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.