Spy Hunter

Genre: Driving Action

Players: 1

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Review:

The Spy Hunter series has been around since 1983, with its first release coming to Arcades as a Top-Down Driving Action game. Since then, the series has enjoyed numerous sequels and reboots, with the Nintendo 3DS release in 2012, simply titled Spy Hunter, being yet another reboot that clearly references the original game while building upon it. Much like the 2001 reboot on PlayStation 2, this game keeps the core ideas of the Driving Action that the series started with, but instead of being a Top-Down game this action is viewed in 3D, from behind the car.

I’ve seen a few others claim that this game’s graphics are terrible, and honestly I don’t agree. I definitely think there are much more visually-impressive games on the Nintendo 3DS, but overall I felt this game’s 3D visuals to be more than adequate. In addition, the game honors the original Spy Hunter’s soundtrack by including a mix of the classic Peter Gunn theme, and I think the soundtrack does a generally good job of fitting the James Bond-esque over-the-top spy theme. However, one part of the presentation is seriously lacking the sound levels inexplicably drop at points, making the game oddly quiet.

The gameplay is generally well-conceived, having players getting in numerous high-speed chases while fending off enemies with an assortment of high-tech gadgetry. Unfortunately, a few issues hinder the success of this formula. Firstly, enemies are constantly swarming you without any sort of break in the action, and it just ends up seeming like an endless frustration of fending off one enemy after another. What’s more, a few of these enemies are outright bullet sponges, and it almost seems like it’s better just leaving them be and dodging their gunfire rather than trying to take them out.

However, the biggest problem this game has is that the controls are just not up to the task of handling the fast-paced action the game throws at you. Even something as simple as turning to avoid an oncoming obstacle seemed absurdly hard, and my vehicle just did not want to respond properly to my commands. This combines with the unrelenting swarm of bullet sponge enemies to make for a game with a frustratingly high difficulty level.

Despite its many flaws, I can still see some players enjoying Spy Hunter. Unfortunately, I think most will find themselves discouraged by the game’s poor controls and overly high difficulty. Because of this, Spy Hunter on Nintendo 3DS is not a game that I recommend.

tl;dr – The Nintendo 3DS version of Spy Hunter is a Driving Action game that puts the action behind the wheel in a manner similar to the playStation 2 game bearing the same title. Unfortunately, poor controls and relentless bullet sponge enemies make this game an ordeal to play, and most will probably find these issues will keep them from enjoying the bombastic spy-themed fun.

Grade: C-

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