Area 51 (PS2) - Part 3

Previously, Ethan Cole of the Hazmat Team Bravo found the remaining Team Delta. After some battle and railgun turret section, they're about to retreat to surface. But the hulking alien appears and kills everyone in Team Delta except Chew the leader. The misfortune doesn't stop there, someone just explode the elevator that Cole and Chew on. They slip into some hole. Chew is killed but Cole still alive although he's mutated. Now, he's on his way to Dr. Cray that hopefully able to cure him from the mutation.   

As soon as i open the door, human soldiers come in and shoot at me. So far, these kind of enemy is the most dangerous although looking trivial. I died 4 times in this section even though i only died once due to non-combat section. Okay. Among one of them i died because of exploding container, not because of those soldier's direct attack. The place here is long corridor therefore this low-precision rifle ain't cut it for this situation. Of course, dual-wielding them doesn't improve much.

 

It seems i'm forced to lean more often from cover. The strategy works but here comes another problem: i'm ran out of ammo. I can shoot them more safely but they still need dozens of bullet to take down and i don't regain much ammo to cover my loss. The game teases me with pistol ammo that i can't picked because i lost my handgun! Never been in my entire gaming experience that i missed handgun really bad in FPS and i very need it now! Therefore i have no choice but to become the mutant. It seems there's some damage resistance if i'm mutant so i can meet them at relative ease and claw their head. I realize they're not normal human as their blood is green! Now that i think about it, the saboteur on training course also bleed green fluid. They're connected!  

Then i witness, those soldiers execute harmless scientists. No matter how sad their plea sound, they're murdered in cold blood regardless. Engineer_negativevocaliztion06.wav

 

After i persecute those bastards and grab one of scientist I.D card, i return to the same room before the execution ground and find the super-infected corpse that serve as mutagen dispenser should i ran out of mutagen. It's quite nice but i prefer something that serve as health dispenser like drink vending machine, not just decoration.

Before i can reach one of the elevator that takes me to deeper part of Area 51, alien zombies attack me like in the old day. I can mow them down easily with these rifle but there's the time that i get too cocky and one of them manage to kill me. In my defense, these zombie can jump toward me and deal heftier damage to me. So this is also new enemy type.

Next level...

Oh, good. The alien and the soldiers don't get along well. But still it's up to me to kill them all.  

Heavy_niceshot02.wav. I manage to throw a grenade to the group and immediately hide by using leaning move. But i only get one of them. Although it's really fun to see someone flying by my grenade through this glass.  

I though this place is entirely abandoned, but there's some researchers doing some dissection operation. When i approach them, one of them said "Look! someone from surface. Luckily, he's infected". Then they disappear one by one. The plot is thicken.

After that i'm attacked by those alien who like to leap, called leaper and they're coming from their cage. But i'm reunited with shotgun, so they're not huge problem.  

This leaper alone is left bound some electric device. Maybe this one is too dangerous that they decide to execute it but -you know- they're gone to somewhere. Fortunately for them, i'm willing to do that for free. All i need is to press the button here to electrocute this git over and over again, because it's apparently really durable. But finally, it's burnt to crisp just like what my mother taught me on cooking chicken.    

Of course, i don't want to miss scanning the object of surgery. Would you look at those syringes on the thing? That can't be comfortable.

Every now and then Dr. Cray do the briefing about my objective and situation around. This time those soldiers plan to blow some generator nearby and it's up to me to stop them otherwise catastrophe happens. He also reveal that they're from Illuminati! Curse you Gill and your dark organization!

Naturally, this section has timer and i don't like it. Truth be told, urgent countdown on any game is my weakness. I tend to abandon my reasonable thinking and go wild when timer involves like this. Therefore i immediately turn into mutant and just claw anyone here especially the one on the left who's in the middle of sabotage. It goes quite well but i got shot in the back too often. Back to checkpoint.     

What the hell are you doing while dying, you sick freaks? Anyway, i pick another keycard there so i can access to deeper level of Area 51, closer to Dr. Cray laboratories.

Next level...

I found a small safe in early section of this level but i don't have the key to unlock it. Did i miss it on previous level? Or i have to search here beyond this point? I have no clue.

