rest of this research facility encountered the shape-shifting alien life-form, and it doesn’t take long before Blake is fighting off all manner of horrific entities. He’s rather nonchalant about the whole thing, though, anchoring a relatively thin story that feels distinctly 2002 in all the worst ways. While it begins as a more action-oriented facsimile of the film it’s ostensibly a sequel to, the narrative quickly delves into predictable territory with the military experimenting on the Thing to use the alien for its own gain. It’s all very stereotypical, with melodramatic voice acting and–aside from a fun cameo from John Carpenter himself–an inherently disposable cast of characters.

In the game The Thing: Remastered, most of the characters you encounter can become valuable team members for survival. Building and preserving their trust is crucial. By defeating enemies, providing weapons, ammunition, and healing to your comrades, they’ll be more willing to fight alongside you. However, remember that this is The Thing, so it’s possible that the weapon you give to an ally could be in the hands of a disguised enemy or someone suspicious enough to suspect you of being one yourself. Your team members might not only be Thing impostors but can also turn against you if their trust dwindles or they’re overwhelmed by fear. They are prone to anxiety, which increases significantly when witnessing gruesome scenes like dismembered bodies or alien transformations. If they endure too much stress or lose your trust due to actions such as accidental shootings or avoiding combat, they may crack under pressure and flee, commit suicide, or start attacking everyone around them, aiming to eliminate you and your fellow team members.

This game cleverly embodies the themes of trust, suspicion, and deceit within the film, creating an atmosphere where even your team members can induce heart-pounding suspense, as they exhibit authentic human behaviors rather than being mere non-playable characters. Remarkably, such intricate trust and fear management was pioneered in 2002, a concept that was previously unheard of. To this day, I rarely come across similar implementations in single-player games; it’s usually confined to social multiplayer titles like Among Us.

The remastered version of “The Thing” offers an authentic experience, yet boasts several enhancements to its graphics, controls, and user-friendly features. Essentially, it’s the original game from 2002, with its strengths and weaknesses still intact.

In the initial stages of play, The Thing: Remastered effectively hooks you with its execution of these concepts. As you delve into the decaying remains of Outpost 31, an eerie ambiance is instantly set. Your companions are already tense before you uncover a UFO frozen in the ice, and the chilling Arctic wind’s howl, combined with Ennio Morricone’s haunting soundtrack, adds another layer of suspense to particularly tense moments. Nightdive has done an excellent job modernizing the original game’s graphics, boasting enhanced character models, textures, and animations, as well as dynamic lighting and shadows to breathe new life into this 22-year-old title. Although it retains a somewhat blocky appearance reminiscent of PS2-era games, it softens these rougher aspects with contemporary techniques, making the visuals more appealing for today’s viewers.

In the course of the game, you’ll encounter various types of hostile creatures, ranging from swift four-legged critters to larger, humanoid monstrosities with lethal claws and exposed insides. To defeat these bigger adversaries, you’ll first need to inflict damage using small firearms, followed by setting them ablaze with a flamethrower or incendiary bomb. Thankfully, Nightdive Studios has improved the flamethrower so it won’t burn you if you’re moving forward while firing. Additionally, ammunition is now more abundant, reducing instances where you have to revert to an old save to conserve ammo for later stages. Other than these positive adjustments, combat in The Thing: Remastered remains similar, with a convenient lock-on system that makes clearing rooms effortless. However, it’s serviceable rather than particularly captivating.

Remastered is grappling with its own lofty ambitions. At specific points, certain team members will transform into aliens regardless of how well you manage their trust and fear. Even if a blood test reveals they’re still human just moments before, this discovery is quickly rendered irrelevant due to the game’s strict scripting.

The Thing: Remastered Review - Cold Fear

From my perspective as a gamer, The Thing: Remastered stumbles when it comes to squad-based gameplay because there’s no real motivation to worry about anyone else’s survival but my own. The narrative decides when characters will change, and most teammates vanish at the end of each level anyway, making it pointless to form any kind of bond with them. There are no consequences for trusting your teammates either. Whatever weapons you hand out get discarded when they transform, and maintaining their trust and keeping fear low is effortless, so I never felt like anyone was in real danger, which weakens the game’s suspense. By halfway through, it feels like Computer Artworks struggled to develop the concept any further, turning the game into a routine shooter where you fight against both aliens and mindless human enemies. It’s a big difference from the game’s beginning and makes for a dull, uninspired journey towards an underwhelming finale.

In 2002, The Thing stood out as a unique gaming experience I cherish. It was innovative and thrilling, and to this day, no other developer seems to be replicating the bold attempts made by Computer Artworks in the single-player realm. While I admire their accomplishments, the constraints of the technology and design choices are now more noticeable than ever, even with a nostalgic perspective. Nightdive Studios has done an impressive job reviving this game with its preservation efforts, and all the improvements they’ve made have been beneficial, improving both visuals and mechanics. However, a full remake would have been more appealing, as it could have allowed for more flexibility in developing the trust and fear system. Unfortunately, Computer Artworks’ original vision may never be fully realized, which is unfortunate.

2024-12-06 00:39

The Thing: Remastered Review – Cold Fear

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