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| It has taken quite some time and many a hope to finally come up with a game such as Die Hard Arcade. Bearing little resemblance to Fox's own Die Hard Trilogy, Die Hard Arcade can be best described as a combination between Final Fight and Virtua Fighter. Although as a combination of two unique types of games DHA fails to reach the achievement of either of its components, the title is nevertheless quite interesting and addictive in its own right, and hopefully will be successful enough in sales to warrant another similar title or sequel. The graphics are not the best to be seen on the Saturn hardware, but have been carefully designed while being mindful of the system's strengths (and weaknesses). The end result is a game with graphics that are surprisingly pleasing. The different fights take place in various indoor and outdoor settings, which often exploit details in their environments to a great extent. The characters are animated quite well, although they lack the polygon counts of characters designed specifically for one on one fighting games. Because of the largely unnoticeable lack of polygons, several characters can appear on-screen at once, and require that you concentrate on numerous actions at one time. The backgrounds are likewise rendered in an aesthetically pleasing fashion, with many colorful polygons composing the detailed settings in which you fight. Rendered cinemas have been replaced by ones in which polygonal characters interact in real-time, and although not as clean as their fully-rendered counterparts, these cinemas sufficiently narrate the story. Perhaps more of a function of gameplay than a visual concern, the camera angle in DHA is constantly shifting right and left and zooming in and out, which makes for a cinematic and logical presentation of the action. With the implementation of an automatically shifting camera, you are never made unaware of what is happening around you (which can occasionally be quite much). To top it all off, Die Hard Arcade features some interesting transparencies and adequate explosions, although these efforts have been eclipsed by past endeavors. Die Hard Arcade features a soundtrack similar to the less successful Contra: Legacy of War, and features suspenseful tracks seemingly stripped off a motion picture score. The music blends quite well with the game, and never leaves a lack of suspense in a particular area. The sound effects are also work well with the action, although they occasionally seem a bit muffled and indistinct. The voice particularly suffers from an unexplainable lack of clarity, but the characters in the game are usually disinclined to speak in any case. This title is trying to accomplish a tricky task with the control, which is adequate but leaves room for improvement. While Virtua Fighter fans might be a bit disoriented (and disappointed) with the lack of a guard button, the PPK combinations make an appearance in this game and provide an interesting attack system. In addition to a variety of attacks and combos executed with the punch and kick buttons, you have at your disposal a jump button and several attack and grab/hold moves which look devastating and do their job in draining the energy of your opponents. Additionally, you have access to weapons and environmental objects that range from the ordinary to the outlandish, and can be used for---or against you. While picking up pistols dropped by attacked opponents may be interesting enough, Fox decided that the arsenal should also include background objects such as mops and barrels to add to the overall arcade experience. Indeed, smashing a grandfather clock over the cranium of an unsuspecting opponent should be enough to put a grin on anyone's face. Additionally, while McClane moves from one section of the game to another, you are given action sequences in which it is necessary to press a button at a specific time in order to attack an opponent or dodge obstacles. While this feature is interesting, it isn't exactly very interactive…or entertaining more than once or twice. The biggest problem with this title remains the lack of it, and the fact that even as a port of an arcade game, the game is extremely short. Albeit 45 minutes of entertainment and action, that is about all you will get from this game with decidedly little replay value, which is a shame when you consider how much fun the game is to play. All in all, Die Hard Arcade will hopefully breathe new life in the otherwise dead side scrolling fighter genre, a genre that should no doubt receive the benefits of 32-bit power. While this game features flawed mechanics and execution, there is no denying that overall, the game is quite entertaining and technically masterful. To apprehensive developers: Get the hint, this is a genre worth exploring. To Sega: The time has never been better for a Saturn version of Streets of Rage 4. To Fox Interactive: Nice job, though if falls somewhere between "awesome" and "not bad." |
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