Orginally released in 2005 by Midway Home Entertainment, this is a First Person Shooter.

A few weeks ago, I was reading a PC related forum I frequent and found a link to download this game for free. I read a couple of reviews and decided to give it a whirl as I am a fan of First Person Shooters.

I downloaded the file which took a while as it as about 2GB. Once downloaded I installed it without any hassle.

Upon loading, I set the options as I wanted them and set about starting a game. while the level was loading, I was subjected to a short advertisement, though it didn't get in the way as you could click to get rid of it so it really wasn't very obtrusive.

The game started with a decent opening sequence and then got into the game itself. The graphics whilst being a bit aged now when compared to the likes of Crysis and Far Cry 2, were actually pretty good and more than servd their purpose. The Game ran very smoothly and had decent lighting effects and sound etc. Considering I was running this game on my now severely aging computer which is a only a P4 2.8GHz with 1GB RAM, though admittedly a decent AGP graphics card (a 7800GS OC), this very nicely indeed with most settings set to high.

The storyline sees you as a special forces soldier, who is part of a team called to the infamous Area 51 where something strange has happened deep in the depths of the compound and a previous team who were sent to investigate have lost contact. Details are very sketchy to begin with but as you work your way through the game you learn more and more about the goings on at the compound and about the danger to man kind. You start off working with your team fighting off hordes of strange zombie type creatures, progressing your way to find the original team. However events unfold and things take a turn for the worse leaving you alone. Can you fight your way to the truth about what has been going on and can you survive?


The gameplay works really quite well, with various puzzles to solve and tasks to complete to progress forwards. Along the way there are secret items hidden about the levels which can be scanned and will give you more information about what has been happening in Area 51.

As with all FPS games I use the pretty much standard WASD + mouse combination to control the action. This works nice and smoothly as you would expect. As you progress through the game there are various weapons to pick up, some are better than others but there are none which really stand out and set it apart from other FPS games, also, there isn't much of a difference in feel between the guns which is a little disappointing.

The biggest problem with this game is the fact that it has a checkpoint based saving system, whereby it automatically saves when you reach a checkpoint, and there is no other means of saving. This is a nuisance as it can lead to you having to replay sections several times if you are struggling to get past a certain section before you reach the next checkpoint. This is most likely spill over from the fact that this was a port of a PS2 game.

Overall I would say this game is certainly worth giving a go, especially as it can be downloaded for free!

(oh by the way there is a voice over narration by David Duchovny of X files fame, but it is terrible, there is no expression in his voice at all, he sounds bored and very much like (as they say of a bad acting turn in a film) like he phoned it in!)


PS I was going to include the link for download but the site won't let me as it's too long. Just google Area 51 free and you should be able to find it.