Review: Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter (XBX)

Prologue is natch the opening foray of a predominantly story-driven game (although the story doesn't much matter when you're driven by munitions) and is essentially the Pillar of Autumn-esque training level (hey, there had to be a reason for the Halo comparison, didn't there?). As expected, you get to fumble about in darkened corridors, get jiggy with a waypoint indicator, and take knowing glances out of your orbital window; noting "it's full of stars". The action here is predictably low-key and the routing straightforward - although foisting Mace wannabes into barely-detectable ventilation ducts (at least without gamma correction, which incidentally WASN'T available) was the first sign of omission on an empirical checklist of "successful" FPS conventions.

Given the developer's credentials (ie, Warthog were responsible for the Starlancer series on PC and DC, and Star Trek Invasion on PSone), the seamless transitions into space - where Mace habitually plays out each chapter by seguing in-flight to the next destination - are just that; technical triumphs designed to showcase the 'gee-wizardry' of the engine. Although again, Mace wannabes would do well to inscribe their cockpits with the following legend: White button used to cycle through available missiles (including the homing variety) and Black button to alternate ship's cannon. Because dogfights inevitably lead to prolonged bouts of cyclical activity, and it's far too easy to lose composure amid fingers and thumbs (the homing lock, for example, takes around seven seconds to stabilise).

While the flight mode is peculiar to Mace Griffin (and certainly lends spectacle) it is nothing but frippery; a sometimes intolerable and interminable measure of diminishing returns. When queried about the space combat in GSO 5, Warthog promised there would be "less chasing of the enemies' tail, they would take less hits to kill; and the (action) made far more accessible to the first-time player". If that much is true, then first-time players must be champing at the bit. Because certainly Gamestyle threw down its controller in repulsion at having failed to clear the final hurdle in Chapter Seven's "Clear And Present Ranger".

You've just partaken of yet another onerous space battle (fully expecting to embark on a new mission) and suddenly, an arbitrary objective arises: you must destroy a volley of torpedoes. Fine, except that you've just expended your meagre payload of homing rockets and these incoming projectiles are almost impossible to see! Never mind that you've mere seconds to locate and negate your quarry, because should you miss the first one, you (arbitrarily) fail the mission. And so it goes...retry after retry. Your only recourse to replay the section (ie, reinitiate the space battle, but conserve your payload) or skip the level. The latter isn't really an option - unless you stoop to cheating - but playing by these 'cruel and unusual' rules (see Edge's Fourth Commandment: "don't punish failure with frustration") almost demands compensation. And no, Gamestyle isn't crap at games - but it won't brook madness.

Which is ironic, because inside his paranoid skin (Mace Griffin has been framed for a perceived 'mutiny' in space) there is plenty of room to flex those carpal muscles. The game may stumble - and ultimately fall - on its (unconventional) space axis, but it positively fuels player psychosis with the cathartic FPS sections. Weapon sets are predictable (with 'safe' selections like auto-targeting machine-guns dictating the pace), the overshield intentionally reeks of Halo (why fix what isn't broken?), and Mace is fitted with a Tactical Logical Advice unit (aka HUD) which alerts him to useable items and impending danger.

And, if nothing else, danger truly defines the lot of a Bounty Hunter; it truly feels as if the environment is somehow calculating your defeat (or insurgence) - snipers are comfortably ten a penny, ground forces invariably play dead (sometimes taking two or three rounds before expiring), and your 'objectives' unfairly surmount. In one memorable level (Chapter Six's "Gun For Hire"), Mace was given 30 realtime minutes to restart the gyroscope of a galactic cruiseship. From stem to stern, he 'worked' the environment; warding off intransigent opposition, boarding his tactical fighter and subverting a fleet of enemy ships, then docking at the engine bay, navigating a catwalk of ship's girders (while suffering the ill-effects of concussion, courtesy the intransigent opposition) before descending into a catacomb of corridors - and mousetraps - before locating the control room (and gyroscope). Seconds to spare...myriad restarts...both cruel and unusual.

Nevertheless, Gamestyle could've cut the air with a knife - this was steeling oneself to the hazards, rising to the 'hardcore' challenge. It helps that Warthog have a thorough grasp of the Xbox architecture, because certainly, those vertex-shaded corridors and sweeping exteriors brought hard-won relief to the spiralling difficulty. But even FPS addicts can admit defeat. Had the game allowed you to save at will (and obviously, the Xbox hard-drive is up to the task), our grim perseverance wouldn't have resulted in abject resignation. And Mace Griffin certainly wouldn't be wearing his long face; embittered and embarrassed by his comparative anonymity in the FPS firmament. Such is life...for a Bounty Hunter.

Rating: 7 / 10

Words by Steven Wrangell