Headhunter: Redemption

"Rhinestone Shades Or Cheap Sunglasses"

What if a cool pair of shades could save the world? Really, what if a pair of sunglasses could give you special abilities that helped you foil terrorist plots. Sure the idea sounds a bit flaky, but what if? Thinking back about the past it really makes you think. Do those Highway Patrol cops that wear those huge goggles have the ability to read your mind? Did they really know that I was lying when I told them I was speeding because my friend Jake was pregnant, because of their super glasses? Why this questioning of the power of sunglasses you ask? Simple, because the sequel to Headhunter, Redemption tries to answer those very questions.

In the game Headhunter: Redemption you'll play the rolls of harden veteran Jack Wade or his new Trainee Leeza X. The story behind headhunter is one of catastrophe. Several years ago a virus ran rampant and killed thousands of people, anarchy reigned. The only people that could turn the tied were scientists and Headhunters, a futuristic police force. Eventually the scientists found a cure for the disease, but there is no cure for the human need to cause chaos. As the Headhunters tried to fight back the evil a great quake hit, and basically destroyed cities. From the ruble rose a new President who sent the lawless to a place called Below. Below is an area below the surface were the quake carved out caverns were the prisoners work toward the goal of Liberty and the chance to become a citizen. The good citizens of the city live in a place called Above, above ground. Perfect system you would think, until a Terrorist from across the shores (sound familiar) comes in and recruits the prisoners to fight against the people of Above. The only thing we know about him is he is known as the Man Who Walks With Machines.

As I mentioned in my introduction, Redemption uses super sunglasses. All Headhunter's wear these sunglasses with a computer in them called IRIS. These glasses allow the user to scan objects to get information from them as well as increase the user's ability to target enemies. Combine that with several different types of weapons and explosives and the game holds a lot of promise.

That brings us to the game itself. When you first load up the game and start playing you'll be treated to a Hollywood like introduction. A young girl being attacked by her own father in a very dramatic scene where our lone Headhunter, Jack Wade, comes in and saves her. Fast forward several years after the quake and the rise of the Man Who Walks With Machines. Jack Wade answers a call, several years older obviously, and meets that young girl and makes her be his Headhunter Trainee. Of course everything goes wrong from there and the hard headed Leeza X goes out on her own.

Personally I absolutely loved the opening cinematic and I'm sure anyone who does will absolutely fall in the love with this game from the start. You'll get the feeling that there is so much to come from this title. I really wish that was the case. As you play the game for a little while you'll notice some problems with the controls. The game prides itself on being either a run-and-gun or stealth action. Much like another game that features stealth in it, you have the ability to slide against the wall and creep up and look around the corner. The problem comes in that not always will your character just look around the corner, many times you'll face issues where your character will instead jump out from the corner and stand right in the middle of a hallway. This will lead to several guards trying to come take you out.

Another control issue comes with the auto-targeting. To target an enemy you must press and hold the R1 button. While holding this button your crosshairs will dance around the screen until you stand still long enough to get your aim. This part is excellent and adds a lot of realism and makes you have to deal with strategy when facing foes. Also, surprisingly strafing is pretty well done. Your character can lock on and easily move around, as well as you can use the square button to roll and try to avoid the enemy from locking onto you. The problem comes with the fact you must be facing straight at the enemy to get a lock. If you don't, your character will simply be locked into place and you won't be able to move easily or fire at the enemy until you correct yourself. This can cause some grief, especially in boss battles. That's just too many control issues to have to deal with.

The game play and story are pretty solid and can hold the game up over the few control issues. There are a few questions marks. Like why do most of the enemies through the game only have pistols? Also the story, although solid, has a few cliché' parts in it, as well as ripped from the headlines areas. The spunky Leeza X and the calm Jack Wade offset each other perfectly. Now if only the missions could do the same. Most of this game is based around following people or investigating. However this turns into a find keycard A to go through door B type of thing. For example, in the second level you'll need to lock in generators so the reactor doesn't explode. First you must deal with trying to get to a data port to get Codebreaker software to open up special doors as well as powering a special generator. From that you must go through the area to a room and use a special gun to disable a force fielded door. After going through said door you must do a math puzzle to unlock a door. After coming up an elevator you must engage in a mini-boss, kill him and you get a keycard to unlock more doors. Go through said door to reach more buttons and bombs. Use those bombs to blow up grates and to blow up secondary power generators so you can turn off the power generator you had to hook up to begin with. After that you can now go through a hall way that you couldn't go through before and thus leads into the Reactor where you must move the Reactors connectors around and then lock the special conductors in place. Finally you have completed your one task.

Graphically the game is done quite well. Characters are very detailed and true to form. Their movements are more or less humanlike with only minor issues. The different areas are graphically true to form. Below is dark and dreary and Above is bright and well light. There are several times you might feel like the graphics are repetitive though, which boxes always showing up and throughout the game and the same textures throughout a level with little variance. A mixed bag, much like the rest of the game.

The sounds are pretty well done although the music is forgettable the voice acting is actually ok. Jack and Leeza are done exactly like they should be. The enemies on the other hand sound ok, but also will bring back memories of the old Speak & Spells.

Overall this game is a mixed bag. The story is good yet old at the same time and the graphics are good yet redundant. It's a solid third person shooter, but may give you a few headaches. Maybe the next version might give this series some Redemption.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 10/07/04