As a gamer that practically grew up in the arcades, it's great to see arcade classics resurfacing on our favorite consoles with better graphics and different gameplay mechanics. Area 51 has come to the Xbox and while the arcade original required you to pick up an attached gun, this is no Xbox light gun game. That’s right, the classic has been reworked into a first-person shooter that takes us deep into the mystery that is the secret military installation where the only close encounter you’ll experience is of the dangerous kind. Grab a gun because these “little green men” mean business.

Despite its origins as an arcade shooter, this Area 51 has a story behind it. A distress signal is answered by a HAZMAT crew flown into the famed secretive installation (you know, the one with the alien autopsies and the supposed ship that crashed in Roswell, New Mexico in the 1950s) to investigate. As Ethan Cole you follow your fellow HAZMAT teammates into a chaotic scene. It seems that a virus is spreading throughout the facility and thus killing and mutating every human working in the installation. The mission to save lives suddenly turns into a desperate fight for survival as Cole discovers secret conspiracies and what exactly goes on in Area 51. 

Yet this game isn’t about discovery and complex plot asides, its survival that has Cole picking up an assortment of weapons like shotguns, assault rifles, frag grenades and sniper rifles. You start the game by following your team into the worst areas and without a moment's notice you’ll be going up against mutated Area 51 scientists and security team members. How mutated you may ask? Well enough to look grotesque, have increased strength and able to leap right into its prey to rip them apart. To make matters worse you’ll even have to put up with actual aliens (like the cuddly, bigheaded and recognizable Grays) and heavily armed Black Ops clones sent by the mysterious Illuminati group.

There are also a large number of mission objectives to complete and as you get farther into the game you’ll find yourself without your team and fighting alone. There are times when you’ll encounter other HAZMAT teams fighting for their lives and you’ll often help them push back wave after wave of aliens. The game could have followed the same run-and-gun path but early in the game an event occurs that adds new depth to the story and adds more variety to the gameplay. Cole becomes infected by a strain of the virus killing every human and is able to harvest the mutated powers when he needs it the most. Using the D-pad you can choose to transform into a mutant with more physical strength, better sight and the ability to shoot worm-like parasites at the enemy. In your mutated state you won’t have any guns available but you can bring down enemies with a powerful punch.

As far as first-person shooters go, Area 51 is pretty basic control-wise. You can jump, crouch, peek around corners and aim or activate the flashlight on your weapon. Scrolling through your inventory is also pretty quick and painless, a plus when you need to whip out a powerful weapon in a hurry. Even better yet is the fact that you can wield two weapons at a time. You also get a scanner, used to collect info the same way you collect hidden items in other games. These collectable files or matter can be accessed later but trust me when I say you’ll want to look through the findings if you want to make sense of the main story. A few of the collected files reveal great background on characters like Doctor Cray.

The game is also not without its problems. Aside from the fact that oftentimes, especially when you work alongside a team of survivors, the enemy seems to want to brush past the others to get to you. Oftentimes they much rather shoot at you than a HAZMAT guy much closer to them. It really doesn’t disrupt the flow of the action or become annoying but it is unrealistic even if these are mutants and aliens. There’s also a multiplayer mode with Xbox Live support. It’s great to see more Xbox Live support but there isn’t much in terms of game mode variety in the multiplayer front.

Visually, Area 51 is nowhere near as detailed as, say, Doom 3 but it still looks good enough to make the locale a pretty convincing one. Apart from the corridors that lead to interesting research rooms there are secret underground testing facilities and all the things we can imagine Area 51 to hold (like the alien autopsy room and the hanger). The game’s characters move decently enough and the mutants and aliens running amok in the installation look great. There are also some flashy effects, especially when it comes to your mutated transformation and alien abilities.

I genuinely like actor David Duchovny and I certainly loved him as Agent Mulder on The X-Files but as the voice of Ethan Cole his emotionless vocal delivery is just unbearable. Even when Cole is talking about the more exciting moments that just occurred to him he sounds as though somebody woke him up from a long nap. His co-stars, Powers Booth and musician Marilyn Manson, do a much better job in bringing their characters to life. The game’s soundtrack is pretty good as well but the sound effects (especially when it comes to the aliens) are excellent.

All things considered, Area 51 won’t amaze you with something different but it will certainly offer enough bullet-fueled fun to make this an enjoyable ride. It certainly has its share of problems but they are greatly overshadowed by its simple yet energetic action. If it’s something new and unique you’re looking for you best check out Doom 3 or Halo 2, but if you’re a fan of the genre you can’t go wrong with this one. Either way, you shouldn’t miss this one.

Gameplay: 8.0
It’s your standard first-person shooter fare ... up until the point that the main character becomes infected with an alien virus that allows him to shoot lethal parasites at your enemies and bring them down with a single punch. The levels are well designed and there’s enough action here to do the genre justice.

Graphics: 8.2
Area 51 is not a bad-looking game at all but, compared to some of the more recent games of this genre, it isn’t spectacular either. Still, there are some great cutscenes and the alien animations make for some delightfully creepy moments. There are also some good visual effects.

Sound: 7.5
If it wasn’t for David Duchovny’s sleepy delivery the voice acting in the game would have been top-notch. There’s also a decent soundtrack but it's the sound effects that give the game its I’m-watching-an-action-movie appeal.

Difficulty: Medium
The enemy AI seems to want to forget everyone else and go directly for you so expect all the aggression to be centered on you. The enemy does put up a good fight and there are moments in the game when you’ll be overwhelmed by a seemingly non-stop parade of bad guys.

Concept: 7.0
The secretive installation is filled with secrets and collectible items that open up interesting video clips or documents complete with photographs to help understand the story a bit better in the Database and Secrets menu. As far as extras are concerned the game only offers interviews and character profiles. There’s also online multiplayer.

Multiplayer: 7.5
It’s your basic Deathmatch multiplayer action but with Xbox Live support you can go up against 16 players through various maps perfect for a good old-fashioned frag fest. Online the game flows excellently and without any problems whatsoever. I just wish there were more to the multiplayer mode or System Link support.

Overall: 8.2
It might not revolutionize the genre but Area 51 is a solid first-person shooter that’s still fun enough to warrant a place in your collection. While other recent shooters have unique distinguishing features that put them ahead of the game, this one still has enough bang for your buck.