Spy Hunter

"One of the better remakes that are out there"

Back in 1983, the arcade industry was booming. There were tons of games being produced and placed into those arcades practically everyday, one of them was Spy Hunter. This addictive little title brought a new genre to the industry and was a giant success for Midway. In Spy Hunter, you were to drive a spy car called the Interceptor, drive along a road, taking out the villain’s cars with various gadgets. Since those days, there have been quite a few remakes of those old titles done over the years; few really retained the old glory of their former counterparts. The remake of Spy Hunter is a genuine title, still retaining the ingenuity of the '83 version and mixing it with some newer ideas, Spy Hunter will be remembered as one of the better remakes.

Graphics 7/10

One big flaw I noticed in SH is some terrible graphical glitches and bugs. The most obvious of which are the helicopters & fighter jets that shoot down at your Interceptor. These vehicles will jump, buckle and do other things that are physically impossible for any jet or helicopter to do. Other glitches include missiles/bullets not really hitting their target (this happens when you're kissing the bumper of an enemy car while opening fire and not doing any damage). Despite the fact that this title is a port of the PS2 version, everything in here maintains a ''GameCube'' standard. The reflections in your windows are clear, your Interceptor nice and sleek and the backgrounds being up to par. Overall, a decent effort done by Point of View, nothing really special though.

Sound 8/10

Every gamer in the world knows and heard the Spy Hunter Theme, more commonly known as the ''Peter Gunn Theme''. Well, in this title a remix of it was done and I must say it is a nice listen. Midway also got Saliva to do their own version of it, and it sounds just as impressive as the remix does. Other music plays through this title, all of which fits the theme, whether your gliding down the Amazon River or charging through a Subway tunnel, there's always a nice piece of music to fit the action on screen.

Control 8/10

Your Interceptor handles quite well, but using all the gadgets and weapons on it is a bit of a hassle sometimes. For example, activating your boost is a little touchy, you have to double-tap the ‘A’ button to activate it, sometimes your reflexes are off and you’ll just screw it up. There is nothing more annoying than using your turbo boost only to hit a wall or civilians. Or using your defensive gadget (Smoke Screen, Oil Slick, etc.), press the ‘Z’ then ‘L’ to select and ‘Z’ then ‘R’ to use it, gets tricky when you first start off, especially in the heat of battle.

Gameplay 7/10

Midway has a reputation of creating arcade style games that are fun only for the first little bit, and get repetitive after much extended gameplay: SH does this. The first few missions are really fun, but after a while, it all begins to get dull. The biggest aggravation I had were the “hidden” objectives, where you had to find secret pathways to complete them (like Satcom finding). Most of these passageways are so well hidden, that you’ll see the Satcom and realize that you just missed the passageway. You’ll play the same missions over and over again just to gain enough objectives to make it to the next mission. As for replay, there are only 14 missions in this game (2 of which are merely training levels), most of which are simple “destroy enemy vehicles, activate Satcoms, and don’t kill the annoying civilians”. That’s another problem I had, in the original SH, the game didn’t seem to care if you ran off a poor motorcyclist, in this game, you’ll fail the objective if you kill just one, even if the little jerk got in your crossfire. But for what it’s worth, SH will please those just looking for a fast paced game where you blast things and drive a transforming car. That’s another little detail I liked, watching your car transform into a motorcycle/boat/jet ski is really a great thing to witness.

Final: 7.4
Rounded Off: 7.0

Bottom Line

If you liked the original Spy Hunter, then you’ll love this title. I would recommend renting it first though, but be warned, you may have played the heck out of it before you even return it. It is worth a purchase, but at a little lower price than what it’s going for now. People who want a nice, simple, action-based title should check this one out, but this isn’t a title you’ll play non-stop for an extended period of time.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/14/02, Updated 07/14/02