Area 51

As you have guessed, Area-51 takes place at the military base out in the Nevada desert that was rumored to have aliens, mutants, and secret weapon experiments. In Area-51, you're going to find out that all three of the above are true. In fact, the front of the game's case simply shows an alien on it. And that's not all: There are a whole bunch of other surprises in the game that I really don't want to spoil. You just have to play the game to see it all for yourself.

Evident by the fact that Midway developed and published the game, Area-51 is a remake of the classic arcade game. This isn't just the arcade game with a facelift -- it's infinitely much more, and it's definitely better than a lot of arcade remakes in the past (Frogger, Glover, etc., etc.) In fact, it's probably the best arcade remake ever. This remake isn't nearly as linear as the arcade game, requiring you to look for keycards and the such. Better yet, you can even CONTROL your character! (Speaking of controls, Area-51's controls are easily the best on the Xbox and PS2.) But the best -- and most innovative -- aspect of the game is likely your scanner. While designed to display statistics of an air sample, it will also scan secret documents that you can view when you exit your game session. Since many of these documents are hidden, this means that Area-51 has lots of replay value.

Even the storyline is better (and more interesting) than the arcade game. You play as Ethan Cole, a member of the Army's HAZMAT Team Bravo, voiced by David Duchovny. Contrary to what many reviews have said, David Duchovny is the perfect actor for Ethan Cole. I couldn't really notice anything bad about his voice acting; he sounded really normal. Back to the storyline, HAZMAT's Team Delta went missing when they responded to a distress call coming from Area-51. So, what's going on over there? A virus has broken out at the base, mutating or killing the employees, and everyone has been locked inside. Your team (HAZMAT Team Bravo) is sent into the base to find HAZMAT Team Delta, while shooting the living crap out of every mutant that gets in the way.

Surprisingly good AI, satisfying gamepad vibration effects, an awesome weapons loadout, fast-paced action that never slows down, and a whole bunch of secrets and surprises mean that you will play Area-51 to the very end. Like every game released since Halo 2, it's not a Halo 2-killer, but it's an absolute must-have for people interested in the subject matter, or for PS2 users in desperate need of a fun shooter to play (Both Halo games were never released for the PS2). A definite 10 / 10 to this one!