|
The Plot:  A long-delayed first-person shooter from Vivendi Universal games, "Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter" appeared to be shaping up to be a pretty appealing title. Unfortunately, the final product is a mixed bag; while there are several aspects to the game that I very much enjoyed, there were also several that dragged the game down pretty considerably. Players star as Mace Griffin, a former intergalactic Ranger turned revenge-seeking bounty hunter - this after he was sent to prison when his fellow crew members were destroyed, but through no fault of his own. Quite honestly, the story is not terribly compelling, and most will find it easy to skip past most of the cutscenes. Mace is voiced by actor/singer/spoken word artist Henry Rollins. While Rollins has been a good actor in the several roles he's taken on, I was a little surprised that his voice performance here didn't bring much to the role. Although not terribly similar, the game reminded me somewhat of "Red Faction II". Both have the same atmosphere, bad guys who have similar AI (inconsistent; some intelligent enemies that zip for cover and others that occasionally seem like they're off in, well...space) and narrow, straightforward paths to follow. "Mace" takes linear to new levels, unfortunately - this is one of those games where there's often plenty of doors in every room, but only one ever open. Why have three doors in many of the rooms if there's always going to be one that must be ventured through? Thankfully, the combat is at least fairly entertaining, as it does provide a decent mixture of strategy and straightforward shooting. Mace will often find himself in a room with several enemies, all in different parts of the room. Players can look in, assess the situation and then approach. Players automatically pick up the weapons dropped by enemies, which include grenades, machine guns, automatic pistols and other toys, such as an electrified club. The weapons are decent enough, but really don't show much imagination. The grenades are somewhat hard to use, as they often bounce past what you're trying to throw them at. There's quite a bit of ammo to be found, but you're also up against quite a few enemies in many situations during the game. Mace uses a health system similar to "Halo"'s, where Mace only starts to really lose health after his shield is downed. After a while of non-action, the shield starts to recharge. The game's level design has its ups and downs. While I liked the fact that a fair amount of the rooms provided decent cover from attack, a lot of the game's rooms start to look pretty similar (and a lot of the enemies populating said rooms did, as well), leading to levels that started to feel somewhat tedious/"are we there yet?". To break up all the first-person shooter levels, "Mace Griffin" throws in the occasional level where Mace hops into his fighter plane and zips into space. The seamless transitions between ground and flight levels were also quite neat. Combat in space, while nothing groundbreaking, was at least easy to control and a rather fun change-of-pace. However, I was a bit surprised when the game required me to dock the ship - and a bit displeased - to say the least - when I accidentally bumped (a scrape, really) into the side of the bay when docking and had to start all over again with the mission. Just showing the docking in a cutscene would be a lot more enjoyable and save players from a potentially controller-throwing event. While it won't affect the rating in this review, some players will also likely be dissapointed to find that "Mace Griffin" doesn't offer any multiplayer or online options, just the single-player experience. Overall, this is a basic, occasionally fun FPS that unfortunately suffers from some concerns and doesn't quite reach the heights it looks like it could have. Most notably, I would have appreciated a less linear experience and a bit more varied level design. Rating: 7.8/10 The DVD Graphics: "Mace Griffin"'s XBOX presentation provides satisfactory graphics. Although the levels start to appear rather similar after a while, they still do offer a pleasing amount of fine details and good lighting. Weapons fire and reloading are well-animated, as are the movements of enemy characters (most of whom also look exactly alike). The framerate stays fairly steady, but there are instances where several enemies are on-screen where some slowdown does occur. Rating: 8/10 Sound: "Mace Griffin" on XBOX provides the game's soundtrack in Dolby Digital 5.1. The presentation is a sweet, aggressive one for those who have surround sound systems. Sound effects zip into the surrounds as Mace goes into battle, while weapons fire sounds dynamic and loud. Even better, "Mace" boasts a score that sounds professional and rich, really adding to the scenes where it makes an appearance. The only issue that I really had with the sound is that the voices/one-liners of some of the enemies got repetitive quickly. That, and I thought Henry Rollins could have brought more presence to the voice role of Mace. Rating: 8.5/10 Gameplay: Controls are easy to pick up and learn on the XBOX version. The sticks control movement and perspective, while the two triggers control primary and (sometimes, depending on if the weapon offers a different function) secondary fire. A button reloads, X button for jumping. clicking on the right stick allows Mace to crouch and sneak up on enemies. Overall, pretty straightforward and easy to pick up and play. Rating: 9/10 Rating Issues: "Mace Griffin" is rated "M" (Mature) for graphic violence. Final Thoughts: "Mace Griffin" is one of those games that, while certainly not bad, it didn't really stand out from the rest of the games in the genre, either. Those looking for another FPS to play should certainly check it out as a rental (it's a prime example of a "good rental"), but I wouldn't recommend putting down $50 for a purchase. |