|
|
| Xbox.com :: SpyHunter 2 - First Encounter |
|
|
First Encounter:
Let the Hunt Begin
By Wendell Scott
In 2002, the first SpyHunter? for the Xbox took a beloved arcade classic and updated it for the next generation of videogame consoles. Now, Midway Home Entertainment and Angel Studios bring us SpyHunter? 2, a sequel that updates and expands the vehicle-based combat that made the original such a hit. Plus, it adds a boatload of new characters, weapons, and game modes to make this the best SpyHunter yet.
At the end of SpyHunter, secret agent Alec Sects used the powerful G-6155 Interceptor to take down the NOSTRA, a secret society with plans for world domination. The sequel features the same global conspiracy (or rather, what's left of NOSTRA after the first game's explosive action), but there's a new female SpyHunter behind the wheel of a new super car.
A lean, mean machine.
SpyHunter 2 features a mission scheme much like the original game. First, you're given a specific set of objectives (anything from taking out all enemy forces to escorting VIPs to make sure they arrive in one piece). Next, you choose and fill your weapons slots, and then you're set loose on the open road (or swamp or lake бн more on the terrain later). You're not just driving any old heap, either. Your upgraded G-8155 Interceptor is impervious to crash damage and can change shape on the fly, like a Transformer. Depending on the landscape, you can switch from a sporty four-wheeler into a powerboat, a four-wheel drive off-road vehicle, a Jet Ski?, a snow ski, or a motorcycle. You even get to engage in a little vehicle-to-vehicle combat from inside the Weapons Van.
That's right. It wouldn't be SpyHunter without the beloved Weapons Van. At certain points in the game, the Weapons Van will appear, and you can drive right in. Doing so repairs all damage to your car and usually provides a new weapon or upgrade. You'll have more than a dozen offensive and defensive weapons to choose from. At the outset, you'll only have access to the heavy machine guns and mine-laying apparatus, but as you progress through the missions, you'll open up new ways of trashing those NOSTRA thugs. Guided missiles, cluster bombs, and rail guns are all available to the savvy SpyHunter, as are increasingly tough forms of armor plating and auxiliary weapons, like oil slicks and smoke screens. The controls are intuitive and make it easy to drive and do battle simultaneously. Just keep one eye on the road and the other on your mission objectives.
A real all-terrain vehicle.
In addition to the new heroine Agent Duvelle, there are new game modes and new challenges in SpyHunter 2. You can play through any of the single-player campaigns with a friend in the Co-op campaign, in which one of you drives and fires the primary weapon, while the other controls the secondary and auxiliary weapons. Twice as many fingers on triggers means twice as much trouble for the punks of NOSTRA.
If you'd rather destroy your friends than work with them, you can head to one of four deathmatch arenas that put both of you in a G-8155 and force you to shoot it out until only one of you remains. This multiplayer aspect puts SpyHunter 2 way ahead of its predecessor. The villains are tough and numerous, but there's something far more satisfying about defeating someone that has every bit as much firepower as you do.
Catch that train!
Everything about SpyHunter 2 is bigger, badder, and louder than the original. With new missions, better graphics, multiplayer modes, and tons of the series' trademark fast-paced action, SpyHunter 2 will satisfy the most hardened road warrior as they battle NOSTRA from one end of the globe to the other.
|
|
|
|
|
|