Due to another illuminati's sabotage, i have to take another route to go to Dr. Cray's lab, into some machinery room. Guess what i found there? More Illuminati soldiers, sure. But i want to say is: a sniper rifle! Finally i can pick them from afar and with more tactical method. They take 2 bodyshots or 1 headshot to go down. The bad news is: some of them starting to use sniper rifle too.   

There's another type of grenade called JB grenade beside your -usual- fragmentation grenade. Those blue balls are said grenade but i'm not certain how is it different than the normal grenade because i seldom use grenade.

It seems i'm quite lost. The objective marker points this panel but i can't activate it. Scanning it does the trick, i guess. There's also another small safe behind me. The game really mocks me with promise of treasury now.

Insert Jaws theme or whatever appropriate here as i'm about to slash him from behind unnoticed while i become mutant.

In this arm factory, i find corpses that leave a handgun. Finally, i got to use those pistol ammo.

The objective marker points behind me but i go the other direction because i'm dumb. Is that explosive on left railing?

Demoman_specialcompleted11.wav. Yes it is. Back to checkpoint.

Objective marker pointed this panel but i can't activate it. Now the marker goes to stairs behind me. Well, if you say so.

Don't tell me that this isn't the most strange ladder ascending in gaming history! I'm glued to the ladder while moving down and my hands are full of shotgun. Instead of descending ladder, this is more like i creep/slide along the ladder.

I made it to the quest marker where a card key lies and now i have to go all back? Fine! After activating the panel there, maintenance access door here is opened so i have to get back here. There's some mechanism arm that i can hop on to it and lead me to scaffolding across there. I wish i can jump there from the previous panel, saving me from this convoluting procedure. At least, i can kill some Illuminati soldiers and alien lobsters along the way.

Uggh! Another timed sabotage by Illuminati soldiers. They can't take a break, can they? This time they try to overheat these reactors so i have to deactivate them. The control panels are on the bottom of this huge room. Therefore i jump down to get to them as fast as i can. This strategy cost my health a lot but fortunately there's health pickup at the bottom of this room. Each syringe replenish ± 50% of my health. Soldier_thanksfortheheal02.wav  

Now that the timed crisis is over, i can feel more relaxed and take a look around more carefully for those soldiers who try to take potshot at me. Man! They're really good at hide and seek shoot game or i very suck at finding them or both. Anyway, i spot some broken gatling turret and i reckon it's nice to see.  

I also find this thing called Big Foot Canister. I'm pretty sure what's inside of this thing isn't Big Foot. It's just another alien zombie. Maybe government want to contain the famous UMA with this tube but they can't capture it so they use it for this zombie instead. That zombie should be grateful for that.

Next level...

Here's what i like to see. Those Illuminati sods fight against auto gatling turret and they're failed mainly because i can shoot their backside with shotgun without looking at me.

Once i taken care of them, Dr. Cray lets me get inside of his lab. Finally! He's quite busy instructing his assistant there right now, though.

But not long after that, the enemy reinforcement arrives and i have to go back outside to take care of them. Even with gatling turret assist, i manage to kill myself because i'm too cocky.

Before i can get the cure, Dr. Cray need to have sample of my DNA. Therefore i follow Victor, one of his assistant here to get the molecular sample. He stutters, shows a bit of intelligence, and very obedient to Dr. Cray. He reminds of Igor from many horror film. Although his back is relatively fine, but he slouch a bit all the time.   

Wait! What? There's enemies inside of Dr. Cray's lab. I thought this is safe place. After cleaning these monsters, Igor can continue to guide me further.

Again? I don't care how busy you are or how important your research but you must pay attention to security of your lab from inside more! You can't do research well if your research object bite your assistant head or even yours! At least tell your assistants to have weapon for self defense. Luckily, i'm more than happy to take care of these zombies. This is like vacation from fighting those Illuminati soldiers. Seriously, they're arduous to fight.   

"Yes. Yes. The scanner. Now please get inside the chamber!"

Sniper_yes02.wav ;P

After i who's the scanner specialist, got scanned *sic*, i have to return to Dr. Cray with that flask that apparently the template of my DNA. Lead the way, Igor!

Igor, nooooo! Some Illuminati bastards manage to breach into this section with a blast! Now i'm worried about Dr. Cray safety as my cure depends on him.

Thanks God, he's still alive. "They smarter than i though. We must hurry!" as Dr. Cray see one of the sods set up C4 explosive. I kind of agree, doc!

