Could have been a potential success.
Graphics wise the game was nothing special, the layout was somewhere between an older generation platform like the N64 at its peak and the Xbox at its lowest; perhaps closer to the latter.
And talk about an obscure, emotionless protagonist. What do we know about Blake the protagonist? Eg snakke norsk ... hmm yeah? Und Ich vergassen meine Hausverstand zu hause. He's some sort of American military Alpha Beta Gamma thing. Even worse are the AI, I mean f**ken shoot the damn thing! Oh but they are bad-asses when they get all Thingyfied.
The plot is hard to follow and really, plain obfuscating. Carpenter must have had nightmares (maybe sweet-dreams in comparison) just from how tainted the original story-line gets. "But really, who gives a damn as long as I can kick some deformed-alien derrière!"
The fighting does not get much better but it sure is ... entertaining in a crappy shoot 'em up kind of way. Shooting, man, now there's a problem. Basically anything you can lock-on to with a few exceptions. The enemies are themselves very frustrating, ... frustrating and range from the cute lil' severed head-spider Thing to the pumped blob-like Things. Boss fights, tsk ... good luck.
Maybe my rating does not reflect on what this review is about but, this is a game that seems to be underrated; it is certainly WORTH PLAYING. If nothing else I enjoyed sooting at every single Thing that came up to me. If only the plot was easy to follow and the play more varied.