i literally want to like. icepick the brains of everyone involved in the thing of 2002 (INCLUDING john carpenter but we've known that etc etc) because like... okay the studio thatcreated it (computer artworks) had exactly one other game under their belt and then like. literally went under before they could make a sequel despite this game somehow being a resounding success (it made an 8.5/10 on ign, i suspect because the critic who reviewed it had no idea what the fuck they were talking about) and this was UNIVERSAL that owned the thing property they decided to hand off creation to this game to a studio so underground that if you search the lead designer he literally does not show up! they did that! and then the game itself which is so clearly a rip off of games like half life that it's almost laughable. but they also introduced many interesting mechanics! but those mechanics literally do not work! it's concept work! freelance modders made it such that the mechanics actually operate as intended! computer artworks didn't do that. and the story! the story which is a direct spit to the 1982 film it claims it's based on! it resolves the question the ending centered around within the first ten minutes of gameplay, it completely brushes off the way the thing actually operated, our central struggle isn't "what if the thing reaches the rest of the world" but "what if this guy who injected himself with alien can't control it"... and john carpenter okayed this (presumably because there's a character who he voices and looks like him who is arguably the one of the only good npcs)