Midway's Area 51 is the greatest sub par arcade game ever created. In fact, I'd go as far to say that its arcade life is legendary, because even after all these years this alien- splattering light gun shooter is still a staple of malls, theaters and boardwalks, and believe it or not, it still gets a lot of play. Even though this mindless arcade shooter seemed to fade in the wake of Sega and Namco's offerings, Midway has seen fit to give it the royal treatment. Area 51 is coming to the PS2 and the Xbox, but as a full-fledged first person shooter (ala Halo) with all sorts of weapons and nasty alien scum to shred apart. Not convinced? Take a closer look. This one may sneak up on you.

In Area 51 you play as Lt. Nick Cross, a HazMat soldier working for the U.S. army who's investigating the base to solve the mystery of the first HazMat team's disappearance. Along the way you'll actually stumble across other humans, and in some instances work alongside them, but the real star of the game is the pretty visuals and the creature designs. Already looking gorgeous, Area 51 features very detailed environments and effects. Everything has a slick sci-fi look to it, with glowing panels, sterile-looking rooms and bizarre gadgets that appear anything but man made. Populating these slick locales are a varied assortment of aliens created by legendary creature designer Stan Winston, whose credits include Aliens, Predator and The Thing films.

Not only are mutants running amok, but also those mysterious oval-headed gray aliens with the big black eyes. They'll all need to be splattered, and luckily, you'll have various weapons at your disposal. The game will feature 15 weapons, both alien and human, and from the couple that I've seen they look pretty cool, albeit standard for a fps. There is, of course, a standard pistol, as well as a gun that appears to be fully automatic, but Midway is keeping mum on the subject. They're also not revealing anything (At least not yet.) about the alien abilities Cross will gain as a result of the virus.

In addition to the cool creature designs, Area 51 is getting special treatment in the sound department as well. Nine Inch Nails member Chris Vrenna will compose the score.
The single player campaign features 8 stages that'll take you all over the base, but if you get tired of going solo, you'll be able to tap into Area 51's multiplayer component. Death match can be played both offline and on, and it should be a fast and frenetic blasting experience and yet another quality addition to Sony and Microsoft's online networks.

While it remains to be seen whether Midway's stab at a first person shooter will pay off, it's only fitting that one of the greatest coin-ops get a rebirth. Thus far, everything about Area 51 looks like a winner. As far as I'm concerned, getting infected has never been so appealing.