Headhunter
- April 15, 2002 00:00 AM PST
With its slick graphics and intriguing combo of gameplay styles, Headhunter is the kind of game that you really, really want to like.
Hunting down felons as a bounty hunter? Rocketing down city streets on a motorcycle? Sounds like a great premise, and truly, it is. But only the most dedicated gamers will be able to unearth a scrap of fun when faced with the oppressive burden of Headhunter�s atrocious camerawork and flawed controls.But first, the bright side: Playing as Jack Wade, the aforementioned bounty hunter, you�ll delve into an intriguing tale involving crime lords, your own amnesia, and creepy government conspiracies. The gameplay serves up an attractive cocktail of motorcycle racing, WinBack-style combat, MGS2-like stealth, puzzle solving, and bounty-hunter license tests that will give you GT3 flashbacks.
While those various flavors of gameplay mix together in a fairly appealing way, the motorcycle action is a big letdown�you mostly just commute between levels. But the real crime is the appalling third-person camera, which never keeps up with you as you turn corners or enter rooms. You�re often stuck staring at a wall, unable to even see an enemy while he gets to take his sweet time busting caps in your sorry backside.
The controls only raise the price on this game�s head. Absurdly, there�s no way to manually control the camera, and basic moves like strafing are MIA. The targeting system is also pretty unreliable�taking out one bad guy requires more rounds than were fired in an average A-Team episode.
If you�re the patient sort and you loved the WinBack series (which Headhunter resembles in a lot of ways), try renting this game to see if its rewards outweigh its many frustrations. If not, the PS2 has many pastures far greener than this.