 

While i'm in curing(?) chamber, Dr. Cray and Mr. White (the boss of Illuminati soldier) have a healthy bickering to each other. I say healthy because no swear words involved. I hope i can come out just in time to save Dr. Cray from enemy's attack.

Nope. Not happening. Dr. Cray dies as he lives: researching alien DNA. Everyone has their own favorite things to do, so don't judge him harshly! It seems i'm not cured but i have ability to launch contagion that can make an enemy fight on my side with 70% mutagen cost. It's good thing, i guess?

Much much later...

I couldn't find the bloody beast therefore the fateful encounter get delayed. I'm so sorry. But here's picture of flying saucer inside Area 51's underground. Also i got enhancement of JB grenade that makes it flies straight. Ok, my review is done here.

 

I thought Midway's Area 51 (2005) is like modern FPS but with aliens as enemies. It is for several early mission but after the failed retreat the game gives me a pleasant curveball. I can be mutant with rather unique ability such as alien sight and ability to convert enemy to my side. Two thing that interest me beside as mutant: the shotgun and the scanner. I mentioned why the shotgun is awesome. As for the scanner, it's novelty tool that no other FPS have. It allows you to get unlockable feature such as documents that's important for world building or what have you. Sometime it's used for important objective. If you fail to scan something, you will get air composition: 74% Nitrogen 20% Oxygen etc but each place can show different composition but not in significant deviation. I reckon that's nice scientific feature. The dual-wield mechanism is kind of work and regrettably there's no dual pistol which is the most logic kind of dual gun wielding. The music is techno-beat that is rarely catchy in my ear. The dystopian setting is remarkable. The maze aspect can be confusing even with objective marker like in most modern game. Of course there's the significant bad thing like the weak auto rifle or fighting against Illuminati soldiers that feels boring, sluggish and tedious. They're smart enough to take cover but they can also running at you in open. Moreover they can detect you fast and lock on you quite precisely too. There's a case where they take cover behind fire terrain that resulted in their own demise without my interfere. That's quite entertaining. I missed the time where i can leisurely kill aliens. Speaking of aliens, there's not much variation of aliens beside the zombies, the lobsters or the leapers. This is kind of shame as a game named Area 51 should sell more on alien enemies. The weapon variety also kind of lackluster.

Area 51 (2005) on PS 2 is quite ambitious FPS but with few significant flaw here and there. But i think it's more preferable to me than Doom 3 where there's no rip and tear or ability to become mutant. You have to endure the rather bland section in early game before you get the mutant ability but on that point and beyond you have to encounter dozens of Illuminati Soldiers. That's quite balance trade between negative and positive aspect but it's not so bad as the first FPS game that i review. Just saying.

Area 51 (PS2) - Part 2

Previously, Hazmat Team Delta is sent to Area 51 where some crisis happens. Later they're attacked by a hulking monster and i assume they're all dead. Hazmat Team Bravo is tasked to investigate Team Delta whereabouts. I play as Ethan Cole, one of the member of Team Bravo. A scanner specialist who's voiced by David Duchovny but in combat he's silent protagonist. With Jack's demise, our team now consists of 3 men and i'm really pessimist about our chance of completing our mission.     

It seems there's  enemies down there but i'm ordered to scan a computer in next room ASAP because i'm scanner specialist. Save some of them for me, guys!

 

In the room where i have scanned the computer, i found a keycard that fits into one of those panel in the same room. But it seems i need one more keycard. Accidently i "step" into shotgun shell but i don't have shotgun yet. Maybe that room contain the pump-action gun and i like to search for the another keycard. Sadly, the captain is so fussy about me to continue our journey. But order is an order.  

I found this newspaper that's pinned on a wall. I really appreciate Midway for pointing out about Tsunami on Indian Ocean in 2004. It struck our countrymen in Aceh city really hard. God bless them and other Tsunami victims. -_-

Crispy: Would you look at this tube!

Captain: There's no time. Let's go!

Scan the mite jar! c:

Another battle with the flocks of mutated men. If only i have grenade...oh, wait! I have! 5 of them, in fact. The hud on bottom-right corner, isn't intuitive. I mean, how can you decipher that rectangular with 5 bold spots icon as grenade, huh?

So far, exploring away from main path isn't so worthy. Sometime you will get scannable stuffs, health syringes, or none at all. There's some place that's poorly lit so you have turn on your flashlight by pressing 'L3' analog button. Dark places may boost the scary level but when your enemy only brainless mutant all the time, they won't work well.  

