Valve's Half-Life is without question one of the greatest games ever made and is therefore deserving of the insane amount of praise it's received, but at the same time it has done irreversible damage to the industry. No sooner did it arrive on the scene than a new breed of gamer emerged, the one that isn't content to simply blast enemies in his or her first person shooters. They crave story elements, complex puzzles, and innovative online options. It's quite sad really, because the majority of the shooters that lack these qualities are immediately categorized and blasted for not incorporating these features. Thus, a game like Area 51 doesn't have much of a chance against the likes of Half-Life 2 or even Halo 2, that is, unless you just don't give a #$#%.

I'm not saying that Midway's shooter lacks a good story. On the contrary, Area 51's narrative can be quite engrossing at times, and it certainly has a great set-up. Playing as a special member of the Army's Hazardous Materials division, you're sent into the top secret government facility Area 51 to locate a lost HazMat team. Naturally, as with all Area 51 movies/videogames, you discover that the inmates are running the asylum. A dangerous alien virus has gotten loose and mutated those inside into horrible-looking monsters (as opposed to the cute and friendly ones), and to make matters worse there are these mysterious-looking soldiers running about that want you dead. Actually no, that's not the worst thing that's happened to you. Your squad's been massacred and now you're infected with the virus and have access to some bizarre alien powers. How's that for a how do you do?

Don't let this game's story fool you. Although it's interesting and pushes you to reach the end just so you can figure out what the hell's going on, it's pretty disposable. You don't NEED to know that what's up, in part because Area 51 is your basic first person shooter. The focus is on the action and is built on the idea that you're supposed to take these two insanely powerful machine guns and viciously slaughter anything that looks less than human. To that end, the game is immensely enjoyable. It plays out like a standard summer blockbuster, meaning that it's at times going to make no sense and a month from now you'll probably lose all interest in it, but for the moment, the entire time that it'll take you to get from start to finish, you'll thoroughly enjoy the ride. The guns are loud and in your face, the monsters are well-designed snarling beasts that all deserve a bullet to the brain, the graphics are impressive despite their looking like a PS2 game, and the voice acting, especially the work that Marilyn Manson, David Duchovny, and Powers Boothe did, is well done.

Keep in mind that with summer blockbusters, you really need to leave your brain at the door, and the same is true with Area 51. Its developers didn't try to reinvent the proverbial wheel, nor did they implement any innovative features. Enemies are generated at random, your fellow mates suddenly become invincible when they're scripted to provide you with covering fire, and there's always an arrow pointing in the direction that you need to go. Your hand is held the entire way, and if you're good at spotting flaws (and if they drive you crazy), then you'll shake your head quite a few times at Area 51, so my advice is to just roll with it. Accept the fact that its physics aren't particularly impressive. Forget how if you climb a ladder enemies won't follow you. Just point your shotgun or Meson Cannon at the ugly creature barreling down upon you and squeeze the trigger.

Online play is here but it's nothing spectacular really, just the usual death match stuff that we've come to expect from first person shooters. However, the game runs well, and the action is fast-paced and intense.

Unfortunately, just like the film Independence Day, Area 51's not worth running through a second time, though much like special features on a DVD, the online play will keep it spinning inside your Xbox long after you've capped the final alien in the game's single-player campaign. If you're going to nitpick the hell out of it then you'll only magnify Area 51's deficiencies, but for the rest of us, those who appreciate just being able to run around and shoot monsters without needing to worry about extraneous factors, this is one trip that's worth taking.