Review: Spy Hunter (XBX)

Due to the popularity of the James Bond (and erm… Austin Powers) franchises, Secret Agents have always been popular with the general public. What red-blooded male out there hasn’t wanted to use cool gadgets, fast cars and even faster women? Well with the arrival of Midway’s Spyhunter you at least get to do one of these and no! It’s not the fast women bit!

Our story first starts back in the early 1980s, a time when buying a cinema ticket would still give you change from a fiver and the Now That’s What I Call Music series was still in its infancy. Midway’s new arcade game put you in the role of a international spy who used a machine-gun equipped car to take out anything in its way as it raced up the vertical screen. You had various weapons to utilize that ranged from Smoke-screens to oil-slicks and you would only occasionally stop to either recharge your weapons in one of the many vans you could drive into or change into a boat to take your mayhem to the water.

Along with Gauntlet: Dark Legacy, Spyhunter is another game that has made that tricky jump from the 2nd to the 3rd dimension, luckily though this time the developers have managed to bring it off with a bit more panache. The basic gameplay of the original has now evolved into a mission based structure that sees your secret agent take the new G-6155 Interceptor onto the roads of various countries in an attempt to defeat the sinister organization Nostra International.

Luckily your hi-tech spy car is more than adequately supplied for the task at hand with a wide range of tricks hidden within its metallic interiors. Everything from sensor trackers to guided rockets help give you the edge over your opponents as you burn up the asphalt highways on your way to defeating Nostra once and for all.

As with many of today’s current releases your first mission introduces you to the controls of the car and the various styles of play that will make up the bulk of your missions. Controls are nice and basic with the A button used to accelerate and the B button for braking, the left and right triggers switch between activating and using weapons, while a click of the left analogue allows you to lock on to enemies. Your trial run sees you slaloming across explosive roads and weaving between strategically placed cones. Towards the end you encounter a large stretch of water, leaping into the ether your car transforms effortlessly into its boat form so you can continue on your mission. If you end up taking too much damage your excess shell is jettisoned and you tear away via a nifty motorcycle. Whilst in bike mode you must find a truck that will enable you to change back to a fully shielded car, otherwise the chances of exploding into a ball of flames becomes extremely likely. 

A total of fourteen missions stand between you and your goal and although they start off relatively easy you will have to use every skill at your disposal if you wish to reach the final chapter. The game may be a tough nut to crack, but to be honest this is due more to the graphics and the nature of play than anything else. Take the actual gameplay for example; before you first start a mission a list of objectives appear on screen that you need to fulfill. Now this may sound simple but you soon realise that controlling the latest vehicle that Bond himself would be proud of is in actual fact a double edged sword.

Tearing down highways whilst machine-gunning opponents is great fun and gives you a huge adrenaline rush. However this soon fades quicker than HearSay’s music career when you have sped past and failed your third objective in a row without seeing them in time, due to your high speeds. You have to resort to slower tactics if you want to achieve your goals on the first play and this takes a large amount of fun out of the proceedings.
 
The games other problems lie with the graphics themselves. Although they are slightly sharper and more detailed than the Playstation 2 version, they are simply way too drab. The screen looks incredibly washed out and unless you turn your brightness up to dangerous levels it’s incredibly hard to work out where you are going. This is a real shame for although they are not a touch on many of the Xbox’s homegrown titles they are miles ahead of the dodgy visuals that plagued Midway’s last effort (Gauntlet Dark Legacy).

Sound is reasonable with the fantastic Peter Gunn theme tune playing on the bland title menus. The Metal band Saliva has re-mixed a new version of the tune (along with some of their own compositions) for the soundtrack and all the music in general reeks of the spy genre, which in turn adds considerably to the atmosphere. Finishing of the audio side of things are a suitably impressive selection of explosions and various gunfire that sound particularly impressive when heard through a 5.1 setup.

Finally a number of 2 player options are provided all helping to extend the life of the game. If you are not content with the standard head to head racing why not try Chicken Hunter, a frantic race to eliminate as many chickens as you can before your opponent does, it may sound bizarre but its great fun and brings a fresh twist to the proceedings. The game is also extended by a huge amount of cheats and extras that can be unlocked so replay value is assured.

Last but by no means least is an Xbox exclusive, and it’s a doozy! Hidden away is an arcade perfect conversion of the original Spyhunter, it's still as refreshing to play as it was nearly 20 years ago and dare we say it more playable than the new version. Kudos to Midway for giving us a chance to play the original again, other game companies take note.

Overall Spyhunter is an average game which although a better conversion and port than the pitiful gauntlet is still not able to compare to the X box exclusive titles that are steadily filling the retail shelves. Its definitely worth taking out for a spin, but don’t be surprised if the life of a secret agent starts to get dull a couple of weeks down the road.

Rating: 6 / 10

Words by Tom Knowles