Alien lobsters are attacking! Spy_sf13_magic_reac05.wav

Demoman_specialcompleted12.wav. There! I use grenade and take quite a chunk of them. Once they're in vicinity, they begin to scuttle my feet. I feel like there's better way to deal with them in close range than using this weak rifle. Using shotgun, maybe? Yes, but i don't have it yet. What a shame.

As i'm scanner specialist, i figure i have to start to use it to extract some useful info about our enemies. The thing is: scanning them alive while put a solid trust on allies to do all the shooting, is really risky and painful (in literal sense). Even if i manage to scan their corpse, i find no useful data from it. You see that drink vending machine? I'm hoping i can operate it to give me some health-refilling drink but no luck. It only spews drinks if you shoot it and you can't pick them up. Is this vending machine that quite anywhere supposed to be for shooting decoration with no other real function? Then i'm quite unimpressed, Midway.

Crispy tries to unlock some door while Captain protecting him and i'm on my way to get (other) keycard that's required to unlock said door. Finally! I'm on my own trip. Although Crispy keep pestering me about finding the keycard periodically via radio transmission. According to quest marker, the keycard is in this armory. But there's 2 hand identification panels that prevents me from get inside of it.    

Not far from here, i find someone's arm in this rubble. This will come in handy! [High pun intention] :D

 

I didn't know how to open the armory lock with only 1 arm, not after 20 minutes of searching other arm.  Turns out, all i need is to put my own hand (that presumably has been registered officially here) to other bloody panel. Inside of the armory, i find some zombies, the security card, lots of handgun and rifles. Still no shotgun although there's lots of shotgun shells. What kind of armory is this? 

Now that Crispy get the goddamn card, he can begin to unlock the door and we have to protect him from well-timed respawning zombies while doing so. Not that he can't defend himself. It's just if he's away from the panel, the timer stops ticking down. "Almost there!" he said but 30 seconds feel very slogging during this sequence. *sigh*     

Next level...

During intermission Cole/ David Duchovny said that "Even with one man down, we grow stronger". Soon or later the situation will turns very awful, you watch! Anyway, we and some survivors have secured this place so i can operate crane over there for some reason. Sorry. I didn't listen to their conversation carefully. After moving the crane, i have to go that control room over there.

I was struggling to get in here though it's quite simple to do: i have to climb ladder there and i walk through some series of beam then i manage to get into hatch door of this room. Guess what i found in here besides the panel that open that gate? Shotgun! 2 of them, even. Opening the gate, will respawn zombies. My team and the survivors are fighting down there but i can't get down there. What a shame! I like to apply these shotguns more to the zombie.

Turns out, i have to wait for some explosion to blast some of wall on the control room then i can get out of there. I was supposed to get past of that once-opened gate, but i'm too late. I'm trapped here with zombies and the gate is closed forever. Go without me, comrades! 

Nevermind! They're attacked by unknown attacker. Crispy can still communicate to me, though. Suddenly fire exit on my left is opened by a zombie therefore i can go to the other side via ventilation shaft.

And here it is, the fate of my comrades. Captain got slammed to the gate and dead. While Crispy dies as zombie in front of Captain. See? I told you that the situation becomes really bad. I'm not planning to position Crispy's corpse like that. He attacked me so aggressively and more durable than any zombie. Therefore it's just coincidence, really. Colonel tries to contact us and now Cole speaking! But there's static on our conversation. Still i have no choice but to move on although i'm not sure about our mission success chance.

Next level...

Miraculously, i manage to contact Delta Team from this big computer. I thought they're all dead! Our mission can be completed, afterall! Now i need to go where they are...

 

...Oh! Thank you for opening door that i can't open. Your kindness will be repaid with these shotgun shells. Engineer_thank01.wav

Not far beyond that door, i found the Delta Team. Another miracle! Though they're now less 2 men from before. Guess what? A horde of zombie attack us, next. After we deal dozens of them, i'm tasked with fetching turret's ammo pack at nearby armory. I'll go!

