Headhunter (PAL)

Released in the EU on November 16, 2001 for the Sega Dreamcast by Sega, and developed by Amuze, Headhunter features a mix of on-foot and on-motorcycle third-person 3D action.

My copy of the final Official Dreamcast Magazine reads like a tragedy. The "game previews" section is full of optimism, ignorant of the fact that the system would be discontinued just a few months later. Even more tragic--my subscription ended with the second-to-last issue. I never even got to read the last issue because the magazine was cancelled before I could renew. But the tragedies continue! Some of those last promised Dreamcast games never even made it to America. Shenmue II is the most storied of this crew of games. While Shenmue II did eventually come to the U.S. on the XBox, faithful Dreamcast fans outside of Europe and Asia were left out in the cold. That magazine issue also featured another promising game, though. Titled Headhunter, this groundbreaking title would feature motorcycle riding and on-foot, bounty-hunting action in an open world. While many of Official Dreamcast Magazine's descriptions of the game turned out to be inaccurate, it's hype was on point. Technology eventually empowered my Dreamcast to play European and Japanese Dreamcast games--and Headhunter now holds a proud place in my collection.

I guess I just spoiled the review.

Headhunter is really a game about big ideas. Just missing beating Grand Theft Auto 3 to shelves by a month, the game gives the illusion of free-access to a huge open world Los Angeles look-alike. Players took control of super badass bounty hunter, Jack Wade, who's dealing with a strange bout of amnesia. Apparently, Jack was the greatest bounty hunter in town, but one day he wakes up in the hospital with no memory of anything, and has to start over from the beginning. This means he'll have to get his LEILA licenses all over again. "LEILA" is a progressing series, which gives Jack access to more weapons and more of the city, the greater the license he achieves. 

Jack Wade, badass.

Of course, this is where it becomes clear that despite this huge city to explore, progress in Headhunter is actually pretty linear. That's mainly due to the fact that progress (and LEILA test access) is tied to the game's intricate story and carefully realized world. Headhunter takes place in a near future, where the police have been done away with, and a group called the Anti-Crime Network have taken the reins on law enforcement. The ACN's agents are the Headhunters, who round up criminals with new weapons that fire electrical charges instead of bullets. That's because--drumroll--lawbreakers are sent to prison, where their organs are surgically removed and given to the rich. Yes, turns out this is not only a dystopian future, but one which makes insightful commentary on our own. Thankfully, this means that what Headhunter lacks in true open-world, sandbox gameplay, it makes up for with its cleverly told story and a high attention to detail in its world-building.
 
And you get regular updates from these ACN-mouthpiece douchebags.

And I mean high attention. No, that's not a drug metaphor, but an allusion to the fact that this game excels in fleshing out its world. Load screens are goofy, creepy ads suggesting that viewers need to augment their physical appearances.
 
Why...is it going to cost me? What if I'm an anti-dentite?

Breaks between the gameplay come in the form of news broadcasts that are obviously sponsored by and sympathetic to the ACN. Man, that sounds familiar. Anyway, the game does a great job of immersing you into its unique vision. The graphics are great, with environments at once exemplifying that bright, blue-sky, west coast Dreamcast sunniness, while suggesting a gritty, graffiti and trash-strewn realism underneath. The motorcycle segments are remarkably smooth and fast, without any slowdown, and Jack speeds along through the huge city environment hiccup-free. The cars and buildings around him look great, though there's a strange emptiness in the fact that there aren't people walking around everywhere--then again, maybe those folks just want to keep their organs. There is some car pop-up at a distance when Jack is going extremely fast, but that's about the only graphical blemish on this game. Indoor environments look great, with a lot of detail, and great animation for Jack, his bounties, and their henchmen. You'll be taking Jack to rundown gas stations, sewers, shopping malls...an underwater prison.
 
I've gotta include a whale in every review. Man, Dreamcast had to have been the most whale-friendly system out there! 

It's very important to note how great this game sounds, as well. Voice-acting and sound effects are all top notch. These guns might shoot electrical charges, but they still pop like the real thing. Meanwhile, Richard Jacques' symphonic compositions, which featured the grandest scale orchestrations of any video game up to that point, are excellent and get the blood pumping. They also add to Headhunters' cinematic feel. Thankfully, the game isn't overly reliant on tedious cutscenes to tell its story. Instead, it nearly always pulls off that excellent and immersive "you're in a movie vibe" while you're actually playing it.
 
