The X-Files: Resist or Serve
Mulder and Scully are sleuthing again on the PS2.
by Susie Vee

PLATFORM: PS2

PUBLISHER: Vivendi Universal

DEVELOPER: Black Ops

GENRE: Survival Horror

ESRB: Mature

After a little media buzz when the project was first announced, the new X-Files game for PS2 was released with little fanfare, and at a budget price. Which is a shame, really, since it’s a highly enjoyable game that does much better than most TV/movie tie-ins in capturing the feel of its source material.

That’s not to say the game is a A-List all the way. Playing this back-to-back as we did with Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, you can see the X-Files game was a low-budget project, without the slick technology and production values of top-tier games.

The graphics are dated at best – almost Dreamcast-like – and the game’s tiny environments and linear structure keep the proceedings somewhat limited. On the plus side, the original cast, including David Ducovny and Gillian Anderson, are on board, providing credible voice acting as well as their famous faces.

The game is set up almost exactly like Resident Evil. You choose to play as Mulder or Scully, and have to investigate a mystery that involves witchcraft, aliens and your old nemesis, the cigarette-smoking man. The story is cut up into three “episodes” of the TV series, but the demarcations are somewhat arbitrary (Mulder’s entire second episode storyline takes mere minutes).

Fortunately, even though the game is quite short, Mulder and Scully have very different game experiences, and playing through with both characters takes you to new locations and exposes new threads of the plot.

Gameplay involves looking for clues, finding keys and shooting zombie-like monsters. Nothing too original, or too challenging, but its seems somehow more engaging with recognizable TV characters than with anonymous survival horror protagonists.

The pacing is good, and the game throws just the right amount of action, exploration and dread at you. Most of the environments are dark, and you’ll play much of the game with your flashlight out and gun drawn, slowly wandering around the genuinely creepy environments.

Combat is a bit hit-or-miss. If an enemy gets too close, it’s hard to aim at them, and pumping multiple bullets into zombies can eat away at your ammo pretty quickly. Since the game is so easy, it sometimes throws hordes of zombies at you to increase the challenge. This busywork can take away from the X-Files feel and your ability to enjoy the story – so we’d suggest entering the “one-shot kills” cheat code, which will make the game go much faster and let you enjoy the TV episode vibe. [It’s Circle, L2, Down, R1, X]

The X-Files was a great show with a loyal female fan base, and having a chance to play through a serviceable, though not spectacular set of episodes is a real treat and a vast improvement over the all-but-forgotten PC X-Files game of several years ago (a FMV-style game that we have to admit, we kinda liked, even if we’re embarrassed to admit it now).