Midway's Area 51 starts things off much in the same vein as countless other sci-fi action/horror games/straight-to-video/films, with a lone squad of (elite) soldiers dispatched to investigate an 'incident'. I imagine the rationale with this type of story setup is that, if you send your protagonists someplace interesting, then, well, interesting things are bound to happen. The problem, though, is that this simply isn't the case as the usually lackluster end products can attest to. Also, we've seen our requisite disaster-bound squad being shipped off to just about every square-inch on every conceivable space-time continuum, and it just doesn't cut it anymore to leave our heroes in a hell dimension and tell them to be interesting (although I wouldn't mind seeing that in a new reality TV show). Curiously, there actually hasn't been all that many games set in our titular location of Area 51, where the 'incident' at hand takes place. But if Midway succeeds, this will soon change in a big way beyond a single game.

The first-person action game casts you in the role of Ethan Cole (voiced by a conspiracy veteran David Duchovny), part of a Hazardous Materials squad summoned forth to, well, save the day. This involves that you locate the previous Hazmat team that has not been heard from in some time, bring them back to safety, and while you're at it, contain the mysterious viral outbreak that has gripped the inner sanctums of Area 51. Instead of causing flu symptoms, the virus seems to mutate its hapless hosts into violent monstrosities with super strength to boot. This clich'd descent into enemy territory to blow stuff up is fortunately augmented with enough plot twists, contrived as they are, and melodrama so that those who care enough to pay attention may be somewhat entertained throughout the 15 hour or so worth of single-player frag-fest. In fact, for an action game, Area 51 pauses often to dispense little packets of plot-reveals that attempt to engage the player, even though they usually end up as throwaway explanations for why you must shoot your way through another yet another set of corridors.

It is a good thing then that the action in Area 51 is quite solid, if not entirely inspiring. If you have played any other first-person shooter on the Xbox, then you'll take to this game like fish to water as it shares the same intuitive control scheme pioneered by Halo and widely, umm, homaged since. To the credit of the developers, control scheme aside, the gunplay in Area 51 actually feels distinctive and quite exciting, owing largely to a deft combination of claustrophobic environments, great sound effects for weapon-fire and the rather powerful kickback on some of your weapons during combat.

You begin the game with some fairly conventional (and human) weapons, such as your standard issue 'Scorpion' pistol that is suited really only as a last resort before going tooth and nail (both thankfully absent), and the assault rifle that handles well in most situations. You are also equipped with a non-combat scanner that allows you to scan any object in the game for analysis. Aside from being used as mission objectives at times, this serves as a merely harmless distraction that lets you unlock a few extras without adding much to the game. Along the way, you will come across a handful of increasingly powerful weapons (some not so human) that help you to clear the next room of enemies more efficiently. Many of these boomsticks have secondary fire modes/functions, for example, the frag grenade can be made to explode on a short delay (or on contact) and the secondary fire mode of the shotgun allows you to fire simultaneously from both barrels for that extra punch. Ammunition can seem plentiful in the first few areas, but as you wade deeper into the confines of the facility, preserving ammo becomes increasingly important to survival. In a nice and functional touch, a few weapons in the game can be dual-wielded to do extra damage, a feature you will be glad to employ when Area 51 redefines the phrase 'horde of enemies' for you.

There is a healthy (not so much for you) variety of enemies and creatures in the game with an urge to spill your blood, and the good news is that most of them are fairly simple-minded. The bad news, however, is that what mind they have is bent on tearing you apart, and they adhere to the old adage of strength in numbers. This results in some extremely intense and also very repetitive firefights in which mutants will spawn continuously out of thin air around the next corner to charge at you, something that can get old pretty fast if this kind of gameplay does not appeal to you. One way that the game tries to break up the monotony of shooting at lots of things running at you is with a mix of creatures that behave differently, with leapers that can jump over things to, well run at you, and later on the somewhat more sophisticated soldiers and aliens that will run for cover and call in reinforcements. For much of the game though, you can feel safe to fire at everything that moves (while watching your ammo) and come out relatively unscathed.

Throughout the adventure, you will sometimes be aided by friendly soldiers that may accompany you through sections of the game. And when you do, you can breathe a sigh of relief, for they are virtually impervious to harm, with their only bane being the scribe that penned the game's script. For the first few minutes of the game, you'll be impressed by how well your AI teammates can hold their own against onslaughts of frenzied mutants. But as time goes on, you will come to despise them as you realise that they must know the cheat code for God Mode and aren't sharing with you. Therefore, for most sequences where these Godly beings are on my side, I found myself simply hanging back to conserve ammunition, or take the time to scour the other rooms for useful goodies. While these soldiers can stand their ground and take down anything that approaches better than you can, during plot sequences you will get the pleasure of watching them die, a lot. It's a good thing to have competent backup for once in a game, but the Area 51 approach seems lazy than it is helpful.

To further improve your odds for survival, you gain the ability to switch between your regular human form and a mutated form not long into the game. In a mutated state, you have a deadly melee attack that can take down many of your foes with a single strike as well as two ranged viral attacks that can make short work of your enemies. However, you can only mutate for a limited amount of time, and must replenish a mutation meter by either ingesting fumes from specific corpses littered around the levels or by killing your enemies with melee attacks. While mutated, you will also take less damage from enemy fire, so if nothing else, your mutant form helps to keep you alive a little longer in some of the more difficult battles. I am of the mind that playing in mutant form just doesn't feel as different as it should, as I still move around at the same speed and inherit none of the fierce movements of the other mutants. There is a nice visual effect when you are in mutant form though that illuminates heat signatures in the environment and creatures, giving everything a surreal glow.

As well as the nice mutation effects, the game contains some noticeably impressive visual effects. Weapons and other effects all look rather powerful and dazzling, especially during some of the more heated battles. The environments that you have to venture through are, for the most part, composed of narrow corridors and claustrophobic rooms punctuated by some slightly more open areas, all set within the confines of the large underground research facility. Within these limits, the design team does a commendable job of including some nice visual details that make each section of the game distinctive. Characters in the game also move quite fluidly and contain a respectable amount of detail, with creatures looking as you'd expect them to (aliens look alieny, and mutants' mutaty). Overall, the visuals are certainly competent and facilitate the action well without noticeable slow downs, but they're not overly original and are unlikely to linger in your mind after you put down the controller.

Area 51 also sounds great in action and may have some players reaching for their volume dial after a while as your ears will start ringing from the almost constant string of visceral gunfire noises. There is quite a bit of dialogue here for an action title, and most of it is competently voiced. However, with names like David Duchovny, Marilyn Manson and Powers Boothe attached to the project, I expected more. With the recent debate about payment/residuals for Hollywood personalities lending their voices to games, Area 51 demonstrates how little these screen actors bring to the overall product. David Duchovny couldn't sound less enthused if he tried (or not tried, as the case may be), and some of the more memorable voice acting come from the non-celebrities.

Once you are through with the singleplayer portion of the game, you can engage in either split-screen or online multiplayer matches against/with up to 15 other combatants that cover the usual selection of modes. While I have not been able to test the online multiplayer mode on my review disc, split-screen multiplayer is quite fun, but it is no better than multiplayer games in any other FPS on the market, and personally I am not a fan of the often claustrophobic maps on offer. Also, while the selection of weapons work well in single player mode, during multiplayer matches, they just aren't very interesting to play with over an extended period of time.