The Thing

The Thing is a 2002 third-person shooter/psychological horror video game developed by Computer Artworks, published by Black Label Games, a publishing wing of Vivendi Universal Games, and distributed by Konami for Windows, Xbox and PlayStation 2. The game is a sequel to John Carpenter's 1982 film The Thing, and follows the story of 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.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The game is set in the Antarctic, which creates an atmosphere of isolation and suspense.
 * 2) A psychological horror experience.
 * 3) The player also has the option to enter first-person mode for more accurate targeting during combat.
 * 4) Battle against "The Thing", an alien lifeform that has the ability to imitate creatures and even humans.
 * 5) Multiple NPCs can join the protagonist at various points throughout the game. There are three types of NPCs in the game: Engineers, Soldiers, and Medics.
 * 6) NPC AI is determined primarily by the "Fear/Trust system". The trust system determines whether the NPCs will follow Blake's orders and join him in combat, while the fear system dictates how scared a given NPC is.
 * 7) The game also features an infection system, which determines whether or not an NPC is assimilated by the Thing.
 * 8) Top-notch graphics, incredible use of sound, and an innovative Fear/Trust interface.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The game can be notorious for having a very hard difficulty in terms of level design, AI, and the fact that there are no checkpoints so if you die you have to restart the level or load from a previous save. Even on Easy the game is still very difficult.
 * 2) The game itself lacks replay value.
 * 3) The combat system is rather poor due to not having ammo conservation since reloading will get rid of the current clip instead of saving spare ammo, this is very common when using the shotgun.

Reception
The Thing was a commercial success; selling over one million units worldwide across all platforms, and received generally positive reviews.