11 - Headhunter

Genre: 3rd person shooter
Rating: M
Developer: Amuze
Publisher: Acclaim
System: PS2 (Also: DC)
Release date: 2002

So here's a game that was so entirely uninteresting that I didn't even remember I played it. The gal who had been with me while I went through the games had to alert me to the fact it was missing from this current list. And yes, all the games listed before this one were played in one day.

Anyway, this wasn't a very good game. It wasn't bad either, but overall it just felt very uneventful. Perhaps I'm feeling this way because I didn't even survive the tutorial. Personally, any game that allows you to fail the tutorial seems a very cruel game to me. There should be something that keeps you from having HP at all or whatever that early on.

I died because I wasn't able to shoot everyone down in one fell swoop like I'm used to. Perhaps it would have been best to listen to the game which was currently hinting at me to crouch behind items to dodge fire. I've never been one to play by the rules and perhaps that's why I somehow always manage to find the stupidest ways to die.

The graphics were okay and the main character seemed cool. The world built up around the game also seemed pretty interesting but the game itself didn't feel like anything. It felt like if you filtered Metal Gear Solid down to make Winback... but then you filter Winback down even more and end up with this game.

Would I play again? Maybe.

7 - BMX XXX

Genre: Biking
Rating: M
Developer: Z-Axis, Ltd.
Publisher: Acclaim
System: PS2 (Also: GC, Xbox)
Release Date: 2002

I remember back in school this game getting name-dropped everywhere. It was a "bad" game, as in, it was full of things that middle schoolers would go crazy over. There were girls in skimpy outfits with big breasts, foul language, and lots of crude humor. It seemed like it could be a pretty entertaining game so I expected to be mildly amused when playing it.

This game is awful. The bike controls are fine but everything else is terrible. You start out in a slice of a city and are tasked with doing various missions there to complete the level. However, there is no waypoints or guide on map to show you where it is you're supposed to be going. Where is this hobo you need to visit to get your mission from? Who knows!

Once you find your character to give you a mission of course the task has to be timed. It's like whoever developed this game was trying to find various ways to tick off the players, because they did it very well. From what I experienced, regardless of what you had to do the timer would always start at 1:00. You had exactly one minute to figure out exactly what your task was and to do it in that small time frame. I quit in frustration after attempting 3 various missions and finding myself unable to complete any of them.

Something funny about this game though was within the first 5 seconds of entering the first level I glitched myself into a spot under the level. Interesting, I was able to string together a load of tricks to get points while in this limbo land before finally managing to pop myself out of it and crash.

Would I play again? No.

5 - Alias

Genre: Stealth, action
Rating: T
Developer: Acclaim
Publisher: Acclaim
System: PS2 (Also: Xbox, PC)
Release date: 2004

When looking over the box and manual for this game it really didn't seem like it would be anything special. No offense to Alias or anything, but that stigma of "movie games" (or in this case TV games) is stuck firmly in my head. Thankfully, the game proved itself to be an interesting title.

What I expected from this game was lots of shooting and lots of scantily clad women. I found the main character rather lacking in clothing at certain points, but there was even purpose to this. In the game you would take up an "alias" for each mission. In the first mission you are a waitress in a casino, so it makes sense your attire would be glitzy and tiny.

The bulk of the game seems to be focused around infiltration, information gathering, and general sneakiness. It's not full stealth though because you are in fact out in public just disguised as someone else. Acting in a suspicious manner will get you caught. I really enjoyed pretending to be the casino waitress to spike someone's drink and obtain intel. However, once the game started to become action-y I lost interest. It was confusing with no sort of map or related system which would show me the general location of my targets or where to go.

Overall the disguise parts were excellent and I wish that's how 80% of the game could be, instead of the 60/40 it seems to be. It should also probably be noted that I've never seen Alias which might have been part of the reason I was surprised with the style of gameplay presented.

Would I play again? Sure.