Headhunter

"Even more "Tactical Espionage Action"... What more could you ask?"

We all remember waiting for Metal Gear Solid 2... We all remember replaying Metal Gear Solid 1... We all remember buying Winback... We all remember returning Winback and forget we ever purchased it... Now, after the Tactical Espionage Action fix when MGS2 was released, we get... well... more Tactical Espionage Action... It's a game called Headhunter, and it's probably one of the best games of the genre released (next to Syphon Filter 1)

Controls - 7/10
This is really, the only problem with the game. Occasionally the camera gets you killed, or you thought you locked on to that person, or though you didn't go that far. It's just some minor control problems action-wise. However, that's not the end of the control peeves. There are occasions in which you ride a bike to get where you want to go. The bike controls like you're about to ride a unicycle at 120 km/h. And the bike physics are terrible (but they didn't make the game for the bike physics, now did they?!) But minor gripes aside, the controls are very tolerable.

Graphics - 8/10
It looks like the game spent quite a while on it's graphics. The animations are very fluid, the FMV is decent, and the character models are somewhere between MGS2 and the people in Toy Story 1. Some are just completely disproportional, some are superb.

The game has a wide array of locales. Basement, Mall, Sewers, Office building, you know... the usual city locales. Sometimes the textures are dull, but that's just nitpicking.

Sounds - 9/10
I'm gonna be blunt: Great voice action, decent weaponry sounds, catchy music.

Gameplay - 9/10
I'll explain the gameplay by using a combination of games. Imagine a great version of Winback with better controls, with a story as engaging as Metal Gear Solid 2, witht the action of Syphon Filter, and the puzzles of Resident Evil games. That's Headhunter in a nutshell.

The weaponry is pretty simply, A pistol, shotgun, sub-machine gun, grenades, etc... The usual arsenal for any game. The pistol has infinite ammo... Just like Winback.

Unlike Metal Gear Solid 2, all of the enemies do NOT have tunnel vision and are NOT nearsighted. If you are anywhere where the enemy is facing, you will be fired at. As far as AI goes, it's on a scale from very smart (will shoot you down at all costs), to very pathetic (You can push them from the back, and they won't notice.

Story - 9/10
I don't know about most people... but I really like the story... In the game, YOU are Jack Wade, a Headhunter waking up with amnesia. You accept a job and unravel a story which is predictable at some times, and very strange (strange in a good way) at times. I loved the story just like MGS2, and it kept me playing until the very end.

The... uh... best part of the annoying sections are the news segments that are relatively comical at times. It is one of the ways you get the game's story.

Replay - 4/10
Unfortunately, there's no real reason to play the game again... there's no unlockables or cheats after finishing the game. One would only play it again if you really (and I mean REALLY) liked the story.

TOTAL:
Graphics - 8/10 - Dreamcast good
Sound - 9/10 - Overall great
Controls - 8/10 - Better than Winback... but not much better
Gameplay - 9/10 - Image a very good version of Winback
Story - 10/10 - Just under the stature of Metal Gear games
Replay - 4/10 - No unlockables... Drat!
Total (Not an average) - 9/10

Buy or Rent: If you play your games in one sitting, rent it, because there's no reason to play it again. Buying it is not a bad idea if you don't rush through games.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/25/02, Updated 08/25/02