Kombo : : : PS3 | 360 | Wii | Cube | Xbox | PSP | DS | Forums | Podcasts

AROUND KOMBO:
REVIEW
God of War Collection
The PS2 games upgrade to PS3 visuals
REVIEW
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
Why are you not playing?
REVIEW
REVIEW: LittleBigPlanet PSP
It's fun, but lonely without multiplayer.
Area 51
Console
Xbox
Publisher
Midway
Genre
Action
Developer
Midway
Release Date
04/25/05
ESRB Rating
Not Rated
StumbleUpon Toolbar  
Area 51
May 3, 2005 | 9:28 PM PST

by: Anthony Martinelli

The U.S Army has received a distress signal from Area 51 where a viral outbreak has shut down the research facility and the automated quarantine procedures have locked scientific and military personnel inside. A small special force unit led by specialist Ethan Cole of the HAZMAT Division (voiced by David Duchovny) is sent in to investigate. As Cole players will try and discover the secret behind the outbreak, and the truth behind Area 51 (and even other myths such as the faked lunar landing). The game, in terms of story, is filled with a great amount of twists and turns throughout to keep things interesting.

This all sounds promising right? I’d say so. Unfortunately, though this had potential to be great, the story is little more than a thrown together mess. The story seems to wander off when it shouldn’t, having very little focus (kinda like this review! Oh! Burn on myself!). David Duchovny doesn’t help the fact, considering he does a horrendous job of voice-acting. It’s a shame to, considering you hear him talking more than double the amount you hear everyone else in the game put together (did that make sense?). I suppose being a famous celebrity and all, they didn’t want to question him, it sounded as if someone was putting a gun to his head forcing him to do it. You can tell he put little effort into his character.

The rest of the audio is fantastic. The sound effects are spot-on and the music helps retain the games tense feel. The rest of the voice-actors, though also sub par, at least get the job done (I still can’t get over how bad of a job Duchovny does in portraying Ethan Cole).

Area 51’s visuals are top-notch. The character and enemy models are pitch-perfect and the environments are varied and truly gorgeous. The animations and textures are slick as well. The game also features several CGI cut-scenes that are breath-taking to say the least. I’m pretty sure that of all the games I’ve played in the past I’ve never seen cut-scenes that even come close to rivaling these. The only flaw in the graphics department is that the lighting effects aren’t as great as Xbox gamers may be accustomed to.

In its core, Area 51 is a traditional go here shoot this game. Fortunately, its all done extremely well. As with nearly every other FPS ever made, you will spend the majority of the game getting to a certain area, and killing everyone, and everything that opposes you. Gratefully, as I went through these parts of the game, I never once found myself getting bored. This is due in no small part to the fantastic environments.

The game also features some massive battles that will place you up against possible dozens of enemies. Some of these battles you will fight traditionally, but some of the funnest battles will have you manning a “plasma rocket” turret. These battles tend to be very easy, but yet excruciatingly fun. Battles always tend to end perfectly, stopping at its peak right before the battles start becoming monotonous. Fire fights are always intense, exciting, and fun as hell! Even when theres dozens of enemies and tons of action going on screen, I can’t remember the frame rate having any type of noticeable drop.

Breaking up all of these battles are various other gameplay elements (none of which are done extremely well, but they do help to break up the overall gameplay.) One of these failed elements is the scanner. The scanner is treated as a weapon, and you select it by going through your weapons. It even has a flashlight on it, and can be used for melee.

I will say that this is a great idea, and had a lot of potential, but isn’t done necessarily well. For the most part, you really can only scan things that they allow you to do, and most are mandatory anyway. If you try scanning something that is not alot (which is about 99.3% of objects in the game), you will get an air sample, telling you the oxygen, nitrogen, etc of the air. Though this is rather nifty at first, the fun does quickly wear off.
< previous | page 1 of 4 | next >
Screenshot Gallery

1/20/2005

1/20/2005

1/20/2005

1/20/2005

Got something that we should post on the site? Send it to us!
November 20, 2009
Happy Friday! Check out the new feature content we have available. Thanksgiving is right around the corner! Make sure you think about what you're most thankful for... Also, make sure you become a fan of Kombo on Facebook!!!

-- Ken Cauley, Editor in Chief

Kombo Breaker
FTW
Do you and your family celebrate Thanksgiving?
Vote!
(11/20/09 | 9:55 PM PST)
Supreme Commander 2 Moves Out in March
DiRT 2!!!
  • DiRT 2 for Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3
    Enter to win!
    E-mail us and include your full name, age and mailing address to enter.

  • Software
    Hardware
    All Time
    Weekly
    8.75m Japan
    26.08m America
    21.86m Others
    56.69M 
    1.19m Japan
    19.24m America
    12.94m Others
    33.37M 
    3.89m Japan
    10.32m America
    12.48m Others
    26.68M 
    28.36m Japan
    39.12m America
    46.54m Others
    114.01M 
    13.12m Japan
    17.80m America
    21.88m Others
    52.80M