The Thing - Page 2

You have to be careful when leaving open doors behind you. That crawler assault is a lot easier to handle if you take 'em one section at a time by staying in closed environments. And remember you can lay down a line of fire on the floor that they won't cross, and then you can pick 'em off easy.

I just beat the first Boss, but then died in the next area because my health was too low and Health packs are ridiculously scarce in this game, even on easy.

Now i've got to fight it again.....

Right now I'm at this big descending tower-type thing with automatic machineguns, SWAT, and crawlers galore. Very hard and my medic turned into a monster.

This is after the Hanger level with the airplanes BTW.

Some days, it just doesn't pay to get up in the morning.

Well, it's good, but not as good as it could be. In my opinion, it plays like Max Payne without the bullet time sweetness.

It's with games like this that I wish someone out there would still be making adventure games instead of endless 3-D shoot-em-ups with the obligatory "find the key" puzzles. Imagine a game based on The Thing taking place within the limited locations of a base. With a small groups of NPCs that you can really interact with (i.e. hold conversations) and who might or might not be infected. Concentrating on figuring out who's what and solving puzzles. Sounds much better, doesn't it? Unfortunately, game developers think that we are all morons that would rather blow up shit.

By the way, the trust interface is a gimmick and so are the blood tests. Your team-mates only follow you up to a predetermined point and then transform. People that you've run a blood test the moment before and came clean, turn into the thing right the next moment.

However, as a timewaster, it has its merits and can offer a fun weekend. Approach with caution.

By the way, I've reached the finale and the game freezes. Has this happened to anyone else? Any solutions?

P.S. Since I don't want to come off as all bitter, there are instructions for a registry hack that allows you to save any time you want. It's somewhere in the official site messageboards (www.thethinggames.com)

Unless you've been playing a different game, mast, this isn't just about "blowing things up". I think it's a really intense game and far more than "retrieve key here, open door there" fare. It's suspenseful and the trust system is really deep. And you can't just randomly test your partners and have them turn into the thing because they all play a vital role (fixing fuse boxes) and you can't NOT have them.

Ahh, you're damned right it sounds better. But best of all would be to combine the two, just like the film, so that a fairly long session of investigation and info-gathering might be interrupted by some white-knuckled firefights.

That's why I think I enjoy RPGs like Neverwinter so much. Lots of adventuring and puzzle solving for my brain, and lots of gratuitous bloodbaths for my inner caveman...

I haven't been PLOWING through the game but I just got to the test chambers where you wake up without your guns. I think that's level 6a or 6b or something....

But yeah, so far no MacReady but I do remember Childs. That might lead me to believe that he had to kill Childs because Childs was The Thing. And then MacReady just left or something....maybe he got infected himself.

Either way, i'll be really disappointed if we don't find him.

Oh, and is it just me or does this film NOT take place in 1982 or thereabouts?

Is it supposed to? Because everything looks too high-tech.

Alright, I just browsed through this thread and I'm comforted by the comments. I just got the game (PC) from Best Buy for 40 bucks. I love "The Thing" and I just couldn't resist picking up the game. Please be good!

I think you'll love it, Voltes. Just think Half-Life meets Resident Evil.

Today, I decided to take the advice of my friends at CHUD and I went to go rent the movie first before I got the game. Not one damn video store in my area even carries The Thing on VHS or DVD, but they have the game to rent, and, of course, all copies are out. So I go home, grab a handfull of games, and rush over to EB. Little did I know that Onimusha, Maximo, and Spiderman: The Movie gives me only $45 trade-in value towards The Thing. You mean to tell me I have to trade in one hundred and fifty fucking dollars worth of games towards a $50 game, and I still owe $5 before I have enough? Since I felt like I was going to get ripped off, I went home, without The Thing, and without my sanity. My question after this long story: Is it worth trading in 3 games and $5 to get The Thing? I admit that I don't play these 3 games often, but is it worth it? I love Resident Evil, so will I like this enough to feel as though I got my money's worth?

I haven't played too far, but I'd like to give it an "Okay." I was expecting more control and a bit more complexity but it feels like your generic "survival horror" game. I guess I was expecting "Incubation" (which was like a third-person version of "X-COM") where there's a lot of strategy involved.

