Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run Preview

Currently scheduled for release in September, Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run is a mission-based driving game in which you'll be spending the majority of your time on foot. Like previous Spy Hunter games, Terminal Reality's offering will boast a number of levels in which you get to take the controls of the series' trademark Interceptor vehicle, but since it gets stolen near the start of the game, you'll be spending a big chunk of your time without any wheels. We recently had an opportunity to spend some quality time with near-finished PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run, and after playing through the first seven of the game's 12 missions, we can report that this is a Spy Hunter game unlike any that have come before.

The most obvious difference between Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run and its predecessors is that Alex Decker, the series' hero, is now able to climb out of the Interceptor and complete certain missions on foot. Alex is played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who bears little resemblance to Alex's picture on the original 1983 arcade cabinet, but is rumored to be starring in the upcoming Spy Hunter movie. The missions that we've played on foot thus far have mostly tasked us either with locating our missing Interceptor or with infiltrating NOSTRA bases, and other objectives en route have included planting bombs, retrieving items, and defending friendly characters. The action can feel quite mindless at times, particularly if you have a gung-ho attitude toward gunplay, but some of the objectives are quite challenging, and a number of them feature at least some degree of puzzle-solving.

What's strange about having Alex played by Dwayne Johnson is that the character not only looks and sounds like The Rock, but he also fights like him. In the unlikely event that you don't have a weapon at hand, you'll be able to go hand-to-hand with your enemies and, in many cases, finish them off even more quickly than you could have with a gun. Alex's light punches, heavy punches, and throws are formidable to say the least, and once you master the stun punch technique (charge up a heavy punch to stun your opponent and leave them open to one of four different body-slamming finishing moves), you'll find that even the most dangerous-looking foes are quick to submit. We've even encountered a couple of enemies in the game who appear immune to bullets, but simply can't deal with the explosive punching power of The Rock.

The enemies that we've come up against in Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run thus far haven't exhibited a great deal of variety where their appearances are concerned, but their behavior differs quite significantly. Our version of the game isn't finished, of course, but while many of our adversaries reacted quite convincingly to our presence, others seemed blissfully unaware of the fact that we were inches away from them, or were content to stand back and watch as we dished out WWE-style pain on their colleagues. The wrestling moves in the game can actually be quite satisfying to perform, but because some of the animations are quite lengthy, the fact that none of the other enemies attempt to interfere with them is quite noticeable. You'll occasionally take damage from gunfire or from a grenade during a finishing move, but this is also far from ideal since you're unable to react until the finishing-move animation has played out. Other quirks when you're on foot include the lack of a jump button (which is especially noticeable because the rest of the controls work very well), and the fact that having a line of sight to an enemy doesn't necessarily mean that you can shoot them--invisible walls have seemingly blocked our shots on several occasions, and it's only when our crosshair has turned red that we've known that a shot is possible. Carrying a bazooka on your back can also be problematic because it obscures your vision when using the over-the-shoulder targeting view, but we're hopeful that issues like these will be sorted out before the game ships.

Taking damage in Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run isn't something that you need to be overly concerned about, though, not only because the game is very quick to return you to the last checkpoint that you passed, but also because The Rock's health is able to regenerate to some extent any time you're able to keep him out of harm's way for a short while. The system is similar to that used in the Halo games and it works just as well, forcing you to pause for breath behind cover occasionally. First aid kits can be found mounted on the walls inside just about every structure, but you have to use them as you find them since they can't be picked up and saved for later use.

When you're not wandering around looking like a seven-time WWE world champion, you'll be at the controls of the Interceptor--a sleek-looking sports car that morphs into a speedboat anytime it lands on water and also functions as a motorcycle when it sheds the bulk of its bodywork. The Interceptor carries an arsenal that would make James Bond green with envy, and although you'll be using the machine guns and missiles most frequently, you'll find that the smokescreens, oil slicks, and wheel spikes are also very effective. The vehicle-based missions in Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run are completely linear, and although there are often a number of optional objectives for you to attempt, your goal is basically just to get from point A to point B before you get blown up. Weapon crates dropped from the sky restore all of your ammo and health when you drive through them, and the process takes only a few seconds so as not to interfere with the fast-paced action.

If the portion of the game that we played is any indication, then Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run is shaping up to be an odd addition to the long-running series, which has traditionally been all about vehicle-based missions and combat. We'd estimate that around 75 percent of our time with the game thus far has been spent on foot, and although the gameplay is decent, that's simply not what we were expecting from a game bearing the Spy Hunter name. We've successfully retrieved the Interceptor at this point, and although it was fun living out our The Rock fantasies for a while, we're hoping that we'll get to spend the latter half of the game behind the wheel. We'll bring you more information on Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run as soon as it becomes available.