Aliens are real; at least, that seems to be the growing consensus with every passing month. While the elusiveness of extraterrestrials has captivated us for decades, either through the cartoonish greys of Roswell or the unsettling creatures found in The X-Files, the presence of otherworldly beings on Earth has yet to be definitively proven. Despite this, they keep coming up in public discourse.
Take the recent drone sightings in New Jersey, for instance. Is this just a mass hysteria incident amplified by bad actors and the instant communications facilitated by the Internet? Or are we really dealing with unidentified flying objects? What about the new “Egg UFO?” What about David Grusch’s 2023 testimony to the United States government? It’s hard to keep track of recent events, let alone which ones seem credible enough.
In the midst of this, I was reminded of a small game from my childhood that felt appropriate to revisit—not only because of its pending 20th anniversary but because of its oddball subject.
Area 51 is an unassuming first-person shooter game developed and published by Midway in 2005, with Midway Studios Austin (Tribes: Aerial Assault) handling development responsibilities. It shares several similarities with Time Warner Interactive’s 1995 arcade game of the same name. However, it exchanges the more arcadish design of its predecessor with something more appropriate to what you’d expect from the 2000s. Given that Time Warner Interactive would be incorporated into the wider arcade umbrella of WMS Industries—which also owned Midway—you could interpret this newer game as a way to revitalize an already-existing property.
The game’s box art, as admittedly generic as it could be, sends a very clear message of what it’s about: a steely-faced grey alien facing the camera, with the famous Apollo Lunar Module reflected in its bulbous eyes. But underneath this wrinkly visage lies a game whose individual qualities combine to form one of the most bizarre experiences you’ll find from the era. This is especially true when you discover that, at one point, it was officially distributed as freeware by the United States Air Force.
Let’s take a look back at Area 51 and how exactly this forgotten console shooter managed to hook me in despite its occasional shortcomings.
Welcome to Dreamland

Area 51 starts with a familiar setup. The titular confidential military base, host to a plethora of conspiratorial projects and top-secret information, is currently on fire. A mysterious mutant virus has been let loose throughout the facility by an unidentified culprit, leaving the base’s operations suspended, bodies piling up in the halls, and a horde of mutated creatures growing in size with every passing minute. After HAZMAT Team Delta fails to contain the threat, HAZMAT Team Bravo is sent in to clean up the mutants, reconnect with what remains of Team Delta, and ultimately make it out alive.
You are Ethan Cole, who—along with fellow teammates Ramirez, McCan, and Crispy—make up Team Bravo. But from the get-go, things don’t seem right: a saboteur seemingly vanishes into thin air after being gunned down; the mutant threat below the surface is much more intense than previously thought; and the arrival of mysterious men in strange fatigues ultimately leaves Cole alone with nothing more than his wits. Well, that and the aforementioned mutant virus now coursing through his veins. With nothing else to do but descend deeper and deeper into the facility, you’ll come to discover that the bowels of Area 51 hold more than just experimental research. You could even call it “extraterrestrial” research.
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It’s not exactly the most amazing of stories, especially for the time, but it’s carried by a few key traits that may throw you for a loop. The setting, for one thing, is given plenty of attention. Instead of just serving as set dressing, you’re able to locate and examine numerous confidential documents scattered throughout the facility, linking your numerous discoveries to either real-life events or widespread conspiracies. Sodium fluoride in the water supply, Project Blue Book, the interest of real-life Congressman Steven H. Schiff, the Bermuda Triangle, and even the advent of Ebola, HIV, and Mad Cow Disease are all given lore tinged with cover-ups and alien shenanigans.
Oh, and that greys were the ones who ultimately killed John F. Kennedy. And they used their psychic powers to mass manipulate the shooters—yes, shooters, plural—into committing the deed. This all went over my head as a kid, but as a grown adult, it’s incredibly entertaining.
Finding enough of these even unlocks additional cutscenes—framed as decrypted communications—outside of the main game that further develops its wider lore. It’s not something I’ve necessarily seen before in a game like this. At least, not done in this specific way. But it really adds to the conspiratorial atmosphere that the game itself doesn’t dabble too much in.
What will really catch you by surprise, though, is the game’s voice cast.

