On paper, The X-Files sounds downright bizarre: two FBI agents routinely stumble onto supernatural happenings and occult conspiracies. One of them believes it all to be real, while the other is constantly trying to analyze and disprove any sort of paranormal activity. Then, over the course of several seasons, they fall in love with each other and fight off an alien invasion.

As strange as it sounds, The X-Files was something of a cultural milestone back in the '90s. It was one of those shows that absolutely everyone watched - and for nearly a decade, too. Even after the TV series ended its run, the franchise continued on, spawning a pair of feature films and an upcoming revival featuring the original cast.

However, the 2008 film wasn't the first continuation of The X-Files. After the series ended back in 2002, Sierra Entertainment acquired the rights to publish a video game based on the show - and, in 2004, the studio released The X-Files: Resist or Serve.

Let's be honest: there are a few reasons why you've never heard of this game before.

Yes, this is real. No, it's not going to get any better.

When it was originally conceived, Resist or Serve was intended to be a continuation of the original series. To that extent, it succeeded: the game's story follows Scully and Mulder as they investigate strange phenomena in a small Rocky Mountain town. Eventually, everything goes wrong, and both Scully and Mulder find themselves in the midst of a global conspiracy.

While it was easily the most gun-happy story to ever bear the X-Files name, the narrative in Resist or Serve hit a lot of the same notes that the original TV series did. In the end, it did what any X-Files game should: it featured Scully and Mulder solving mysteries and getting into all sorts of paranormal trouble.

Unfortunately, things start to fall apart as soon as players pick up the controller.

While Resist or Serve was filled with X-Files characters and music, it was clearly built with another franchise in mind: Resident Evil. Everything, from the sluggish controls to the static camera to the overabundance of generic zombie enemies, feels like it was ripped straight from Capcom's survival horror masterpiece.

The worst part of Resist or Serve wasn't Sierra Entertainment trying to capitalize on Resident Evil's success - no, the worst part of Resist or Serve is that it's just an uninspired clone. The game's zombies are as generic as you can get, puzzles are either momentary roadblocks or illogical nightmares and the camera is placed in awkward, poorly-chosen locations. It's got everything that classic Resident Evil had, just without the ingenuity.

Of course, if you've watched either of the videos or screenshots above, you know that the game's graphics certainly didn't help its reputation. To be fair, the Scully and Mulder character models do resemble polygonal versions of the actors themselves...but just about everything else in the game just looks flat. Again, the zombies are just generic walkers, the environments look like they were taken direction from some B-Grade haunted house and the voice acting is on par with House of the Dead.

If Resist or Serve had launched on the original PlayStation, the visuals would be easier to overlook - but, considering that the PlayStation 2 was capable of rendering games like God of War II and Shadow of the Colossus, there's really no excuse for why Resist or Serve looked as bad as it did.

In the end, The X-Files: Resist or Serve won't be remembered for its story, gameplay or graphics - in fact, it hasn't been remembered much at all. There are plenty of terrible licensed games that fans are still trying to forget...and yet, Resist or Serve somehow slipped through the cracks.

Considering the source material, it's a rather fitting fate.

As for X-Files projects worth getting excited about, the miniseries reboot is almost here: expect Scully and Mulder to reunite on Jan. 24.

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