Wow a resurection of the 1996 arcade shooter Area 51. Alright its not a remake actually, but this time around Midway made Area 51 an FPS game. Giving you freedom to go around shooting aliens, and soldies up.
Gameplay:
In any other words, Area 51 is a pure FPS game. Sure it isn't Halo, Doom 3 or Half-Life 2. But one thing is for sure Area 51 is not a bad FPS game. First off, you won't have many weapons to choose from in this game. The arsenal of weapons in Area 51 is very limited, around 4-6 weapons in total. You can of course dual wield guns in Area 51. Its a nice touch, however once the ammo runs out you'll have to throw down that gun. Infact, theres just too little firearms to begin with actually. I'd say you'll be using the SMP machine gun and pistol for the majority of the game.
You can also turn into an alien. Which of course is a great feature in Area 51. You won't be able to use any of your firearms, but instead you'll go melee. Not to worry, when you're in Alien form, you'll take alot less damage from enemies. Your melee attacks are lethal, one or two hits to your enemy and he's down. You can also fire some sort of alien spores to your enemies which will deplete your alien gauge. Speaking of the alien gauge, if it runs out you'll turn back into human form. It regenarates fairly quick though, so not much of a big problem there.
The controls are nicely done and its tight. Its easy to aim and shoot with no problems using the PS2 controller, the layouts for each command is done pretty well too.
Now the bad thing about Area51 is the so-called extras that you find throughout the game. You might be thinking that the extras should be a surprise right? No it isn't. Its just some 1 minute-boring-as-hell video clip. Thats it. Yea it shows some other-part of the story stuff, but its just too boring to even listen too them. Why are they even called extras Midway?
Graphics:
I can say, Area 51 is the one of the best looking FPS games on the PS2. Character models are designed pretty well although its nothing spectacular. Whats beauty about this game is the backgrounds. They look nice and not bland. Even when theres alot of explosions or enemies on screen, the game shows no slowdown in any sort.
Sound:
Voice acting is fairly good. Music though, just something mediocre. Nothing spectacular actually. Its a plus for the Xbox version since you can rip your own music into the game. The guns sound like they should do, and the explosions fairly good.
BuY iT or ReNT It??
Honestly, Area 51 isn't a very long game. At most it'll last your 3 days of play. Thats counting if you take breaks through-out the game of course. So a rent is enough for the game. Don't worry about the extras though, they're nothing actually. Its best to just ignore them.
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