Mace Girffin Bounty Hunter
Boldly going where every other game maker has gone before…
Tags: Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter Categories: PS2 Reviews, Reviews, Xbox Reviews
Posted by Andrew on Oct 5th, 2003
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter (title page) | |||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Action | No | ||
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Recharging armor? Check. Basic rifle that looks the same? Check. Halo? Check.
Really bad plot based around space mining companies and conspiracies? Red Faction? Check.
The only thing missing so far in this game was unreal like respawning and a mech. Mace Griffin does a great job of merging a lot of really good games into a completely unimaginative but still interesting space shooter.
The plot of Mace Griffin is that the title character is a convict, a former Space ranger, who was set up and now Hell-bent on revenge. You need money and weapons though, because you didn’t exactly rack up the big bucks in jail, during which time the entire space ranger program was destroyed. Deciding to take some mercenary jobs to collect the weapons and money and ships you need to hunt down those responsible for soiling your good name, Mace heads out into open space.
Now if that doesn’t sound like a perfect Hollywood b movie plot, what doesn’t? As it stands, the storyline does a very good job of staying out of the way of the senseless violence and puzzles that any good futuristic FPS has at its core.
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The basic elements of Mace griffin are the various weapons you can collect, such as a rifle (see Halo for the exact same weapon), mini gun, grenades, pistol and missile launcher. The weapons themselves are actually pretty interesting, if not original fare. You of course get a variety of different locations and enemies who are so gracious as to leak their entrails all over the massive levels for you. Some of the levels in Mace Griffin are huge, taking as much as two hours on some levels to complete. While most of the action consists of walk into a room and blow everything that wiggles away, the game also relies on jumping puzzles or timer puzzles to add a little (read: VERY LITTLE) to the flow of the game. The game does keep a constant feel throughout and keeps the player at least occupied if nothing else.
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Another of the major selling elements of the game is that throughout most levels you get to take some sort of space vehicle out and shoot flying bad guys for a couple of minutes before returning to your regularly scheduled mayhem. These sequences do add some variety to the game, but for the most part seem as simple throw-ins near the end of the levels. The controls are very simplistic and the flying sequences lack difficulty. It seems that they were simply trying to find an extra niche for the game, and did not do a very good job of incorporating this element into the storyline or the overall game play.
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The graphics on Mace Griffin are slightly above average, and on par for any of the other space shooters out there. The weapons and enemies look good, the action flows smoothly and the explosions are fun to watch. The effects when your shield gets hit or the tracking when hit by a concussion grenade are interesting effects and do add to the game play experience.
A special note has to go out regarding some of the original enemies that you do face in the game. One such happens during the second level where you take on a cult of technology worshipers, who have themselves plugged into a computer which covers their face and shows simply a generic smiley or frowning face depending on their mood.
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The AI is good at parts, and non existent at other parts. Whether the enemy will take cover and shoot around objects before you get there, or just stand around and get themselves shot to little bits almost seems to be random. The targeting (which automatically locks on if you have had them centered for a time) helps when dealing with the moving enemies, but itself can cause problems and should have had its own AI.
The sound is decent, but sometimes not quite right, as in when you run you don’t hear your footsteps. The voice acting for Mace is done by sometimes rock star sometimes actor Henry Rollins, but for the quality of it, it could have been done by a homeless guy on the street. It’s unoriginal and boring, but maybe that’s just the way Rollins is in real life.
[Editor’s note: Henry Rollins does angst really well.]
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Overall the game isn’t that bad, and has enough to reach out to more then just the hard core FPS fan. Both the XBOX and PS2 versions run smoothly, with the XBOX having slightly better graphics and a lack of slowdown. Both versions have loading time problems. Despite these issues, as well as the complete lack of originality, the game is actually fun at times and does enough to warrant attention. If the flying sequences had been incorporated a lot better, and some more time spent on coming up with a plot, the game would have been one of the better games on these systems, as it is it will get lost in a sea of FPS that have besieged the market.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
Large Levels Decent graphics |
6.8 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
Bad Plot Bad Voice Acting Failure to incorperate the flying sequences in any meaningfull manner |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| I get highly annoyed when companys try to capitalize on a market instead of bringing something new or original and trying to expand an already over populated genre... | |
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Tags: Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter
Posted by Andrew on Oct 5th, 2003 and is filed under PS2 Reviews, Reviews, Xbox Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
