The Thing - A good preview of it ...

[Absurd]

My last post on the subject - just sounds like an exciting and unique game.

 

"Interaction with the NPCs is also well handled. Commands can be issued and the NPCs interacted with through a simple and effective menu based interface. This allows for some fairly complex commands to be handled. However, there are also “shortcuts” to this menu system. For instance, upon discovering a broken power supply that only your engineer can fix, that will trigger the icon system that gives you an idea of what an NPC is “thinking”. In the example just given, you’ll find an icon has appeared over the engineer’s head denoting that he is aware you need his help. Walk close to him and a hand icon (a universal symbol for “interact”) will appear off centered over his icon. With a press of a button, the engineer will set about fixing the problem. Other examples of this iconic interface are Need First Aid, Need Ammo, etc."

 

"An interesting feature has been the trust/fear interface adding to the level of concern you need to have for the NPCs. Upon first encountering a wayward NPC, they may have as little trust in you as you in them, requiring you to do something to build their trust to get their confidence. This can be anything from healing wounds to handing them a weapon. Of course, if you don’t watch it, this can make even the human NPCs dangerous. Should they start to question your humanity too much, and they may decide you’re more of a liability than an asset and decide to remove you from the equation. Once the NPC starts a serious turn for the worse, a timer will appear over their head to let you know just how long you have before they snap completely. One scenario I encountered went particularly bad, but showed off the trust/fear interface quite well. Two NPCs I had along with me really lost it after a bit of a firefight. One started muttering to himself and dropping to his knees, the other began to fire off shots from his MP5 wildly. In order to control him, I had to use my TAZER to get him to drop his weapon. I collected that and headed to the other NPC to see what I could do when he came unglued so I TAZED him as well. Upon incapacitating the 2nd NPC, the 1st shows himself to be a Thing. The significance of that is, once I TAZED the 2nd NPC, I had to fight the Thing on my own... it took advantage of the situation! I managed to kill the Thing but the battle proved too much for the 2nd NPC who clutched his chest and collapsed, dying of a heart attack... and then relieving his bowels. Dead in a puddle of his own urine... I sat there stunned trying to absorb what I'd just seen."

 

More here:

 

http://www.outpost31.com/pcgame/news/o31rev1.html

 

Trailer:

 

http://www.3dgamers.com/dl/games/thing/the-thing.zip.html