For one thing, Ethan Cole is voiced by the one and only David Duchovny. He had only ever lent his voice to four games total, Area 51 being the last, with only one other game being a wholly original production unrelated to his work on The X-Files. This isn’t just a quick in-and-out performance, either: every level is prefaced by Duchovny’s narration, allowing you to really get into Cole’s head as everything goes to hell. Is it the most convincing performance? Well, no. It’s very wooden, occasionally underselling some of the game’s more dramatic moments, but you could argue that his dejection is somewhat appropriate for someone faced with such an impossible situation. You can even occasionally hear his voice in-game, albeit infrequently.
They didn’t just burn the budget with a single star, either. Oh no, Area 51 is absolutely packed with talent, featuring names both big and, well, unexpected. Powers Boothe (Deadwood, Sin City) plays Major Bridges, your commanding officer. Nolan North (Uncharted, Spec Ops: The Line) plays McCan, Ian Abercrombie (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) dons the role of the elusive Dr. Cray, Josh Keaton (No More Heroes, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater) plays Crispy, and Phil Proctor (Rugrats, Dead Rising) appears as the malevolent Mr. White.
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What’s most bizarre of all of these, though, has to be the unexpected involvement of Marilyn Manson. Yes, the very same Marilyn Manson of shock rock fame lends his voice to not just a character but arguably the single most important character in the story: Edgar, a mysterious alien at the center of the madness who guides Ethan Cole throughout the latter half of his journey. Is it a good performance? Again, it’s hard to say. You’ll definitely notice it’s Marilyn Manson, but underneath so many vocal effects, you can’t really place his emotions.
When you take a peek at “The Voices of Area 51,” a behind-the-scenes featurette accessible within the game itself, you start to understand a bit of the casting choices. Producer Zach Wood elaborated on why Duchovny, Manson, and Boothe were all selected for their respective roles:
We really wanted David Duchovny just because, you know, the whole, you know, alien conspiracy, that type of thing, the government conspiracy, kind of really lend [themselves] well to David. . . we wanted something really strange and different, and we thought, you know, Marilyn Manson would really be a cool, cool [sic] voice for the game. . . Powers Boothe was one of them, as a, you know, a really kind of a stern, deep voice for the commander.
The music is definitely a plus, at least. Per an interview with IGN, Chris Vrenna of Nine Inch Nails was enlisted to provide the game’s soundtrack, leading to just over 80 minutes of original compositions that nicely capture the strange atmosphere the game embodies. The main menu theme, in particular, is a nostalgic favorite of mine, feeling both melancholic and ominous at the same time as if you’re unveiling something that should’ve never come to light.
Interestingly enough, he also produced the incredible title theme for the technological powerhouse Doom 3 only a year prior, and he worked on American McGee’s Alice series to varying degrees.
Descending Into Area 51

How does Area 51 play, though? Does its gameplay carry its weaker narrative aspects? Is it comparable to some of the better FPS games from the sixth generation?
It’s alright. Your arsenal is fairly bog standard for a game that flirts with alien conspiracies and extraterrestrial technology, minus a few exceptions. Pistols, assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, grenades, they’re all here. Each weapon also has an alternate fire mode, allowing you to aim down their sights or deal additional damage at the cost of using more ammo. The only really unique additions to your armory this time around are a handful of alien weapons with some pretty unique properties:
- Arguably, the most interesting addition is the only weapon with infinite ammo: the BBG, a weapon that launches a series of three explosive projectiles, with its alternate fire allowing you to bounce these projectiles off of different surfaces.
- The Meson Cannon, a weapon that launches a ginormous projectile, all while firing off electrical bolts in multiple directions.
- A suspicious-looking plasma grenade that isn’t thrown in an arc. Instead, it flies in a straight line toward your intended target, blows up, and subsequently creates a miniature vortex that inflicts massive damage.
You can have just an okay arsenal if you have cool enemies to fight, though, right? Again, the enemies you encounter in the facility are fairly standard, falling into only a handful of categories. You have the mutants, which mindlessly run at you either with their bare claws or while toting basic weapons. You have the upgraded mutants that do the same, but they’re bigger and don’t wear shirts.
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But then there’s the Illuminati. No, that’s no exaggeration—the Illuminati comes with its own high-tech private army, decked out with teleportation abilities, optical camouflage, and high-powered weaponry. They’ll effectively replace the mutants as a threat in the latter half of the game, turning the game from something that leaned more towards horror into your typical action-oriented fare. It’s more challenging, sure, but you definitely lose something during the transition.
It’s almost not even worth mentioning the greys. Only appearing in the last few missions, and only a handful of times at that, their sole purpose is to act as a wall for progression. They can’t attack you directly. Rather, all they do is just stand in one spot and summon an endless amount of Illuminati soldiers until you put them down. It feels like a wasted opportunity more than anything else.

The same can’t necessarily be said for the game’s mutant abilities, at least. Once Ethan Cole is effectively alone, he’s infected with the same mutagen that infected hundreds of others beforehand. Before you’re able to lose your mind, however, you’re granted the ability to somewhat control your newfound abilities. When entering your mutant state, your hands turn into sharpened claws, restricting your arsenal while tinting your vision a sickly orange-red. Thankfully, enemies stick out like a sore thumb in this mode, taking on a distinctive hue in a sea of warm colors.
A separate mutagen meter above your health bar acts as a sort of timer for your mutant state, only refilling upon picking up additional mutagen in the environment or killing enemies with your newly strengthened melee attacks. As you play, you also acquire the ability to fire homing projectiles from your hands that can refill your health. It’s a pretty powerful ability, and you’ll be relying on it frequently during the game’s more difficult battles. Admittedly, I didn’t use the other ability you unlock: it didn’t seem to really improve upon what I already had.
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The environments you traverse aren’t necessarily the most interesting either. Granted, you can only do so much with an underground military facility. They do, thankfully, get some mileage out of the base’s more fantastical elements, though.
You start out in typical atriums, office environments, garages, and so on, with more natural and extraterrestrial elements being introduced as you progress. Volcanic areas, underground tunnels, weapons testing labs, and spaceship interiors do liven things up pretty substantially. There’s even an area that puts a genuine smile on my face due to its real-life connections, but I’ll save it as a surprise.
Should You Play Area 51?

