Area 51

[ToddMcF2002]

Just to clear something up, this is NOT Blacksite, Area 51. This is the David Duchovny / Powers Booth voiced FPS that came out around 2004. For $14.99 I picked it up from Direct2Drive and its an XBox port to the PC. And that my friends is its downfall.

The game starts off bad, feeling like a mutant shooting gallery in the intro chapters. The squad play is simply annoying. Luckily that doesn't last long. The game improved tremedously in the beginning due to faced paced run and gun. At one point you get infected and inherit mutant abilities which at first are critical for survival and then become entirely pointless as a gameplay feature. Too bad, they had the makings of an interesting gameplay feature that reminded me of Aliens Vs. Predator in Alien mode sans the wall running.

At any rate, the game completely falls apart, not because of quality but because of difficulty in the final chapters. As an XBox port it is the checkpoint system. I'd actually OK with replaying sequences occasionally, but 20-30 times? I reach a checkpoint and have too little health to continue so I have to replay the sequence yet again. Wash, rinse and repeat, onto the next brutal segment. Its just not any fun whatsoever, so Ethan Cole will be a perminent resident of the spacecraft folks. I'm punching out!

I got my run-n-gun moneys worth but I can't recommend it and I can't complete it!

[bkrueger]

Interesting. I never had your problems, like frequent retries or finding the game to hard near the end. Never had a problem to complete it (which I did two or three times over the last few years).

In fact I even forgot thast it has the save point mechanism (which I usually hate for the reasons you give).

So I still recommend it (as a bargain game).

Edit: Choosing correct weapons and using the alien powers at the right points is crucial, may be you can try to experiment with these options a little bit?

IIRC you can go back to earlier checkpoints, which saves your game at your current status. So before entering a dangerous area, backtrack to the next checkpoint. That is nearly equivalent to a quicksave feature.

Another edit: Seems you can get it for free (http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/area51/full-game/26957.html) (with some ads in it).

[ToddMcF2002]

I might revisit it after finishing (or being finished by) Painkiller. However, PK is so much fun compared to Area 51 right now I can't image taking the time. We shall see! I'm a vet of these games so I don't say its "too hard" lightly. Then again its just one guys experience.

[curious]

this was one of the few games i ever picked up as a "russian import". i got it not long after it came out for around $15, and actually free after i complained through paypal many a year ago. my version had no video in it. the game was alright and slightly funny, i'd say it was very close to the game/gameply of around the same vintage as Project:Snowbling, though better because it wasn't a dumbed down console version of an indepth franchise. the "moonlanding conspiracy" level though made the game worth a relavivelty quick playthrough. The "body scanning" gameplay element was done well also.