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I hated the fact that I can't save anywhere. But I did see a good reason for it: The more you restart a level, you get to experiment with different tactics. Ironically, it makes the game predictable -- losing the feeling of terror and suspense.

For example, while I was hunting down for that Norwegian with the radio, I ordered my medic to stay put because I knew within moments, he will transform. Initially I even gave him some medpacks, but the second time around, I made sure not to waste it on him. Sure, his transformation shocked me the first time, but the second and third time, the whole affair just became tedious repetition. Still, that initial shock is just worth it, in some ways.

I'm at the Hangar right now, and I just hate where some of the save points are located. My problem with the hangar is that in order for me to reach a "save point," I need to plow down 3 Huge Thingies and a massive amount of Little Thingies (forgot their "technical" names). Anyway, I restarted that level so many times because my health was low, and yadda, yadda, yadda.

HOWEVER, I noticed that a bit of "complex" strategy is actually used here. Basically, I built a wall of fire between me, my buddy, and the Things. While they waited, I threw grenade bombs and whatever I could use. So, apparently, this game DOES require some brain cells. I have yet to see how it all plays out.

My other complaints: I RTFM (Read the Fucking Manual) and it told me to burn down dead bodies because they could spawn Things. Um, some bodies don't even burn up! As for the flamethrowers, they should rename it to "Candles" because I'm basically torching my feet every time I use it! Even in First Person, it looks like I'm hitting them, but I'm not. And as far as the 1st Person "peeking" mode is concerned, it's USELESS. I did it and tried to shoot a creature hiding on the wall and it did not work. I have to be in Third Person mode to actually do it. What the hell?

Wow, so many complaints. Still, though, I do want to finish the game. I love the atmosphere of the game. There were some "Resident Evil" moments when you see a Thing walking outside the window.

I'm a bit disappointed, but I have yet to finish the game.

I have not played it for a couple of days, but that is right where I'm at. There were plenty of save points up 'till then, and then nothing in the hangar until you kill all those beasties. Kind of a pain having to go back to the previous save, and work your way across the ledges again, get the cutscene, and THEN start the level, only to be killed by the three big beasties that come out below.

By the way, the most effective way to use the flamethrower is to turn off auto-aim. You no longer point the nozzle down then.

I just got out of the lab and now i'm where you first fight the Army, or SWAT team or whoever they are. So far it's been difficult in most areas but nothing impossible. The hardest thing so far has been being ambushed by hundreds of scuttlers jumping through windows AND coming in through the door. Absolutely the hardest thing so far.

Mario Sunshine has put it on hold for most of today, however......

I just finished the game but it was because I used the "save anywhere" hack. I also noticed why they went ahead with the console-type saving method: the game's short.

Still though, it's a fun game. It's recommended to every sadistic gamepad jockey out there. As much as I was entertained by it, it's too action-packed for me. Still, my initial complaints about strategy was premature. The "escape" scenarios were cleverly done, almost Metal Gear Solid like.

I literally jumped on a couple of shock-shots. I normally use the "shoot-then-hide-behind-the-next-room" tactic -- when, to my surprise these freaking creatures actually get pissed off and ram through the door! That's awesome! Completely shocked the heck out of me.

The AI really impressed me, especially the aliens. The SWAT teams (or whoever they were) would be tough in some parts, then remarkably stupid in others. I swear, I thought I was playing "Counter-Strike" in some levels.

The story was getting interesting then it copped out in the end. You'll see it when you get there. Just when the plot thickened, the writers chickened out on a possible good story.

both the EB and the Future Shop in my area had their "Thing"s delayed by three days.
FUCK.

Damn this game.. It's fun, but the boss fights turn me away from this game because they're so fucking hard! The first boss I fought(in the room with the liquid nitrogen you can spray on him) must have took me 25 trys. That's bullshit! Now, I'm fighting the boss in the room filled with crates with the electric switch to shock the beast, and I've played this part 12 times without beating him. I'm taking it back to EB today to reserve Vice City.

If you're playing the PC version, don't give up too fast and use the "save anywhere" cheat.

