Our 31 Days of Horror Games series continues with Area 51, a wonderful FPS survival horror game starring David Duchovny and Marilyn Manson!
In celebration of Halloween, we’re counting down the days with some of the greatest horror games ever made -- 31 of our favorites! Every day, we’ll take a look back at a horror game that gave us goosebumps, made our controllers tremble, and chased us out of our living rooms. Long live the horror game! And make sure to check out our full list of 31 Great Horror Games To Play In October!
At first glance, Area 51 is an FPS you've definitely seen before. The genre was all the rage by 2005, and killing aliens wasn't anything new. But despite this, Midway's take on scifi survival horror was a final testament of just how good the PS2/Xbox console generation was for the shooter. Arriving a few months before the Xbox 360, Area 51 unleashed a solid horror experience that, although a little derivative (Half-Life's influence is all over this game), made it a must-buy back in its day.
The game brought an all-star voice cast, including David Duchovny as HAZMAT operative Ethan Cole (because who else would you feature in a scifi game about aliens) and Marilyn Manson as the alien Edgar, and a plot that thickened with conspiracy theories not unlike the ones that revolve around the real-life military base. There's an outbreak at the secret base, where the U.S. government has been hiding aliens and alien technology for years, and you're sent in to push back the evil creatures that are trying to get out.
This game's greatest accomplishment, besides the great squad-based shooting, was the way it built up the tension and horror. At first, its your conventional horde-like shooting experience. Wave after wave of enemies enter a room and you pump them full of bullets. You travel deeper into Area 51 to discover its secrets. What started as a fast-paced shooter, has become a tense survival horror game where you're the prey. The switch in roles is pretty terrifying. Soon enough, your squad is thinned down by the constant waves of enemies. You're all alone trying to save the world by the end of the game, trapped in a place that might as well be another dimension.
It stinks that Area 51 never got a proper sequel. Instead, there a spiritual successor/reboot that didn't quite make a splash. That, and the sad death of Midway, pretty much ended the franchise. Area 51 is definitely worth a playthrough, though.
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