The Thing follows up on the events of Carpenter's 1982 cult classic of the same name. Players take to the Antarctic as Captain Blake in an attempt to find out what happened at U.S. Outpost North 41. Click here to read more.

Fortunately, you are not alone. Blake can be joined by up to four computer controlled squad-mates, who will follow basic commands and use any weapons you give them. Squad-mates come in three flavours: the soldier, engineer, and medic. They are reasonably competent allies, capable of responding quickly to threats. Their biggest shortcoming is a tendency to occasionally shoot you in the back; this is a minor annoyance if they are carrying SMGs, but often fatal if they are wielding shotguns. Handing over a flame-thrower is just asking for trouble.

Horror in the Antarctic or Tracy Emin's latest installation? Tough to say really...

Computer Artworks introduced a number of interesting features in The Thing, such as exposure, fear, trust, and infection. For example, if your squad-mates come into close proximity with a particularly disturbing scene, they will begin to lose their sanity; eventually they may puke, enter a catatonic state or go postal. As in the film, any humans exposed to the alien organism are at risk of becoming infected. Infection appears to be predetermined in the game, as allies seem to turn on you at the same point, regardless if they have come into close contact with the infected creatures. The risk of infection gives rise to the trust feature; if your companions think you are a thing, they won't hesitate to open fire. Theoretically these features are promising, but their thresholds are far too loose. You need to deliberately leave them beside mutilated bodies for them to flip, or shoot them to lose their trust.

Infected team mates are of little threat if you catch them early in their transformation.

The Thing sports a decent number of staple weapons, pistols, SMGs, flame-throwers, etc. Equipment fares a little better, including such Antarctic necessities as flares, torches, first aid and blood test kits. There is far too much ammo laying around, there's none of that “last clip” feel. The tension would have been significantly improved if you were forced to conserve ammunition.

There are a good variety of infected and human enemies. Of the two, I enjoyed fighting the thing creatures more. This is partly a result of a clumsy control set-up which is unsuited to quick and precise aiming; you can either aim or move, or shoot on the move using auto-aim. Mostly I found ranged combat with enemy soldiers uninspired and tended to race through these sections of the game. Fighting the creatures is much more fun. To kill the larger beasts, you have to to first weaken them with conventional weaponry before setting them alight. The larger things often exhibit very dodgy behaviour.; they tend to run away just when they are close enough to pose a threat. It's a considerable immersion dampener. Computer Artworks could have marketed this behaviour as the revolutionary “will I or won't I A.I.”

Unnerved by the eight bullets left in Blake's gun, this savvy beast makes a run for it.

The plot is fairly unimaginative, and almost purely driven by someone running off or getting lost and Blake, or some other team member looking for them. The cast is made up from stock characters: the stoic leader, the guilt ridden scientist, and the irredeemably evil mastermind bent on world domination. The level design is generally quite bland, except for a handful of missions. On the positive side, there are a couple of nice touches: the first level is recognisable as the setting of the film, and contains one of MaCready's audio logs. In a bold stroke, the developers even suggest how the original film ends, and they manage to get away with it.

You there! Have you seen a guy that looks like Kurt Russell?

A good many of The Thing's minor flaws concern your team-mates. They disappear between levels, refuse to fight bosses, and, on occasion, get lost. These flaws, although relatively minor, can lead to frustration and tend to abrade the game's capacity to engross the player. Boss fights are largely uninteresting yet frantic affairs; your success is generally dictated by how many first aid kits you have.

The Thing seemed like a great game when it was first released, but it hasn't aged particularly well. This is the third time I've completed it and almost certainly the last. Despite numerous flaws, it's still a decent game. Fans of John Carpenter and fast paced shooters will still enjoy it, but many others will be irked by the game's flaws, a lack of suspense, a questionable control set up. I'd welcome a more refined remake with multi-player capability, and with a new The Thing movie on the way, this could be a distinct possibility.