After picking the ammo and load it to those 2 turrets, 2 of Bravo team's men immediately hop into them. Later they blast those zombies with the railgun turret that capable on exploding the zombies. Meanwhile, i'm just standing still slack-jawed watching them having fun with those bloody turrets. Even so, zombies sometime attack not from the front side. It's up to me to take care of the left side and the right side by using shotgun, mostly. Speaking of shotgun, it's awesome! It's pretty powerful up close and it's more powerful if you dual-wield it. Plus it's quite accurate for a shotgun. There's no aim down when using shotgun, instead pressing 'R2' button will initiate alternative shoot: double shoot! Although i have to pump the shotgun if i use double shoot while there's no pumping if i shoot in single mode. Blood precedes this game in shotgun that have double shoot feature and can be dual-wielded. But at least this shotgun has 10 shells capacity instead of only 2.

After the situation cools down, i have to repair communication device inside of ventilation shaft but i need to get repair tool in armory. Should tell me about that sooner, Delta Team! There's happen to be scannable thing on corpse near the communication device. Scan it!

 

After that i with Chewbacca (the leader of Delta Team) must retrieve some plastic explosion in storage room. By this point, you should know that only allies and zombies that can open the door and not me. So basically, Chew here is the key person, literally. Also he serves as moving quest marker for a while. 

Chew leaves me alone to get the explosion by navigating this box-stack/air-duct  maze and it's not okay. I said that maybe because i can't figure how to scan this CD. If only Cole can crawl underneath that air duct in front of him or at least extend his arm.  

Once i get the explosive, i give it to chew and he sets it on this wall. Maybe, he's demolition expert. Anyway, all we need to do to detonate it is to press the button on detonator. What? We don't have it. So how we trigger the explosion then, huh?

Ok, i like this idea! I use this deadly turret to detonate the explosive and blast those zombie that (conveniently) respawn after i blow the explosive. Some zombie try to shoot me but that's rather futile resistance. After all zombies are disintegrated. We can proceed to hole that i just blown.

OH FREAK! Here comes the hulking bastard (who's also kill my captain), again! Someone man the turret! Quick! Alas! Everyone prefer shoot the alien with the puny rifle. That don't work. Don't you remember, guys? Of course, everyone are beaten again by it. For the 2nd time! Not Cole, though. He doesn't appear in cutscene as always. I suspect because David Duchovny's voice isn't cheap.

And now he appears in CGI movie, approaching wounded Chew. He also take a glance of another special force yonder. Really suspicious.

Because i found Delta Team (though only Chew who survives), we're allowed to return to base. When we're about to ascend to the surface by using this elevator, a bomb (that's presumably set by the mysterious soldiers) explode right beneath us, causing us to fall down to some hole.

We end up in this room. Zombie killed Chew and he's coming after Cole. Is this the end? By the way, he looks like 70% Doomguy there.

Cole still alive! I didn't expect that. [medium flying saucer size sarcasm]. But his face looks bit awful. He's mutated but not become zombie. Suddenly, something alien-y possess Chew's corpse and says "You will die in better way". Cole replies "I don't know what's die in better way means".

Now that i'm mutated. I can only claw enemies and by doing so replenish my mutagen which is indicated by small bar above health bar. It's slowly depleted when i don't get new batch of mutagen. Also my vision becomes blurry and in red filter a bit. This kind of explaining why i don't wear any gauntlet, so i can claw anyone who dare to be hostile to me.  

After some walking and clawing zombies, i find another possessed corpse. "Find him! He's the only one who will help you to keep your sanity". Plot thicken.

It goes without saying that human soldier also wants me dead. Therefore i have no choice but to rip his torso senselessly. In my defense, he shot a scientist there on my right a bit. He can't be good person.

Pass beyond that point, there's room where 2 soldiers fight against a zombie. Of course, i killed them all. They're all hostile to me now. Once i enter this capsule chamber, i return to normal human but i can change into mutant and vice versa by pressing 'up' directional button. So if i want to use my weapons (and scanner) i must become human and if i want stronger melee attack i must become mutant. Plus, i can shoot parasite as mutant with extra mutagen cost by pressing 'R1' button.

When i approach the exit door of this room, that evil scientist contact me. His name is Dr. Cray not Edgar like what i suspected. He wants to see me in his room. Maybe he's the one who will help me to keep my sanity thus preventing me become totally zombie.

Tell you what? I become more invested with the shotgun and the transforming feature in this game. Therefore, i'm willing to do this game a favor by making part #3 of this article. Hopefully, i can get our revenge to that giant alien next time.