Die Hard Hands-On

3GSM, CANNES, FRANCE--In-Fusio didn't just buy a lot of development talent in its recent acquisition of German developer Mobile Scope--it also picked up several interesting licenses, including the seminal Bruce Willis action extravaganza Die Hard. We put detective McClane through his paces at a recent meeting at 3GSM, and we found that he's still very much anathema to crypto-European terrorists everywhere, even in miniature form.

Die Hard is an action adventure game played from an overhead viewpoint, and it reminded us a lot of mobile games like Blade Trinity and Red Faction. You control the undershirt-clad McClane as he attempts to liberate a skyscraper from a gang of assault rifle-toting scumbags. True to action adventure form, most of the gameplay seems to center around navigating mazes and searching for keys to unlock new areas. We took over control of McClane in the building's parking lot, where we freed a bound hostage and were presented with a key to the next area. We were also able to ransack several storage lockers in the area by holding down the pound key, although it took about five seconds to do so and during that time we were defenseless. We also enjoyed the game's action sequences. The simple controls and very responsive performance made gunning down terrorists an exercise in reflexes, rather than a slow-motion ballet.

Die Hard has been released in Europe, and will be making its way to North America in late March.