Headhunter (video game)

Headhunter

Dreamcast boxart
Developer(s) Amuze
Publisher(s) Sega
Director(s) John Kroknes
Producer(s) John Kroknes
Stefan Holmqvist
Designer(s) Peter Johansson
Artist(s) Johan Lindh
Writer(s) Philip Lawrence
Composer(s) Richard Jacques
Platform(s) Dreamcast, PlayStation 2
Release date(s)

Dreamcast

  • PAL November 16, 2001

PlayStation 2

  • PAL March 22, 2002
  • NA May 9, 2002
Genre(s) Action/Adventure
Mode(s) Single player

Headhunter is a video game developed by Amuze for the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 video game consoles. The Dreamcast version of the game was only distributed in Europe, by BigBen Interactive.

According to John Kroknes, creative director at Amuze, the game was strongly influenced by 1980s action movies and Paul Verhoeven's science fiction films.[1]

For the majority of the game, the gameplay is that of a third-person shooter as players control protagonist Jack Wade. Jack travels between the main levels of the game on his motorcycle, and these sections take the form of a racing game, with the motorbike's acceleration and braking controlled using the sensitive analogue trigger buttons of the Dreamcast control pad.

Music for the game was composed by Richard Jacques and recorded at Abbey Road Studios. In 2004 its sequel, Headhunter Redemption, was released on Xbox and PlayStation 2.

Plot

The game takes place in the near future in a city similar to Los Angeles, California. Criminals are punished for their crimes not only by serving time in prison but by having their internal organs surgically removed (if they lost to another prisoner in an underwater arena) and transplanted to benefit the wealthier members of society. Officially responsible for law enforcement are the Anti-Crime Network (ACN) organisation and their employees, the bounty hunter-like Headhunters. In order to prevent damage occurring to the criminals' organs as they are apprehended, conventional firearms have been banned, replaced by Electric Neural Projectile (ENP) guns that fire special bullets which do not damage flesh but instead emit an electrical charge that causes severe pain in victims, paralyses muscles and eventually kills the brain. According to the game, ENP technology was developed by Biotech and the main manufacturer of ENP handguns is Smith & Easton (a reference to the firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson), although the technology can also be used with grenades, proximity mines, rocket launchers and other explosives.

The game begins with Jack escaping from a secret laboratory, but soon after going outside he faints and falls unconscious. He wakes up in hospital and learns that he is suffering from amnesia and that although he was once the very best Headhunter, his license has now been revoked. In order to investigate the murder of ACN founder Christopher Stern, he must re-earn his Headhunter licence by taking part in virtual-reality tests (called LEILA tests) and capture some of the most dangerous criminals in the city. Throughout the game, Jack is aided by Christopher Stern's daughter Angela and his old boss Chief Hawke; although he also finds that his main rival to the title of best Headhunter is the unpleasant Hank Redwood.

The game's storyline progresses through standard FMV cutscenes, propaganda commercials and satirical news broadcasts (presented by the fictional Bill Waverley and Kate Gloss).

Characters and themes

Comparisons with other games

Many reviewers of Headhunter stated that much of the game draws obvious influences from other games, most notably Metal Gear Solid; major similarities include the emphasis on stealth-based gameplay (such as the ability to snap enemies necks from behind and to press the character's back against a wall and look around corners), Jack's favoured method of communication being through a Casio wristwatch videophone, presented similarly to the Codec sequences of the MGS games, and the LEILA test sequences being similar to the MGS VR Missions. Puzzles in the game, as well as the final boss battle and a mansion area near the end of the game, also drew some comparisons to the Resident Evil series. Also Jack Wade is the name of a character from the movie GoldenEye.

References

External links

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