Differences
I love the THING to death, but there were a lot of story "mistakes", by todays standards.
If the THING can be transmitted with single infected cell, sharing a bottle of alcohol will transmit it just from back-wash. Ugh! The movie talked about how how they needed to prepare their own food from cans. The novelization also talked about they should also only wear synthetic blend clothes, because the THING might be able to mimick the wool or fur in a jacket otherwise.
In the novel, some of the deaths were different. The most notable scene was that some of the sled dogs escaped and they had to go out hunting after them to kill them in case they were infected.
I played 3/4ths of the THING game (until my X-Box got fried by lightning- true story, and it was in a surge protector!). It had a LOT of design problems, and while it was hailed as a sequel to the movie, and even John Carpenter hailed it as a worthy sequel to the movie, it isn't what I would have wanted to see in a sequel and I wasn't that thrilled with the storyline.
There are some genunely creepy moments in it so I think it's worth playing, especially since it can probably be found pretty cheap now.. Some of the design glitches are annoying though (more like ham-fisted story telling).
You can find a portable test to see if a member of your party is infected. I've tested members, they'd test negative, then two seconds later they'd transform and THING out.
Also, part of the game is you choosing who to trust and bring along with you.
At one point you find someone in a prison cell in a research base. I opted not to bring him with or release him. Next animated scene, hey, he's suddenly with my party... and he THINGS out! Grrrrrrr! (jerks!). Laugh.
Childs appears early in the game, found dead from exposure when you explore the American base from the movie. I always wanted to know if MacCready appears too at some point. It seems like he must, if they showed the team finding Childs.