E3 2001 First ImpressionJonny Drama

Ever since Austin Powers, the tongue-in-cheek '60s spy milieu has become cool again, and Sierra's jumping into the fray with its own goofy spy thriller, Jonny Drama, for the Xbox. The game casts you as Jonny Drama, a former movie star who's become a real spy. Your goal is to stop the token evil doctor-millionaire villain, Dr. Bumbershoot, who is of course bent on world destruction.

Jonny Drama has all sorts of tools at his disposal in his quest to thwart evil. His main weapon is a retro-looking space-age ray gun, and he can acquire other weapons and special items as well, such as a lock pick and a security-camera-jamming device. Jonny can pick up and move the bodies of enemies he's taken down, or more amusingly, he can strip off their clothes and use them to assume their identities. Vehicles are also available for fast travel--a sidecar motorcycle and a golf cart were observed in the demo being shown.

The most striking element of Jonny Drama is its visual style, which is incredibly close to that of a cartoon. All the characters and objects are cel-shaded, and a similar technique is applied to the backgrounds, giving the game a heavily stylized look. Unfortunately, the frame rate is pretty low, but that should improve quite a bit as the game is optimized, and the Xbox hardware is finished. Jonny Drama is expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2001.