Spy Hunter: Nowhere To Run allows plenty of places to run

Luke Wallace — Thu, 18 May 2006 18:34:22 -0700

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is becoming one of the major action heroes of our generation. He will be starring in a new movie based on the video game Spy Hunter, due out for release in 2007. But before that, a new game called Spy Hunter: Nowhere To Run will be released this fall. Midway had this title available in their booth at E3 last week, and I was able to spend a little time going through the first few levels.

The original Spy Hunter was a top-down vertical scroller that pitted you against the road. There were road hazards, various enemy cars, and even helicopters. The car would also turn into a boat to allow movement across water (in those days black meant road, blue meant water). But what made Spy Hunter truly unique was the arsenal at your disposal. Machine guns, missles, oil slicks, and smoke screens could be used to help you best your opponents.

All of these elements have been translated into the latest version of Spy Hunter, but new in this version is the ability to leave your car for some third-person shooter action. As 'The Rock' you will be expected to leave your car/boat to open passage ways and deal with the large number of baddies that don't attack you on the open road/sea.

The car and boat mechanics felt pretty solid, but I did have my share of missed ramps and turns. The boat handled much differently than the car, which was to be expected, but the transition between the two was a wonderful sight to behold. Once your car leaves land and is heading towards the water, the car transforms and is ready for action by the time you hit the waves. The transition back to land is just as smooth, as your momentum as a boat gives you enough forward movement to maintain most of your speed during the transition back to a car. In short, it's just plain cool.

The weapons while in your car are adequate, but there was no way to aim your guns without turning your car. However, there is the option of firing in 'Salvo Mode', which allows you to fire several guided missles at once. Once you enter Salvo Mode, time pauses and all available targets are given a circular target over them. To fire at a target, you must move your crosshair over the circle so it is highlighted, all within the given period of time. The time period is approximately 3 seconds, which means you will not be able to hit all them, at least not at first. Once the Salvo Mode time is up, time resumes and your vehicle launches guided missles at all the targets you were able to highlight.

The third-person shooter mode is incorporated directly into the missions, meaning there are not "driving levels" and then "shooter levels," you may have to go back and forth from driving to running several times in one level. In the mission I was playing, I had to leave the boat to find a way to open a passageway to continue on. Upon leaving the boat, I had to look at the controls for a couple minutes, as they were a little confusing for me. Moving and looking are controlled independently, meaning that you are not always looking in the direction you are running. With a little practice it became easier, but it wasn't completely obvious to me. The controls were also inverted vertically when I began playing, but reversing them back made it much more intuitive.

The combat system allows for punches along with shooting your weapon, in fact there are several types of punches. It's no Mortal Kombat, the most popular Midway series, but it did make the shooter aspects of the game feel like a serious part of development, and less the add-on bullet point I expected it to be.

After playing for 20 or 30 minutes, my car locked up while going full speed, and I was unable to turn it or fire any weapons. The sounds began to cut out, and eventually the enemies stopped chasing me. I went over the edge of a cliff, but instead of falling I just remained hovering as a car above the water. After a few more seconds of that, the screen slowly faded to black.

Oh right, this game's still in development.

Visit our Midway E3 gallery for pictures from Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run

Visit the official website for Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run

Realm Media Networks - Xbox

Spy Hunter: Nowhere To Run allows plenty of places to run