Per the same interview with IGN, creative director Jim Stiefelmaier, and art director Marc Schaefgen explained the intended experience of playing Area 51:
“The original goal was setting a new standard for console FPS action — nothing less. We wanted to design the combat to be visceral, fast and exciting. . . As an example, there have been a lot of horror games that use mood, pacing, and subliminal imagery to scare the player; in Area 51, the fast pace of the action is amplified by how scared you are of the monsters you’re fighting.
So, not only are you getting the level of shooter action you’d expect from Halo or a Half-Life 2, you’re also getting the extra adrenaline rush of fighting horrifying beasts in dark, dynamic environments.
As for other goals, we want to provide a good amount of tactical gameplay. This involves things like weapon differentiation, using cover, fighting different enemies with different tactics, and having combat revolve around mission objectives.”
You can definitely feel the influences from Halo and Half-Life here, at least somewhat. While the game doesn’t feature the seamless storytelling the latter offers, it does at least bring up a familiar vibe of being caught in the middle of some earth-shattering event that you really have no business being a part of. However, I don’t think it really holds a candle to the former.
My biggest complaint with Area 51 has to be with the actual “shooting” in its first-person shooter gameplay. The levels you navigate are all varied and interesting, especially towards the latter half of the game, but the enemies you face don’t really find many unique ways to take advantage of it. Instead, you have interesting sections that involve platforming, mild puzzle solving, or some other interesting gimmick that is eventually broken up by fighting waves of mutants or the Illuminati.
The lack of enemy variety is the biggest fun-killer here—I can only gun down so many of the same, literally faceless soldiers before things start to get stale. Sure, they have some intelligence: they know how to throw grenades, how to get behind cover, and they’ll even occasionally rush you to catch you by surprise. But they’re still the same guy. It’s not like in F.E.A.R., where, despite sharing a similar issue, the enemy AI and overall presentation make each encounter feel much more visceral and engaging. Even in Halo or Half-Life, the sheer number of enemy types and how they intermingle with each other in a single combat scenario makes each fight much more stimulating compared to what’s here.
The game isn’t very long, at least, topping out at around 6 or 7 hours if you’re really rushing. But there’s something here that really kept me going. Maybe it was that inmost desire to see just how deep the rabbit hole goes, especially now that I can understand half of the lore bits I can find throughout the game. I can tolerate something that’s just average overall if what’s carrying me through it is at least semi-interesting.
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It’s hard to escape the impact that something like Area 51 would have on an impressionable young mind, too. Beyond the horror aspects, the genuine sense of mystery here was nothing short of mind-blowing when I first played it. It sowed the seeds of something even greater: an interest in the world that lingers only in the shadows, coming to fruition as an adult when you learn how the forces that be really work. An authority figure doesn’t necessarily have your best interests in mind? The government isn’t necessarily this infallible thing from all the history textbooks? Aliens are actually real?
Maybe not that last part.
As for the game being sponsored by the Air Force, it’s admittedly not as big of a deal as I was initially led to believe. Though the original web page has long since been deactivated, an archived version courtesy of The Wayback Machine was kept alive and well. It looked to be nothing more than a small piece of a wider marketing project, directly referring to the Air Force’s now-defunct Do Something Amazing campaign at the bottom of the page. The fact that the military would attach themselves to a game that does just about everything but directly endorses conspiracy theories is still pretty funny, though.
It’s almost as funny as them also sponsoring free downloads for The Suffering, a gory horror game themed around the US prison system, and Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War, a historical real-time strategy game set nowhere near a time where the Air Force was even a tangible concept. Seeing as how all three games are published by Midway, though, you could see how the two companies may have come together for this promotion. I’ll say this: knowing that aliens were the real culprits behind JFK’s death, I’m a hell of a lot more interested in serving my country to get back at them.

I think your enjoyment of Area 51 will ultimately come down to how much its novel concept resonates with you. At its core, the game itself isn’t all that much different from a lot of other console shooters you’d find from the era. It’s not terrible, but it’s not all that mind-blowing to play.
Powers Boothe shared a bit of the same sentiment. Obviously, he’s not going to put his own project down, but he was drawn to the game for much the same reason I was. Drawing from “The Voices of Area 51” again, he explained that Area 51 was appealing to him much the same way that a potential movie role was:
“The thing that attracted me to it is the same thing that attracts me to doing any film project, it’s the story first. As a player, you’re involved in the story and the creation of that story and survival and whatever, and you got something to go on.”
I think that’s ultimately transferable here. If you can appreciate what Area 51 is going for on a narrative level, I think what you’ll find is something genuinely interesting—especially when you remember how mainstream discussions surrounding extraterrestrials have become. It’s certainly not the best shooter from the era, hence it’s subsequent burial around the time of the seventh generation of consoles, but it’s one of the few games from my youth that really lingered with me longer after I originally completed it. Hopefully, it may even do the same for you.
Area 51 is available on PC, PlayStation 2, and Xbox.
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