Written By Shaun McCracken
I wrote a review for this game quite a few months ago, and when I started
anew here on Angelfire, I somehow lost the review I had for this game when I
was with Geocities. Oh well, it wasn't much of a review anyway, and I think it
needed to be fixed. But I still feel the same way about this game.
While Midway was not totally responsible for this game, they should have realized
the biggest problem in the game before it should have been released : the graphics.
While some would say graphics aren't everything, those who bought a next generation
console expect more out of their games, rather than dated material. While Point Of
View managed to get the gameplay on this version of SpyHunter, they botched the
graphics severely. As a port of the PS2 game, how do you manage to get pixelated
textures? The PS2 version has the textures smoothed out. Somehow, the X-Box version
had smooth textures, and it was also ported by Point Of View. But how did they
mess up the graphics of the GCN version so bad? And what was the rush? The game
came out in March 2002!
For those who have not heard of SpyHunter, or don't know what it's about, it's
a revival of the arcade classic made in the 1980s. This time, you're going after the
head of the NOSTRA corporation, who plans on unleashing 4 huge and devastating
missiles called the "Four Horsemen" (of the apacolypse). Great idea, except I think
the leader would do himself in as well if those missiles went off. I guess video
games don't have to have a logical storyline, right? So, you are off and running
in your G-6155 autocar, equipped with weapons and items straight out of Goldfinger.
That's right, you have guns, missiles, oil slicks and smoke screens. Who says
ingenuity is dead?
SpyHunter consists of 14 stages in places ranging from Monte Carlo, Venice and
places in South Amearica. Your objectives vary, but remain the same, blow something
up. Sometimes you'll have to escape or protect something, but most of the time
it's blowing crap up. And it's pretty fun, too. Really, this is how 007 Racing
should have been (it was a game for the PS1 released in 2000). But depending on
how good you are, this game may not last too long, unless you go for the unlockable
secrets. At least the game holds off your progression by having a certain number
of goals to complete before you move on. So completing only the main objective
just won't do.
The graphics, like I said, were disappointing. This is the Gamecube, not the
PS1. To be fair, the polygon structures aren't so bad, and the game is anti-aliased.
But someone forgot to filter the textures or smooth them out. And it's not just a few
things that are pixelated, it's pretty much everthing except your car. You
won't notice it as much in water or if you're going really fast, but it is painfully
obvious most of the time. Also, the effects such as explosions are pixelated.
I can see how that would happen, since they used a FMV effect for the explosions,
and that probably didn't translate well into the other versions (the X-Box version
has pixelated explosions and effects). Why Paradigm or Midway could not port this
game is a mystery to me, as Point Of View managed to put out a sloppy product.
Suprise, suprise, they also ported Smashing Drive, which looks crappier than this.
The sound is hit and miss. The sound in the FMV scenes are horribly compressed
and sound pretty bad. The music and some of the effects in game are pretty good,
but there are some sound effects that come off as tinny. There's room for the
sound on the optical disc, so why does it sound so half-assed?
I would recommend SpyHunter if the graphics were on par with the PS2 version.
The truth is, the graphics are very disappointing, and that does hurt the game.
Not placing so much empahsis on the graphics, but more because this is a result
of a quick and dirty port that Midway O.K.'ed in quality control. Why they
found this acceptable is a mystery to me. But, the game is pretty fun to play,
and I played the game until I unlocked almost everything, including secrets.
But this game is also pretty short, so on all systems, a rental would probably
do you fine. If you were to pick up Spy Hunter, get the PS2 version if you can.
While I try to support the GC in every way, in this case, you would be better
off getting the version that was completed first, as the quality would be much better
than a port.
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SpyHunter
