Everybodys
favorite down on his luck cop, John McClane, is back. Too bad for him
things just dont seem to ever get better. Here it is years after his
last adventure in Die Hard: With a Vengeance and he is still getting
mixed up in crazy terrorist plots. This time his daughter, who followed
in daddys footsteps and is now a cop, is involved in a hostage
situation at the local Museum. What else could John do but go down there
and be sure that things get taken care of the right way. By that I mean
he is gonna kill them all, yeah baby! Who needs hostage negotiators?
Just when we think he has saved the day, we realize it is only the
beginning.
I
for one genuinely like John McClane. He is one of my all time favorite
action heroes. I was a little sad to see him alone in his little
apartment in the first cut scene of the game. Why cant the poor SOB get
a break? Then again, what isnt so good for John is nice for gamers. If
he didnt have terrorist plots to foil then we wouldnt have this often
frustrating, yet interesting and ultimately fun game.
When
I first started this game I began with the training mode. GROAN! It was
awful. I wanted to just shut the game off then and there--and in fact I
did. (Would my editors know if I wrote the review after playing for only
five minutes? Probably, theyre pretty smart guys. Better keep playing.)
Luckily I picked it back up a couple of minutes later and skipped the
training. What I got was a different type of game, the kind of game that
you get into despite all the things that you see wrong with it. Die
Hard: Vendetta has a character all its own. That is what keeps me
playing it.
The
first level is fairly standard FPS stuff. But the second level is where
things get interesting. That is when the character really starts to come
out. True to the movies, Die Hard: Vendetta is a mature game. This
becomes apparent very quickly when you run into the first batch of potty
mouthed gang members. My favorite part of this game has got to be the
dialogue. It had me rolling on the floor laughing. This is a good thing,
unlike a lot of games that make me laugh because the dialogue is so bad.
At one point in the game you are required to get into an exclusive club.
You take a membership card off of a dearly departed gang member and head
over. The man at the door calmly asks you for your card. It is obvious
that an old John McClane isnt the same guy whom you stole the card off
of. That is when the door man gets cranky. "Get out of here you
(expletive deleted) cracker, before I kick your (expletive deleted)
@$$." It was so unexpected that I couldnt stop laughing. I kept going
back to him so that he would continue to curse at me. All childishness
aside, I respect this game for doing this. I dont want my ten-year-old
brother playing it, but I am glad that it is available for people who
are old enough and want it.
Since
Die Hard does have a story line that you must follow it is a fairly
straightforward game. I understand this restriction and appreciate the
steps the developers took to give the player as much freedom as
possible. In many situations there is more than one way to accomplish
your goals. One neat twist in Die Hard is the added ability to take
hostages. Thats right; the bad guys arent the only ones who can take a
hostage. There are a couple places where you have to take hostages but
other times it is just a cool alternative to blasting your way through a
situation. It is something a little different than what we generally see
in this type of game and I definitely want to give the developers a pat
on the back for this one.
At
another point in the game I was having a hard time killing these two
goons in a pit. After I did kill them I was left with little health and
no way of crossing the pit. I noticed a backhoe loaded with steel
girders and dumped them into the pit, allowing me to cross. I perished
quickly on the other side though. The next time I came to the pit,
instead of fighting the goons, I went straight to the backhoe and dumped
the steel girders on their heads. This is the kind of thing that makes
me excited about a game. Sure Die Hard has its goofy jump from ledge to
ledge moments but there are enough of these little gems throughout the
game that you forgive the rest.
With
so many interesting little touches it is too bad that the game is
otherwise so mediocre. A couple of years ago this would have been a
great game but today there are just too many stellar FPSs that it cant
compare too. Someday a developer is going to learn from all the
achievements and all the mistakes of past FPSs and make the game to end
all games. Though it is frustrating to see games make innovations only
to ignore the innovations of the game before it, for now we will just
have to deal with it. Case in point: Die Hard doesnt have a multiplayer
mode. Why not? Isnt this pretty much standard for a FPS? Am I just
spoiled? There are lots of great, real weapons in the game. I would have
liked to shoot my friends with all of them. Well, you know what I mean.
Imagine the possibilities with a team multiplayer mode and the hostage
taking ability.
The
graphics and audio are lackluster, reminding me more of something we
would have seen on the PC a couple of years ago. Die Hard: Vendetta is
one of the few games I have played on the Cube in recent history that
doesnt support Dolby Pro Logic II--yet it does have widescreen,
progressive scan support. Basically you arent gonna be dazzled, but you
wont shriek in pain either.
The
die hard Die Hard fans are gonna get a kick out of this game. So will a
lot of FPS fans, not to mention any fans of swearing and hostage taking.
But those of you too spoiled by the great FPSs of late will want to rent
it first. Even then, you will probably get your fill of Die Hard:
Vendetta in your five day rental period. I would like to see the
developers of this game get serious and take another stab at a Die Hard
game. There is a lot of potential here that just misses the mark. Maybe
a tie with the next Die Hard movie is planned for 2004.