Way back around the Christmas gaming rush in 2000, I remembered reading about a very interesting game coming out of Europe from Sega for their Dreamcast. Basically an action/stealth hybrid, it showed a lot of promise along with a very cool storyline. Sadly, it never made its way to North American shores before Sega dumped the system. The game in question is called Headhunter, and now thanks to Acclaim, has come to the PS2 some year and a half later. Was it worth the wait? Actually not really.

Now that PS2 game development is entering its third generation, the systems graphic capabilities have vastly improved. Had Headhunter come out around the first six months of the systems life, it would have looked better comparatively. However, now that were 18 months in, Headhunter clearly shows both its age and its Dreamcast origins. While some areas in Headhunter actually look pretty good, some also look equally poor. The largest fault is the games uninspiring look, as most levels suffer from boring designs and plain texturing. This is especially apparent during the motorcycle driving areas, wherein the surrounding city just looks ugly. The animations throughout get the job done, but it should be noted that in the games cinematics, the characters move a bit erratically. While the two playable characters, Jack and Angela, look good, the enemies consist of a much lower polygon count and look very blocky. An upside to all this low detail though is a solid framerate, which Headhunter (thankfully) does possess.

What attracted me to Headhunter in the first place was its (supposed) varied gameplay. Consisting of stealth elements, shooting action, puzzle solving and intense boss battles, I was pretty psyched. Not all of these elements held up their end of the bargain however. Dont go in to Headhunter thinking that its an action/stealth hybrid; its pure action. While there are some areas you can sneak around in, the majority of the game has you pulling the trigger. Think of Headhunter as more Syphon Filter than Metal Gear Solid. Now dont get me wrong, I love shooting up baddies as much as the next guy, but I dont like it so much when I cant see where they are! So without further ado, let me introduce you to Headhunters most glaring problem. The camera. It is absolutely positively terrible. You cant control it either, aside from hitting square to swing it around behind you (expect to do this, oh about every 10 seconds!). The horrific camera angles turn the gunplay from fun to tedious. If the camera was better, this could have been the best game of the summer. The controls, however, actually hold up admirably, apart from one minor glitch. It is incredibly frustrating to snap an enemys neck; the positioning has to be much too precise. If you arent in the right spot, youll just push the enemy, resulting in him turning and shooting. On the other hand the puzzles are laid out well and for the most part arent that repetitive. The boss battles are done logically as well, with few frustrating elements. The motorcycle driving areas do add variety to the gameplay, but for the most part are pretty much pointless. Conversely the weapon variety is extremely weak, especially for a game of this nature. I must say I did enjoy the B-movie-ish (albeit predictable) storyline, despite that it completely falls apart at the end. Overall, one aspect lacking in Headhunter is innovation, as it basically emulates other action games that have come before it. At least it emulates the good ones.

Aurally, Headhunter is absolutely stunning. Featuring a majestic orchestral soundtrack that really sets the tone for the games intense battles, the music flows beautifully in the game. Seriously, the soundtrack is on par with the arrangements in games like Metal Gear Solid 2 and Final Fantasy X. While the sound effects arent as equally impressive, they provide sufficient atmosphere for the action onscreen. The only fault would be the voice acting, which (from some characters) at times comes off as very jilted.

Headhunter is your average action game, albeit a bit short. The average player is going to blow through it in about 10 hours, maybe less. A second difficulty level does open up upon completion of the game, so diehards do have a reason for a second go around. The only other mode is the ability to play all the VR training missions again; however there are only 20 missions and they all take a measly minute or so.

Although throughout this review Ive been a bit harsh on Headhunter, I did enjoy playing through it. Two large hurdles working against Headhunter though are its age, and there are a few other action games on the PS2 that do the genre more justice. If you have run out of action options however, than Headhunter is a fine choice to tie you over until the deluge of new games this fall. I just have one recommendation, rent it first; dont buy it.