Bounty Hunter Preview

The term "freedom," in regard to videogames, has an unfortunate history of misuse. When you hear about a new game that promises nonlinear this or open-ended that, you'll most likely recall that the last game to make such a grandiose claim didn't live up to its expectations. The upcoming Xbox title Bounty Hunter appears to be striving for this same type of freedom, though Warthog, the game's developer, has so far avoided making such a connection. Whichever way Bounty Hunter's gameplay is described, its initially open-ended mission structure and free-roaming gameplay make the comparison a fair one. For better or worse, Bounty Hunter features a more open-ended experience than other first-person shooters that have come before.

Bounty Hunter, like much science fiction before it, is set in a dark future. Mankind has colonized the galaxy in search of greater material gain; but space is vast, and protection from pirates, renegades, and other riff-raff inhabiting the trade lanes is next to none. As a killer for hire, your job is to do what the government can't: Control the villainy that threatens the lives of the everyday citizens--for a price. Your get-rich-quick scheme doesn't last long. In fact, things go awry in your very first mission. You're set up and framed by a crime syndicate that feels threatened by your brand of mercenary justice, and you are subsequently sentenced to prison for 10 years. After your release, you're itching for revenge but have no friends and no money. Bounty Hunter's ensuing story arc is twofold: First, you must rise in terms of prestige and power, taking on assorted odd jobs that pay the bills and give you contacts and allies. And second, once you've reestablished yourself, you need to exact your revenge. You'll start following missions that pit you on the tail of those who betrayed you 10 years ago with the objective of seeking out and destroying the people responsible for your fall.

A similar two-part approach carries over to Bounty Hunter's game design. Warthog classifies its game as an FPS, but when you assume a mission, you'll actually pilot your spaceship to your location, blasting any opposition you face on the way into oblivion. When you get to your destination, you land your craft and proceed on foot. Warthog acknowledges that space flight and combat is less than two-thirds of the overall gameplay and that Bounty Hunter's FPS action is its focus. While some may scoff at the developer's attempt to squeeze a gameplay afterthought into a solid FPS experience, note that missions involving space combat operate under the exact same graphics engine as the FPS levels. Also, Warthog's graphics engine allows for a seamless transition between the two modes, which means space flight and combat should feel like an extension of the FPS mode, rather than a superfluous addition.

Bounty Hunter randomly generates mission objectives, locations, and goals. Though they have no repercussions to the larger story, you'll have plenty to choose from at any one time. After completing any mission that features a cash reward, you can stop off at the local munition store to stock up on ammo or peruse new types of weaponry (though they weren't specific, Warthog promises lots of variety). You can also take your ship to dock if you want to buy upgrades or new weapon systems. As the game progresses and your character increases his notoriety and wealth, these random and inconsequential missions will become fewer and fewer in number and will be replaced by scripted missions with preplanned objectives that advance the plot in a linear fashion. This method of combining two types of gameplay and storytelling may sound unique, but in fact, the concept is nothing new and is essentially borrowed from the old PC game Wing Commander: Privateer.

In Bounty Hunter, one significant difference from other FPS games is apparent: Interaction with the game's assortment of races and NPCs is essential to winning. There are three main races in the game, and how you align yourself to each often dictates the amount of trouble they'll give you on missions. Most missions feature multiple paths to success, each with its own set of consequences. If you repeatedly kill one race, they'll not only begin to attack you on sight (think of your face plastered all over their intergalactic bars), but they'll actually send their own bounty hunters after you to make life miserable. Ideally, you'll want to keep an uneasy truce with all three races; though, you may find this more difficult than it sounds.

In terms of individual enemy intelligence, Warthog promises that its AI will be suitably lifelike. For example, stumble upon a lone enemy who's armed only with a weak weapon, and you may find him or her running for cover instead of dumbly fighting to death. On the other hand, if you come up against a platoon of enemy soldiers, you're the one who's in trouble; they'll hunt you with stealth, skill, and coordination until you're dead.

Visually, Bounty Hunter should prove to be an interesting display of early Xbox capabilities. Bounty Hunter's sprawling environments are already well known. The game's early build, for example, features a massive space hangar as proof of the game's absolutely terrific draw distance. Perhaps more impressive than the sheer size of their sets is that they are often populated with at least a dozen different characters. Warthog promises that despite the graphical complexity, the game will chug along at a consistent 60fps. Characters we've seen are well detailed and have high polygon counts. Like in Half-Life, character models feature deformable skeletons and use motion-blending animations to prevent clipping and unrealistic poly deformations. Bounty Hunter's graphics engine's (Tusk) central claim to fame, though, is that it lets you jump back and forth between the space combat and FPS mode without any load time. This means the game's a seamless adventure. You can approach a space station, receive clearance to land, set down, debark, and walk around the station without load times, fade-outs, or other interruptions.

You're not cynical if Bounty Hunter's promises sound a bit ambitious and perhaps unrealistic. That having been said, Warthog has so far done an admirable job in fulfilling its lofty goals. As mentioned, the game is already displaying massive levels and detailed architecture, with surprisingly high amounts of well-detailed characters running around. So the graphics look good--but what about gameplay? Picking and choosing from a bunch of randomly assembled missions is all well and good in moderation, but what will buoy interest in the game if its first half plot is negligible? Can Warthog make the narrative transition subtle and discreet? And when the storyline does take over, will players enjoy being suddenly force-fed directions and tasked to fly missions that you have to play over and over again before you can advance? As more information on this anticipated Xbox title becomes available, we expect to be able to address these questions. Bounty Hunter is currently scheduled for release early next year.