Die Hard: Vendetta

"Yipee Ki Yay, it's an excellent FPS!"

Die Hard: Vendetta marks the return of everyone's favourite vest-wearing, terrorist-shooting, bad-word-saying hero, John Maclane. Surprisingly, Die Hard: Vendetta is highly enjoyable, and manages to break the rule that all games based on films must be crap.

While not based on any of the Die Hard Trilogy, Vendetta manages to capture the one man army feel of the films perfectly, and although the poorly rendered cut-scenes don't help the atmosphere, the voice acting and set pieces do. Take, for example, the tense moment where terrorists have wired the room Maclane is in to blow, or the shootout in a Chinese cinema.

Each level offers a unique experience and replay value is added with the two ways of approaching each situation; Action and Stealth. Action is the default, all-guns-blazing mode which you will require most of the time. However, a quick tap of the B button slows Maclane's movements and hides weapons allowing you to sneak up on terrorist leaders and even take them hostage, forcing their drones to surrender. Another excellent addition is Hero Time. Rescuing hostages adds Hero Time to a meter in the top right corner of the screen. When activated, Hero Time slows enemies movements to a sixth of your own allowing you to empty a revolver before they've even fired a single shot. Vendetta's a very intelligent game, with some really memorable moments and puzzles which require a sharp eye and close observation.

Vendetta has a brilliant orchestral sound track, and in a homage to the films, Beethoven's Ode to Joy plays when Hero Time is activated. The wide selection of weapons is highly generous with dual Uzis, a combat shotgun and even a flamethrower to play around with, resulting in some very messy fun.

It's not all good, however. Vendetta does have some faults that let the side down. Firstly, the workaday visuals and occasionally jerky frame rate are disapointing. While they are far from terrible, Vendetta looks very plain when directly compared to Metroid Prime et al. Additionally, Vendetta features some very annoying jumping sections, that ruin the fluidity of the game and will frustate you, especially when falling to your death can result in you having to restart the whole level again. A lack of Multiplayer mode is also noticable.

On the whole though, Die Hard: Vendetta is an enjoyable, intelligent and innovative FPS, that, on the Gamecube, comes second only to Metroid Prime. Highly Recommended.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/27/03, Updated 04/27/03