Spy Hunter

After an impressive showing on the PS2, Midway?s Spy Hunter comes to the Xbox with a few little extras. Is it still up to snuff?

Despite its flaws, Spy Hunter on the PlayStation 2 was everything an update of the 1983 arcade racer-shooter should have been. While the Xbox port has the same niggling control issues as before, it?s still more than enough to keep the arcade adrenaline flowing.

Power Steering and Guided Missiles
In Spy Hunter, you must drive your transformable G-6155 Interceptor super-car across roadways and rivers packed to the gills with evil NOSTRA agents. The game is composed of 14 missions, each with several objectives to complete, and new levels are unlocked only after completing objectives on previous ones. The problem is that these individual tasks aren?t saved?to officially ?complete? a mission, you must perform every goal in a single run, meaning you?re in for lots of replaying until you finally get it right.

This little frustration is aggravated by the controls. The Interceptor is a mobile arsenal of lethal weapons, each with its own button scheme. This wasn?t so difficult on the PS2, but the Xbox controller makes it much tougher to get a handle on the mobile espionage. It can be hard to reach the Black and White buttons in time to activate defensive weapons, and targeting guided missiles (done by pressing down the left thumbstick) also requires a little getting used to.

Speed Racer?s Dream Car
Fortunately for Spy Hunter, the control problems rarely get in the way of a good time, and ramming and blowing apart enemy vehicles is just as fun as it was on the PS2. There aren?t many new Xbox features?highlights include a port of the original arcade game and a few ?making of? videos?but the game itself should still be worth it to action fans.

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