SpyHunter 2 : Web Wombat : Games

The SpyHunter franchise kicked off in arcades across the world in 1983, and more than two decades later - following stints on the Sega Master System, PS2 and Xbox - the next-generation sequel is upon us.

Should we celebrate? Let's have a look…

SpyHunter 2 on the Xbox is a very playable game, and makes its 128-bit predecessor that also appeared on the PS2 and Xbox a few years ago, SpyHunter, look cheap and nasty.

For those who aren't hip to the SpyHunter theme, who haven't sampled the delights of the G-8155 Interceptor, allow me: You play a secret agent of sorts who, with the help of a transforming car armed to the teeth, is out to stop Nostra, an evil corporation bent on wreaking havoc on the world for largely unexplained reasons.

The game starts off with a rather cool intro that shows off what the G-8155 Interceptor can do in sports car mode - that is blow the living bejesus out of all and sundry while managing to throw in a few 180-degree spins and hair raising close calls.

The G-8155 Interceptor is basically what the game is based around, and the mythology behind the car makes it kind of cooler to play, as it can transform into a number of other vehicles, including a trike, an offroad buggy, a snow mobile and a couple of speed boats.

The G-8155 also has a plethora of rather tasty weapons at its disposal (unlocked as you progress), including machine guns, homing rockets, dumb-fire missiles and even EMP charge beams, a la MechWarrior.

Carnage ensues when all weapons are go,
including that lovely roof-mounted turret

The game is split up into 16 levels - which is pretty good for this sort of mindless shooter - and most are quite long too.

There's plenty of variety in the objectives, though at the end of the day killing everything that scales and rotates usually does the trick, regardless of what HQ tells you to do.

Some levels have you escorting loser politicians to safety, others have you tailing misunderstood gangsters, and there's even an early level that involves protecting a plane that's trying to take off a runway. While the latter mission may sound cool, the execution isn't brilliant, and the game is most fun when you're just cruising along blasting enemies with wild abandon.

Most levels involve a few forks in the road or down rivers, and while there is good variety in the landscapes and objectives, most are very straightforward and won't win any awards for innovative level design.

There are jumps here and there, which is always good, and some of the levels involve some nice sweeping corners mixed in with hairpin turns.

Though the game's structure doesn't do it any favours in terms of longevity, what with lots of very linear, one-way levels split up with boss fights, it does adhere to the 1983 original game's structure, and this will appease the die-hard college nerds from the 80s who spent their life savings on the arcade game.

Driving the G-8155 Interceptor is quite cool and the gameplay did bring a smile to my scarred and sullied face here and there.

The handy radar of death (bottom left) shows
where your enemies are in proximity to you

The fact that the car transforms on the run is a boon, and brings a very 007 Q-gadgety feel to the game. You can also drive into the special repair truck on the run, and the accompanying in-game cutscene is terrific.

The controls are fairly basic and, seeing as this is an arcade shooter, the physics are skewed very much towards the arcade side. The aiming reticule is fairly sensitive when fondling the left analogue stick, and lights up red when an enemy's within range of your weapons, which helps when there's baddies everywhere.

The combined steering/aiming task becomes a lot more intuitive when you realise that the reticule will always move at a higher rate in response to your input, while the car is less responsive to the same input, meaning it won't veer off into a wayward flock of sheep, thusly exploding into a flaming ball of molten mutton.

As well as aiming at the Nostra thugs in front of your vehicle, you can also deploy rearward weapons, and some enemies can only be killed when they run over your mines, which is a nice touch.

The 2-player co-op mode is interesting too, where one player drives and shoots like normal, and the other controls the roof-mounted mini gun.

This comes in handy for slow moving end-bosses, but because the turret isn't independently 'floating' as seen in the Halo's Warthog vehicle, aiming becomes difficult when the car is changing direction (which is all the time).

The end bosses are quite cool, and graphically the game's not bad. The sense of speed is credible, and though the texturing could be more detailed and the poly count higher, the end result is above par.

The original game had a pretty
sweet visuals for a 1983 production

The weapons are a visual highlight, as is your transforming G-8155 Interceptor, and the particle effects for missile smoke trails and explosions looking good as well.

SpyHunter 2 is a mindless vehicle-based shooter with a unique concept that works well in the short term. It's mindless in the sense that you need very little grey matter to play the game, and unique in the way that the G-8155 Interceptor transforms to always give chase, no matter the terrain.

The two-player co-op and SpyHunter modes add more depth, but at its core the fast-paced action shooting is what the game's all about.

There are plenty of video extras tacked on to the game that liken it to a DVD -- including some Vanessa Carlton stuff, as she did the title song -- and if you dig deep enough you'll also find the original SpyHunter arcade game in there too.

I did have quibbles with the games erratic difficulty - easy one level, impossible the next - and the story is kind of bland, plus there's no mid-level saving option. But in its favour, the action is full on and rarely lets up, and this somewhat simple premise is a nice escape from more complex games after a hard days work or study.

Fans of the SpyHunter franchise will really dig it, as will lovers of fast-paced action shooters, and everyone else will probably have a good time with it too, but the stilted game structure won't have gamers yearning to play in the long run.

Game: SpyHunter 2
System: Xbox
Players: 1-2
Online: No
Developer: Midway
Distributor: Red Ant

Rating: 70%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)

SpyHunter 2 is on the shelves now.

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