A U.S. Special Forces team investigates the remains of the
American and Norwegian bases in Antarctica.
Although the game is intended as a direct sequel to the 1982
film, for purposes of placing the story in PopApostle's
Thing chronology, I've decided to place it after all of
the stories published by Dark Horse Comics. It's not
entirely clear how much time has passed since the end of the
film and the beginning of the events in the game, but
pre-release publicity for the game suggests it's supposed to
be a couple of months, so there is time for the Dark Horse
stories to have taken place. And it makes a certain amount
of sense that Captain Blake in the game does not find more
notes inside Outpost 31 because they were already taken by
the U.S. research team in
"Questionable Research"
(though it does leave the question of why the arctic marines
here were sent if the researchers of the Donachek
were known to have already been there; perhaps the marines
were sent simply as a cover, to hide the fact that the U.S.
government had already sent a research team there and
recovered materials for study). Also, in the game, one must
ignore the discovery of Childs' frozen body at Outpost 31
since he was seen still alive in
"The Thing
from Another World" Parts 1 and 2, to finally become
Thingified at some point after
"The Thing from
Another World" Part 2, and his Thing version finally
killed with flame in Tierra del Fuego in
"Climate of Fear" Part 4.
The character of Dr. Faraday is modeled on the face of John
Carpenter, director of the 1982 film. Carpenter also
provided the character's voice in an uncredited role.
(Unless otherwise noted, references to "the film" are
intended as references to 1982's
The Thing.)
|
The map of the Antarctic continent at the beginning of the
game seems to indicate that Outpost 31 is located on the
eastern side. Another later in the game shows the relation
to the Norwegian base on the continent. |
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 |
As Blake arrives at Outpost 31, he reports to Whitley over
the radio that everything is FUBAR. FUBAR is a military slang
acronym for "Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition".
The military patches identifying members of Alpha and Beta
teams indicate they are considered "arctic marines".
The interiors of Outpost 31 in the game are fairly primitive
looking and not particularly like the rooms, doors, and
corridors seen in the film.
When Blake walks into one of the rooms at the beginning of
the game, a computer screen blows up. Why? No explanation is
given. Possibly we are supposed to assume that power surges
are occurring due to the damage throughout the base.
|
A narrative note during the game claims that the "virus" has
the ability to replicate living organisms, including
clothing. The Thing has not been shown to replicate a
victim's clothing in the past. It has to be careful about
damaging or blood-staining the victim's clothes or put on
fresh clothes after mimicking a human body. |
 |
|
Blake finds a note on Dr. Copper's computer stating he's
written a 5-page report on the anomalous body that was
brought back from the Norwegian outpost. The body shown here
does not look like the twisted double-body seen in the film.
Copper's message also states that access to medical supplies
is limited to himself and Garry, code 1138. The "1138" is
likely a reference to George Lucas' 1971 film THX 1138. |
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| Anomalous body in the video game |
Two-faced body from
The Thing movie |
Blake's team finds Childs' body, apparently dead of exposure
after sitting down by the fire with MacReady at the end of
the film. In
"The Thing from Another World" Part 1, Childs is
depicted as having survived the ordeal. The absence of
MacReady here clues the player in that he could turn up at
some point during the game.
Of course, having been released in 2002, the game's
depiction of the Norwegian base and its circumstances does
not match that seen in the 2011
prequel film beyond what
was known of it from the 1982 film.
At the Norwegian outpost, Blake discovers one of the special
ops team, Carter, and tells him he came from investigating
the U.S. outpost five klicks south of there.
A klick is military slang for
"kilometer". This is
much closer to the U.S. base than is stated in
the novelization of
The Thing, in which Fuchs mentions that the
Norwegian station is about 80 kilometers (49.7 miles) from
U.S. Outpost 31.
In the
prequel film, we
learn that the Norwegian outpost is called
Thule Station, but no name is ever stated here. The station
also seems to be much larger and covers more ground than the
one seen in the two films.
As Blake is about to perform the blood test on himself to
prove to Pierce he is still human, he says, "Now I'm gonna
show you what I already know." This is almost the same line
spoken by MacReady in a similar situation in the film.
In the video game, it turns out that a company called
Gen-Inc had an underground research station below the
Norwegian outpost. Obviously, this was not hinted at
at all
in the
prequel film. Gen-Inc is
a fictional company, modifying Thing cells, and even
Thing-creatures, as a potential bioweapon.
Gen-Inc refers to the infective capability of the Thing's
cells as "the Cloud virus".
Where does Whitley obtain all the extra biomass to transform
into the gigantic Thing near the end of the game? Since it
happens on top of the crashed spaceship, was the extra
biomass somehow stored within?
At the end of the game, MacReady jokingly tells Blake he's
on his way back from an extended arctic vacation. But he
should have said "antarctic"...the south pole, where they
are at is the antarctic, the north pole the arctic.
Notice that MacReady is wearing his so-called Vera Cruz
sombrero which he wore in the film.
The song that plays over the end credits of the game is the
2001 song "After Me" by Saliva.
Memorable Dialog
Christ, what is that?.wav
a God
damn UFO.wav
we're not alone in the universe.wav
what's your name, smart-ass?.wav
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