Mace Griffen Is Indeed Better Than Halo But At The Same Time A Cheap Clone. Although Hard It Still Offers Easy Gameplay.
Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter is a one player first person shooter that place you in the shoes of Mace Griffin, a guy who was wrongly imprisoned for 10 years and now wants revenge. That's about all you need to know. By the way, this game is in no way related to the Star Wars universe. On to the Graphics!
Graphics : The graphics in Mace Griffin are decent, maybe low by other people's standards, but I'm not a big graphics buff. They get the job done. There are a few things that DO stand out though, such as how after a severe fire fight, you can walk through the room and find every single casing for every bullet you shot scattered about. Another instance of impressive attention to detail is how the guns have animations for reloading instead of just bobbing out of sight and suddenly reappearing fully loaded. Aside from these standouts, the graphics are over pixilated. Textures look a little blocky up close and shading has noticeable pixels that kind of take away from the realism. But the great detail in this game makes up for the shortcomings so the graphics end up breaking even. The simple yet elegant flying sequences just blow my mind. You can switch between missiles and and guns for lockon missiles, plasma lasers, heat seeking lasers, plasma balls and a smooth targeting system with a very small learning curve. Next, and probably my favorite aspect of flying is at any time being able to leave the bridge of your ship and walk around inside it. You can look out windows, relax in the sitting area or walk around the three rooms endlessly, until you die. Sadly, we can not attack big ships because they host the missions. But since in a stupid move the focus of the game is FPS, the flying sequences are basically this: Kill ships, board big ship... If in the next game freeroaming aspects and internal explosions and repairs in-ship can occur this really can be sweet. Imagine nearing a friendly ship while repairing your engines and seeing a fleet of ships you have to take down while maintaining your engines. Afterwards you head downsairs for a drink. It could be great.
Gameplay : Mace Griffin incorporates a new concept with the ability to seamlessly transition from fps-ing to space combat. You simply walk in your ship, activate it, and you're ready to go. No cutscenes to transition. The normal gameplay is also great. It's not especially innovative but it's better than most fps games. Enemy AI is decent; you can't simply walk up to one and sucker punch it. There's also a number of different enemies, most with their own distinct attack patterns and weapons. The environments are also HUGE. A mission consists of about 6-7 objectives that each take a decent amount of time to complete. Plus, you'll find yourself jumping in and out of your ship through missions, mixing it up a little so you don't get bored. Another convenient aspect of the gameplay is how your character gets shields that buffer his life and recharge, much like in Halo, making the game more fun and strategic. You also get a waypoint finder at the top of your screen that tells you in what direction your next objective is; VERY helpful as it eliminates frustrating wandering. There are no distinct flaws in my opinion making the gameplay, the centerpiece of this game, about perfect.
Sound : The sound in Mace Griffin is mind-bogglingly crappy, but also not mind-blowingly superb, just in the middle. Guns sound like guns and explosions like explosions. The voice acting is better than most games, as the lips are actually in sync with the voices. There's also a wide variety enemies that all have their own phrases and voices. That's a lot more than other first person shooters, who all use the exact same voices and phrases with every single enemy. The music makes up for the quasi-mediocrity in the sound department. It's very epic and gets you pumped for fire fights.
This particular fps doesn't have a two-player mode, totally shooting it's replayability. I don't know about bonus features, but due to the game's genre and circumstances, I didn't average in this score to the overall. Once you play through this one once, you'll probably shelf it for a while until you want to show it to some friends or lend it out.
Mace Griffin is a very, very entertaining first person shooter, one that's better than a lot that are out there. It's a great one player game but I'd wait for the price to go down, probably because my only job is mooching off my parents, the case may be different for you. If you've got the time, rent it, then you decide.