0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Area 51

      

Area 51 is an on rails light gun Sci-Fi first person shooter and was developed for the arcades by Mesa Logic and was first released in 1995, the game would receive a console port the following year with the game appearing on the Playstation, Sega Saturn as well as a PC port for Windows.

At the time of the games release it was planned to be published by Atari however that same year Atari was purchased by WMS Industries who released the game under their Midway Games subsidiary, it would release in late 1996 in North America and the following March and May of 1997 in Japan and Europe.

Area 51 is a light gun arcade first person shooter that was ported to the Playstation in 1996/97 so the game can be played with a ps1 compatible light gun like the Konami Justifier, I have found a few sources that say this works find with the game, however I have also read that compatibility issues with light guns for this game can be a problem.

So it is handy then you can play this game with a controller instead to shoot your way through the Kronn invasion. The player has the choice of five weapons to do so, the player will only star with a semi automatic pistol at the beginning of the game this weapon can however be upgraded to an automatic machine gun then to an automatic shotgun.

 

In the event of the player character being hit by an enemy then their weapon will automatically downgrade back to a pistol. In addition to the players main upgradable weapon they can use grenades to destroy most enemies on screen, they can also shoot yellow boxes and barrels these are marked as flammable and will explode when shot.

The game also features shooting exercises, weapons stashes and bonus items not in the main plot, these can be accessed by shooting certain objects in the correct order additional backdoors allow the player to leap forward to later levels.

The enemies the player faces are varied between aliens and the alien zombie creatures, these enemies also possess weapons to attack the player from guns to rockets and regular punches, certain enemies will also throw things at the player such as bricks, grenades and barrels. There are also purple aliens or alien zombies that will attack the player these require more hits to take down.

In addition there is a mode called the Kronn Hunter Mode which is initiated if nothing but three STAAR members are hit, with the player taking on the role of a Kronn Hunter tasked with hunting down and eliminating rebels.

The players character Peterson is taking part in a STAAR operation (Strategic Tactical Advanced Alien Response) after an alien incursion at the top secret Area 51 military base. The Kronn and their created zombie like creatures must be stopped from taking over Area 51.

The players character along with fellow STAAR members Lieutenant Stephanie Grant and Sergeant Major Marcus Bradley must shoot their way to the heart of Area 51 and activate the nuclear self destruct sequence, killing any genetically altered zombie solders and aliens without harming fellow STAAR members.

 Only a handful of critic reviews are available for Area 51 these scores range from above average to average, as usual I will start with the best which comes from The Video Game Critic who scored the game a 75/100, they praised the game as a single player experience but found the game as a 2 player experience to be the superior.They also praised the option to start the game half way through, they were however critical of the lack of support for the Namco Guncon light gun controller which is not compatible with the game.

Review scores from here take a significant drop with German publication Mega Fun up next, they scored the game at a 59/100 they were very critical of the game especially after the recent release of the Die Hard Trilogy, they had the following to say on Area 51.

After the convincing second level of the Die Hard-Trilogy, the Shooting-Gallery-Fever has grabbed me too. But those who expect a similarly high quality of Area 51 as John McClane's airport slaughter or even Virtua Cop can leave the Lightgun in the holster.

The rendered graphics may seem quite atmospheric and impressive at first glance, but you quickly got your fill. Even the soundscape does not produce the necessary action feeling or even tension. But the main failure is just in the opponents who look the same over very long distances, and unimaginative zombies hardly cause any enthusiasm.

Fellow German publication Video Games recommended the recently released Die Hard Trilogy or waiting for the upcoming Namco title Time Crisis, and only those desperate for a new cannon fodder should bother with Area 51.

They however were not the lowest scoring review that goes to All Game Guide who gave the game an average as you can get 50/100, they were critical of the graphics which they said were not as sharp as the arcade version, they were also critical of the replayability with their review saying repeated playthroughs tend to drag, and while fun they only recommended the game to people who own light guns.

This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit four online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com, eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific, but from a podcast I listen to, I’ve heard they have a huge stock of older games, Ebay has now been dropped unless the game is unavailable at other retailers.

So lets get down to business with Gamedude who will give you $4 if you are looking to trade in your copy of Area 51, on the other hand if you are in the market for a copy from Gamedude then you will be looking at an outlay of $12 for a copy.

Heading over to Retogames.co.uk who have a couple of copies of the Midway Classics release of Area 51, this is a copy of the re-release from 2000, both copies are used in excellent condition with 8/10 disc condition ratings and are priced at £5.

Moving on to eStarland.com who currently have three used copies of Area 51 available, the first is a complete copy of the game and is priced at $12.50. If you are not bothered about a complete copy one with no manual can be picked up for $8.75 while a disc only copy can be purchased for $6.25. eStarland.com also offer a trade in and will pay you $5.50 for your copy of Area 51.

Finally on to Amazon.com where we find a plentiful supply of copies available a few disc only copies are available but a complete copy in good condition is available for a reasonable price of $7.54, this is the cheapest you will get for a complete copy of the game on Amazon at the time of writing this.

A couple of dollars more will get you a complete copy in very good conditions another very good condition copy is priced up at $9.99 this also comes with free shipping as well. If you are looking for an even better quality used copy a like new copy is currently on the market for $19.94.

While the jump from very good condition to like new is not that bad, the jum from like new to an actual new copy is quite significant with the cheapest new copy available on Amazon.com will set you back $50 once shipping has been added in. This is actually cheap compared to how high the price for a new copy gets, with a current high of around $129.

Written by

P J Gibbon