Headhunter

"Waking from a coma..."

When I was walking up to exchange games for the 5th time in 16 days, I saw a game titled Head Hunter. I had previously seen some pictures of the gameplay and thought that maybe I would actually like it, so I traded Jade Cocoon 2 and ATV Off Road Fury for it. I actually liked the game, well for the first 5 days that is.

Basic Idea: 10/10
You play as a man who has amnesia and can not recall his past. Then while waking up from a coma, a man walks up to you and tells you that you are Jack Wade, the #1 head hunter of the ACN (Anti-Crime Network). As the story goes on, Jack begins to recollect all of his lost memories while traveling around town on a motorcycle.

Controls: 6/10
The controls in this game are hard to learn at first. For the beginning action/adventure player, the controls may take a little while to get used to. It consists of using X as the fire/action/accelerate button, Square as the brake/manual aim/switch target button, Circle for rolling away to avoid enemy fire, and Triangle for the “back-against-the-wall” feature which it borrowed from Metal Gear Solid. The L2 and R2 buttons chooses which weapons to switch to for a quick weapon change. The L1 button is used for crouching while the R1 button is for drawing Jack’s gun. It’s not the best button configuration but it gets the job done. It would help a lot if there actually was a jump button.

Gameplay: 8/10
The gameplay is cool. Jack’s enemies will roll to avoid gunfire. They can also see you much farther than that in Metal Gear Solid. If you decide to throw a decoy shell for a distraction and the enemy is close enough to see where it came from, he will walk towards the area where you threw it from. Sometimes when running Jack will kick cans that are lying around on the ground, causing the enemies to hear and alert them to your presence. Much of the environment can be destroyed also, which is a good thing. It’s pretty cool when Jack gets the motorcycle.

Fun Factor: 9/10
It was actually pretty fun to ride around in a motorcycle. I like the gunfights and the little tidbits hidden in the game. An example would have to be in a parking garage, you can see an enemy up ahead. But he’s just guarding his post right beside a car. You then can notice that there’s oil on the ground leading to the car the guy is guarding. You either have the choice to kill the guard just by shooting him or by shooting the oil, thus causing the car and the guy to explode.

Sound: 8/10
The in-game sounds are great. You can hear things ranging from gunshots to cans rolling on the ground when kicked. The voice-overs are done superbly, specially the ABCBS news reporters.

Replayability: 4/10
This game can doesn’t have much on replayability. But then again, what action-adventure game does? Once you beat the entire game, you’ll probably never play it again.

Overall: 7/10
Overall, I’d say this game is just another average action game with a little twist of riding a motorcycle. It would have been better if the motorcycle had more responsive controls and if the developers (AMUZE) had added a jump button. It’s good for a Dreamcast port.

To Rent Or To Buy?
I’d say rent this game first before buying, chances are, you’ll beat it within that allotted amount of time.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/20/02, Updated 05/20/02