Ethan, why is it always an 'Ethan'?
In Area 51 you assume the role of Ethan Cole, (just why is Ethan such a popular hero’s name?), a member of Area 51’s HAZMAT squad. Unless you’ve been chanting mantras on a Tibetan mountain for the last few years, Area 51 is the US’s top secret military installation just outside of Las Vegas that is so top secret its world famous and now even supports a thriving tourist trade for UFO spotters wanting to get a look at Groom Lake from afar. Supposedly, the US have been working on alien technology recovered from crashed UFOs, so do a Google and you’ll find any number of sites with info on the place…
In the game, Area 51 is indeed the home of lost of recovered alien stuff and you and your HAZMAT team are sent into the more classified areas when something goes horribly wrong. A virus of some kind has been let loose and it’s turning your fellow soldiers into monsters and there’s all manner of mutated bods running around… as you progress deeper into the game you’ll find more than just mutated scientists with the Illuminati, alien ‘Greys’ and plenty of other modern myth characters making an appearance…
To kick off, you and your squad have to find another team and relieve them as they’re trapped deep inside the underground part of Area 51, which gives you your simple ‘run and gun and reach the objective’ gameplay. The squad aspect of the game has been squandered to be honest as you have no control over any of them and they’ll carry on fighting whether you cower at the back and save your ammo or go in with all guns blazing. The problem is that your squad members are needed for the scripted sequences and are invulnerable until they’re needed for a cut scene where they get mercilessly chopped to bits. As much as it looks like you’re in a team, you’re really always just in a single player FPS with no control over anything.