Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter

Maybe games with ?bounty hunter? in their name are jinxed or something.

When a game suffers long delays, sometimes its developer was granted time to hone and refine it. Sometimes, though, it?s a warning that a potentially good game is struggling?and with Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter, the red-alert klaxons are blaring. Despite some promising early preview versions, this disappointing sci-fi combat game didn?t come close to living up to its potential.

Not My Kind of Scum
Mace Griffin?s set up is truly intriguing: You play as a soldier who was wrongly imprisoned when his squad was slaughtered, and upon your release, you become a bounty hunter seeking revenge. On the gameplay side, that means you hose down hordes of opponents from a first-person view, occasionally climbing behind the controls of a fighter for dogfights in space. The hook was supposed to be seamless transitions between the two gameplay styles?run into a hangar, climb into a ship, and zoom into space with lasers blazing. But tedious autopiloted launch and docking sequences spoil the effect?the screen might as well just say ?Loading? while you stare blankly and hold a useless controller.

The story fizzles too. Between the abundance of clich?s and the wooden delivery, you?ll be thinking suddenly fond thoughts about the recent Star Wars movies. The action itself feels a lot like the Red Faction series, although it?s not of that caliber. The gameplay is extremely linear and heavily focused on the rapid depletion of ammo with little thought for strategy?you run into a room or fly around a space station, annihilate bad guys, repeat.

Moo. Mooo.
The terrible A.I. is a big culprit behind the sense of lackluster repetition. Enemies fight poorly and generally aren?t very alert or bright?sometimes they don?t even notice you when you?re standing directly in front of them! The combat feels as mindless as gunning down penned cattle, which would be fine if Mace was trying to be a Serious Sam?style game?but it isn?t.

Jonesin? for Jango
In the end, Mace lacks that intangible sense of excitement and wonder that makes gamers stoked to play. If you?re a big Red Faction fan and you love Rambo-ing through combat games, you might extract a few thrills from Mace?s long levels, but for most, the Xbox has far better turf to conquer.

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