The Thing 2: A Sequel Frozen in the Lost Video Game Wasteland
Since I added The Thing prequel to my Blu-ray collection (read my review here), I've been on a bit of a Thing kick lately. I watched John Carpenter's 1982 movie again, and I've been looking through various Thing fan sites to see if I can learn anything new about this sporadically active franchise. While the poor box office performance of 2011's The Thing precludes another Thing movie any time soon, I was surprised to discover that there was yet another Thing project in the works even before anyone considered a prequel on the silver screen. The project was called The Thing 2, and it was designed by Computer Artworks as a sequel to their 2002 The Thing video game.
From what I've been able to piece together, development of The Thing 2 was discontinued after Computer Artworks shut down in 2004. I've found some conceptual artwork for this game online, which you can see in the picture gallery I've assembled below. Read on....
As video game tie-ins to movies go, The Thing game was a fantastic treat for Thing fans. It had everything that a fan could ask for: bleak settings and situations, flamethrowers, paranoia, blood test kits, and a whole lot of gore. The game featured a team building dynamic where you had to win the trust of other human characters by convincing them that you weren't infected by the Thing; some of these same characters would later reveal themselves to be Things, usually during the most intense and inconvenient moments. You also could only spend limited amounts of time outside of the human bases (which included the charred remains of both Outpost 31 and the Norwegian research station), because your character would freeze to death otherwise due to the harsh conditions of the Antarctic. These details successfully captured the look and feel of Carpenter's movie, and they made for a great survival horror video game as well.
After such an impressive effort behind the first game, it's immensely frustrating to look at what might have been in the concept art for The Thing 2. According to the notes in the art guide pages below, the sequel was supposed to take place in a huge oil refinery (complete with service tunnels, an oil rig, and a settlement of porta-cabins filled with workers) and a Thing-infested aircraft carrier. With vast new environments to explore and deadly new Thing mutations to fight, The Thing 2 would have been a spectacular continuation of what Carpenter started way back in the 80s.
I want The Thing 2 movie to come out in 2013.
ReplyDeleteman I am gutted. This would have been cool
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain--this game would've been fantastic!
ReplyDeleteI am sad to hear they didnt do so well with the prequel as well as not make a part 2 for the game!! Grrrrrr
ReplyDeleteIt's unfortunate, but you're probably right: the prequel didn't set any box office records, so this game will probably remain unmade. What's particularly frustrating is that because so many successful video games have clearly copied ideas from The Thing (the Dead Space games, for example), The Thing 2 game would probably make a lot of money too--even if the prequel did not.
Deleteyou stupid? what makes u think dead space copied the thing? the thing and dead space is two different things. if dead space has reanimation it doesn't mean its copied from the thing
DeleteNow, now, Anonymous. No need for insults here.
DeleteIf you take a good look at the Necromorph designs in the Dead Space games, you can see that they drew great inspiration from Rob Bottin's designs for the 1982 version of The Thing. Personally, I love the Dead Space games and I did not make my comment to insult them; I was just observing that it's a shame how video games can draw inspiration from movies, while the movies themselves aren't always properly transferred into video games. Ergo, we're much more likely to see a Dead Space 4 game than a The Thing 2 game, even though both games would have similar ideas. If you think differently, then maybe my blog just isn't for you.
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DeleteDifferent Anonymous. :P
DeleteJust think bout it if they made a part 2 game it would be powered by ps3, 360!! With online play as players will be in a multiplayer of 10 characters and one or more of em could be infected later on and become the thing and start killing people lol this would make for a bad ass game!
ReplyDeleteContact me of any other news guys
Anthonyphung84@gmail.com
Yeah, it would be fantastic, wouldn't it?
DeleteI'll keep looking around to see if this project shows any signs of new life and if I find anything, I'll post it here ASAP. Thanks for commenting!
You can find a load of info about the Thing Prequel here: www.thulestation.com
ReplyDeleteWould have been a awesome game. How there would have been different mutations from each Thing. That's what I was hoping for if there was a new one. I have one question about the first game though. Some of the pics I've seen have monsters I've never seen in the game? I have the PS2 version and was wondering if the PC and Xbox had them or not.
ReplyDeleteYeah, a new Thing game with the latest in gaming tech would've been spectacular. As far as I know about the first Thing game, each version had the same kinds of Thing monsters.
DeleteOk thanks I remember seeing the pics of the Things in the GameInformer and then looking them up. I was going to get the Xbox version to confirm it but never got around to it. Some of them looked fun to fight.
DeleteThey were. The developers came up with a pretty cool selection of freaks for the first Thing game. The fact that some of your human teammates could turn into Things at any moment was a nice touch.
DeleteHeres to the hopes of some one creating a new game with more Fear, Things and Survival...with maybe a multiplayer(?)
Deletemy name is Eric Meyers I am a big BIG BIG the thing fan and I have the thing 1982 movie and the thing game and I have beet the game 3 times and when I saw the thing 2 game I said NOWAY but the thing1 game was published buy computer artworks but computer artworks went bankrupt so I want this game too happen so can all of you thing fans blog or wright to company who is trying to make it happen!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting, Eric. Hopefully, enough THING fans will show interest in this project that someone will pick up the ball and make it happen. It would be a huge shame if this game remains unmade.
DeleteTim thank you for the blog, I blog about the game because I don't want the game to fail because the guy who is trying to make it happen said that MC READY and BLAKE are going to be in the thing 2 game so if you or anyone has any news or info blog too ERIC MEYERS P.S. if you think that its COOL........
DeleteHi its me eric I found something that could help if computer artworks went down what about if black label games if you or anyone nows the fhone number post it on the contact number is at the back of you thing game booklet
ReplyDeleteThanks, Eric! I'll look into this.
DeleteI agree but it'll probably be on ps4 now
ReplyDeleteHi... I doubt anyone reads this page anymore but I just wanna state my opinion... For me the thing game is my favorite ps2 game. .. I was really disappointed to see that they had gotton so far in the making of the thing 2 ... I know this much... if some game company picked up the idea for the thing 2 ... I know it would sell... I mean... I would do whatever it took to get money to buy that game... And with new graphic abilitys and online play... The Thing 2 would be an instant hit... guaranteed.
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain, and thanks for commenting. I think that you're absolutely right--Thing 2 would be a phenomenal hit on the new consoles, but sadly we'll never know for sure.
DeleteIs there a petition out there for The Thing 2 to be released??? If not, let's make a petition!
ReplyDeleteI hope someone does a petition for this game.
ReplyDeleteHell yes! It still boggles my mind that Universal didn't pick up the rights for this to help promote the Thing prequel from a few years ago. Then again, Universal doesn't always make great choices with their properties ... just ask Jaws fans.
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ReplyDeletenever knew there was a planned sequal until i read this thanks bro, what a shame it didnt get made
ReplyDeleteThe first game was awesome, one of the best horror games on the PS2 and Xbox. Perhaps it didn't sell well enough? The best games dont always sell the best.. No doubt that the sequel would have been awesome, the ennemies and locations look great. Unfortunately much time has passed and so it looks dead and buried now, even if they revived the project it would look nothing like the original game developped. When Computer Artworks went bankrupt some employees formed a new company called Relentless and they are still in activity, making games for the PS4. If anyone could remake this sequel it might be them, but I doubt they ll do it unless fans ask them to..
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