E3 2002: Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter preshow report

We've had the chance to check out early builds of Warthog's Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter, which was recently confirmed as being published across all major platforms by Crave Entertainment. Mace Griffin is set hundreds of years in the future, and it casts you as Mace Griffin, the last surviving member of a noble set of peacekeepers known as the Rangers. After being unjustly convicted of the murder of his fellow Rangers and serving time, Griffin throws aside the duties of a peacekeeper and assumes the role of a bounty hunter, with the true source of his compatriots' demise dead in his sights.

Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter's trademark is its seamless transition from first-person-shooter-style combat to space combat, which plays much like Warthog's Colony Wars games. You can quickly move from the cockpit of one of the six available spacecraft to Mace's perspective and interact with the world as desired. Mace can rely on his ship's armaments while duking it out in the far reaches, and he can also make use of a formidable arsenal himself, including a four-barreled shotgun, a plasma gun, and a machine gun with mounted grenade launcher. There are 10 different handheld weapons and 11 spaceship armaments to become familiar with throughout the game.

Visually, Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter makes use of modern effects such as bump mapping and pixel-shaders, without holding back in terms of texture detail and environment size. There are unique animations for the reloading and firing of each weapon, and weapons fire will permanently mark the environments. Enemy AI will do its best to keep up with the impressive nature of the graphics by exhibiting lifelike reactions to what transpires in the game, including what weapons the enemies are carrying, how much health they have remaining, and their relative bravery and intelligence. Taking these enemies out with force will also showcase the game's Rag Doll 1K system, which allows for realistic reactions when a character is shot, hit, or slammed into walls.

Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter is currently set for a stateside release in Q4 2002. Crave will be showing Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter as part of its 2002 E3 lineup, and we'll have more on the game, including hands-on impressions, direct from the show floor.