2-Aug-2006 The classic arcade cabinet evolves as the Rock slips out of his motor for some on the hoof action The SpyHunter games have had a pretty rough ride on PS2. Sure you got to drive fast and blow stuff up, but they were both monumentally rubbish. So the question is: with a big screen version of the game on the way, starring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson of WWE fame, how do you restore SpyHunter's tattered legacy and improve on the whole drive-fast-and-blow-shit-up scene? Simple: you get out and walk.
Which is why for the first time in the long-running SpyHunter series (it goes all the way back to the 1980s arcade original, don't you know) you'll be able to leap out of the awesome vehicle that is The Interceptor and sprint around with guns, rocket launchers and all manner of grenades. It's videogame evolution in full effect.
Not that you'll be able to simply jump out whenever you like. The on-foot sections relate specifically to objectives that require you to infiltrate enemy installations. Armed with enough firepower to single-handedly take on the US Army, your tasks here mirror those of the driving sections: just stomp around the place blasting holes into everything. Of course, given that the main character, Alec Decker, is played by the The Rock you can expect plenty of sweet fighting moves as well. We saw actual teeth fly through the air when we battered one enemy's face and you can perform a fair few back-breaking wrestling moves too.
Returning to the core of Nowhere to Run - the driving - and things are crazier than ever. Vehicles dart and weave while shooting the hell out of you, helicopters blaze overhead firing all sorts of rockets, and explosions go off all over the place. Fortunately, your Bond-esque Interceptor can still morph into different vehicles to help fend off the artillery. Switching from kick-ass car to speedboat to bike is particularly satisfying when it all happens mid-action, as you leap off a ramp into a river and back to the tarmac again.
The actual driving controls still need some work, admittedly, but it's fast and hectic and it could turn out to be a decent effort for thrill seekers. Here's hoping.
PSW Staff
// Overview
Verdict
A few niggling handling issues and visuals that could do with a little more spit and polish can't hide a movie spinoff that offers plenty of simple arcadestyle fun. With or without The Rock.
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