Game Reviews - Indews

Gameplay wise, Area 51 offers much that its arcade brethren offered however it does much to expand upon it. It features upgraded graphics, more gameplay elements, more weapons, and an actual storyline. The action is still very arcade like, meaning it is fast paced and gritty, pitting you up against hundreds of aliens and mutants and forcing you to cut them all down. The moments of large, hectic battles can be quite exhilarating indeed, but sadly these moments are strewn out and in the middle is mostly just bland gameplay that only copies the ideas from other popular FPS titles rather than invent any for itself. For this reason alone Area 51 delivers really nothing innovative and ends up feeling like any old regular FPS that you've already played before.

However, that is not to say the cutting down enemies isn't fun. In fact, it is a lot of fun as you run through the levels with allied soldiers at your sides chopping the freakish mutants and aliens down to size. You can choose from many different automatic weapons to launchers to even dual wielded weaponry (which tend to pack quite a punch). The friendly AI are also able to handle themselves quite well being able to take down the enemies quickly and effectively. Needless to say, the game ends up being at least somewhat fun to play in this sense.

Moving on, the game likewise presents really nothing special in the multiplayer department either. You can either play with friends offline or hook it up and go online to take down other gamers. Up to 16 players can compete in these multiplayer matches which include the basic deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, and other generic modes. If you don't mind the fairly bland set of choices and actually really enjoy the gameplay then at least you should find yourself coming back for seconds and thirds in the multiplayer portion of the game.

At least the game looks and sounds pretty darn good. The graphics are sharp, well detailed, and plenty flashy. The environments were well designed and are fairly interactive. The special effects are truly special and they do much to add to the gameplay thanks to the sparks and fireworks given off from explosions and weaponry. The visuals are only backed up by a solid sound department that includes excellent sound F/X that really help to make the visual explosions and weapons sound even more destructive and satisfying. The voice acting is solid at times and at least contributes somewhat to the shoddy storyline. Overall, the game is presented very well.

Area 51 meets an expected fate of falling into the mediocrity of games that just end up offering nothing new or innovative. It just ends up feeling like a game that you have already played before, meaning it will do little to tempt most gamers into dishing out the necessary cash to purchase this title.