<a href="http://www.gamewinners.com/DOSWIN/blthing.htm" target="_blank">http://www.gamewinners.com/DOSWIN/blthing.htm</a>

I know how it sucks to restart this game from the tunnel (a save point which is like 10,000 miles away) only to die within seconds fighting that boss in the warehouse. Even with the "save anywhere" cheat, it took me about 20 tries to beat the boss (but what I've done is save the game in a different slot when I think I have damaged the boss significantly).

It's a shame to stop there because that's the second-to-the-last boss and you're close to the home stretch! The final boss is SUPER EASY. All you need to use is your mouse and its left mouse button. Believe me.

don't suppose there's a save anywhere cheat on the PS2 version?

I don't understand the need for save anywhere....I got more than halfway through the game just fine......

It just gets really frustrating when you have to travel a lot of ground (and also fight) just to finish a section that will end the level. People like me who are not really joystick-jockeys have a hard time with these types of games.

For some reason, it works just fine with "Resident Evil" because at least the save points are always there. With this game, you enter a new level with weak health, then one gets really pissed when they die and have to restart the previous level's saved game. It's not fun anymore, but rather really frustrating.

Exactly Voltes. That's one of the reason's I returned it. And sometimes while I'm fighting a boss, I die for a reason I cannot explain. And what's the point of having AI team mates when they're morons? I mean there's nothing like having to start from a save point from the previous level because you need a mechanic to advance, but he's to stupid to know how to stay out of the line of enemy fire. Yeah you could always just feed him more health kits, but what good does that do when in 5-10 minutes, he's going to either die or turn into an alien, leaving you low on Medipacks? It's a fun game, and it's not a bad attempt at survival horror at all, but playing certain parts over and over and over again is not my idea of fun. I did pre-order Vice City with the money I got from trading in The Thing, so that made up for the frustration.

I thought The Thing was hard, until I played Dead to Rights. That game is killing me.

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I've been playing this for the past three days or so.

I hate it.

I probably would have beaten this already but Mario Sunshine and IWD2 completely own my playing time. I will get back to it because I was having a lot of fun with it. I had just started to encounter SWAT members when I stopped....

*spoilers?*

I loved this game up until the damn level with the big huge boss in the basement. The dog/human one. After playing that huge level (with only three medipacks and an engineer that turns into the thing) you're taken to the basement, quite wounded, to fight the big dog boss. Just how in the hell am I supposed to kill this thing? I shoot and I shoot, at every tendril and target point until it goes red indicating you torch it, but how am I supposed to get close enough to torch it, with the tendrils lashing out at you, and walker things crawling everywhere?
bullshit, I say.

Dead To Rights is quite tough in parts. I'm stuck on the level where you're in the small staircase, with snipers across from you, and about 12 guys shooting at you. Of course I'm stuck with 1/4 of a health bar, and I'm unable to go back to the previous level to get a health pack.
dammit, I say.

Jack, this is what I did:

1) Quickly go to your left and hide behind the wall. Use your flamethrower to burn that big pile of "thing" that spawns the little creatures on the corner.

2) Prepare any grenades. Move out and throw one at the base.

3) Keep doing this is you constantly shoot it with a shotgun/machine gun/whatever.

4) Your goal is to make every hit area "red." Keep shooting/bombing.

5) Eventually, that freaking tentacle on your right comes out. Shoot it as well and avoid it, if possible.

6) Once the boss hit areas are all red, run behind the wall again on your right. Carefully use your powerful fire explosives as you rush back in to safety. Be careful though, if you're close to him, he'll burn you too.

Actually, I will try this again. Maybe you can just finish him off by just hiding behind that wall and do the "attack-and-hide" method. Try that and it just might work.

Something Awful (of all places) has a pretty truthful review.

<a href="http://www.somethingawful.com/article.php?id=399" target="_blank">http://www.somethingawful.com/article.php?id=399</a>

Some PS2 Gameshark Codes have been released at last (haven't had the chance to test them yet, someone lemme know if they work)...

<a href="http://www.gameshark.com/playstation2/objects/488676_106.html" target="_blank">web page</a>

Something Awful can go screw...this game should get NO hate.