Looks like a neo-noir in this shot!

The gameplay most definitely enhances that cinematic feel. The motorcycle segments really only exist for two reasons. The first is so that Jack can get from one mission to another. Belying how this isn't truly an open world game, Jack can only dismount his bike when he's reached the area where the particular mission he's on takes place. It's still a blast riding around on the bike, and thankfully, those segments often have a secondary purpose. In order for Jack to qualify for a higher level LEILA license test, he has to gain points, which can only be accumulated by driving his motorcycle very fast for an extended amount of time. If Jack crashes (thankfully, the bike can't be damaged), he loses points. Once he gets enough to take his test, he can no longer lose the points, but can drive to the LEILA offices to take his test--generally this is possible once during each of the game's major story segments. The LEILA tests put Jack into a VR chair, where he has to prove that he's mastered Headhunter's gameplay elements.
 
Do it, Jack! Break that VR bastard's neck!

The bike purposely controls awfully to start the game, mirroring Jack's lack of memory pertaining to how to drive it. Thankfully, as Jack acquires higher LEILA licenses, the motorcycle controls much more smoothly. Gameplay for both the driving and on-foot modes comes from a third-person perspective. The on-foot gameplay is a sort of stealth/action hybrid. Jack can hug walls with the touch of a button, while cycling through targets with a lock-on crosshair with another. You can't aim, but considering you're shooting electronic bullets, I guess that doesn't matter--plus, the lock-on firing generally works great. Jack can also roll around with another button, crouch, and of course run around like a maniac. There's a very cool option where Jack can sneak up behind a foe, and the attack button, instead of firing a weapon, will cause Jack to snap his foes neck...which I guess kind of ruins the whole organ harvesting thing. There are some frustrations coming from getting the auto-aim target onto the correct foe when there are plenty of enemies on screen, as well as the camera-centering R-trigger not always pointing Jack in the direction you'd like. Overall, though, the controls are mostly an asset.
 
The best place to have any type of shootout is next to a live gas pump.

Cycling through weapons and items, as well as reloading (your main, quite effective gun has infinite ammo) comes through the directional pad. You'll be picking up keys and other objects because another major facet of the on-foot missions, in addition to all the stealthing and actioning, is puzzle-solving. Puzzles are generally intuitive and fairly simple, though there are some head-scratchers tossed into the mix to make things just a bit more difficult. I enjoyed most of them. The player can save at any moment, though if you die (from taking damage from enemies) or quit and reload your file, you generally have to start back at the beginning of the last major story point. You'll lose, at the most, 10-15 minutes of gameplay, which can be frustrating at times, but at least you're not restarted at the very beginning of the mission. For instance, if you die during one of the game's awesome boss fights, you're restarted at that the start of that boss fight. In addition to giving the ability to save, pausing allows the player to look through your mission objectives, an area map, your items, a LEILA database, etc. Again, the attention to detail is pretty great.
 
Speaking of detail, the graphical detail in this boss fight is stunning. Check the feet splashing up rainwater here.
And the rain hitting Jack's head and shoulders here.

America should have had a chance to play Headhunter. Personally, I use an Innovation disc converter to play imported games. It's a little pricier than when I first bought it, but it's still worth it. Headhunter may not be as historically significant as its Grand Theft Auto peer, but it's a unique game that deserves to be experienced. And in the case of Dreamcast imports, it's not the only one.
 
This game, along with the Sega Dreamcast itself, can ride off into the sunset forever in my imagination, meaning that they might be frozen in time, but I'll never stop playing. 


8.5
Graphics
Highly-detailed, smooth operator.
8.8
Music and Sound
Adrenaline-pumping, fully orchestrated soundtrack, along with great voice-acting and overall sound design.
8.5
Gameplay
Mission-based riding, running, and shooting action delivers in a semi-open world. 
7.0
Lasting Value
It's only about 10-15 hours long, with little to come back for, but at least it's an enjoyable 10-15 hours.
8.5  FINAL SCORE

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