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Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter |
by Chad
7/2/2003 |
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Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter is out to get a little revenge. Along the way he will confront some screwed-up aliens, blow away a few members of religious cults, and maybe save the Vagner Frontier System from a lot of bad guys. All of this because someone pissed Mace off by throwing him in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. You see, Mace was a Ranger, a member of an elite police force. Turns out, someone didn’t like the Rangers and wanted them out of the way. This special someone was intent on killing every living thing in the Vagner System and living happily ever after. Now, if I had a nickel for each time I was wrongfully accused of a crime an imprisoned, I’d be a rich man. Okay that was a lie, but all of the stuff about Mace is true.
Mace Griffin leaves the penal colony and take up work as a (you guessed it) bounty hunter. The world is now controlled by major corporations with no real police force. These corporations have pieced together a team of enforcers called the Guild of Bounty Hunters that hunt down bad guys and dispose of them in whatever method they deem appropriate. As Mace Griffin, you embark on 13 missions on your quest to fulfill your thirst for the blood of those who have wronged you.
 
Our story begins with my chief complaint about the game. To begin, there is a cut-scene. Then another. And Another. Then a couple more cut-scenes, and a cut-scene, then the game begins. You can skip through these scenes by pressing the Y button, but it only skips the current scene, send you into the next one. It takes a while to finally start the game, and I would have preferred the ability to skip all of the cut-scenes, and possibly have shorter/less scenes. Once finally in the game, I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of detail that was put into the gameplay. After unloading my clip into a couple of baddies, I was able to partake in the “Mace Griffin Reloading Experience”. The developers at Warthog have taken reloading your weapon to a whole new level. The detail and realism of reloading was extremely impressive, unless you’re standing in front of an enemy. If you happen to be caught in front of a couple of bad guys while you are reloading your weapon, you better get the hell out of the way. The realism also takes time, and reloading your weapon can leave you in a puddle of your own blood wondering what just shot you. This requires keeping track of your ammunition and making sure that you are aware of it when you are engaging enemies.
Mace Griffin offers a unique concept of combining a first person shooter with a space battle game. You are allowed to fly a variety of ships throughout the game, most of which are taken on Point A to Point B type of missions. The entire game is extremely linear, harkening back to the old PC FPS days. There are plenty of opportunities to get lost, take wrong turns and generally turn yourself around, but the game definitely keeps you moving in the general direction of where you need to be. There is also an indicator that offers help for the geographically challenged. The indicator will point you in the right direction and help you not look like an ass in front of the aliens.
 
In the FPS mode, you do the usual run and shoot style gaming, with various obstacles and challenges that arise. There is plenty of crouching and jumping, crawling through vents and leaping to safe landing spots. The graphics are nice, but there is not a huge variety of baddies. Many of the baddies you encounter are clones of each other and do not offer many different AI qualities, but that is not to say they are simple or easy to defeat. They are challenging and the game can be quite difficult. You must choose appropriate weapons and aim properly. A hit in the leg does not create the same amount of damage as a hit to the head. There is plenty of blood and guts that lay around after dismembering a bad guy. Aliens will bleed green goo; humans will bleed the good old red stuff, giving you a bloody reward for successfully capping your prey.
The space mode offers the opportunity to engage your enemies and show off your flying skills. I would have really liked to see longer space sequences with more free roaming action. That said, it was still enjoyable and offered a change of pace in the game that held my interest. First person action can sometimes wear thin after a couple of hours of gameplay; the space battles were a welcome diversion and enhanced the flow of the story.
Many will consider the lack of any type of multiplayer game the major drawback to Mace Griffin. This game seems to be made for Xbox Live, but for whatever reason it was not included. There is actually only a single mode that can be played, and that has to be done alone. The large maps and various hiding nooks and hiding places would have been perfect for a multiplayer deathmatch. Warthog could have taken this game to the next level with the inclusion of multiplayer modes.
 
Even with the negatives I have mentioned Mace Griffin is a really nice first person shooter. We have become spoiled in an age of multiplayer and online play, and these features are now considered requirements rather than enhancements. For any fan of story-driven, single-player first person shooters this game is a must own. For those who could care less about single-player and want Xbox Live, this obviously is not the game for you. I enjoyed the single player mode. I thought it was challenging and I believe there is a strong story to back up the game. The space battles were a nice change of pace, and the ambiance and mood of the game were exceptional. The soundtrack and sound effects were spectacular, probably the strongest part of the game.
Graphics – 8
The graphics are definitely above average. The tone and mood of the game is very dark, and the graphics reflect this. There are plenty of detailed maps and the intricacies of the weapons and reloading are exceptional. The space battles are nice, but they could have been improved upon with more detail and depth in the vast expanses of space.
Sound – 9
As I said previously, the audio is the strong point of the game. The soundtrack sets the tone of the game, with the intensity of the music matching the rising intensity and tension in the game. The audio portion of the game made Mace Griffin more enjoyable to play and helped to keep my interest. It is amazing how something as simple as a soundtrack can make a game rise above others.
Playability – 7
The game is more difficult than most, but does not offer any groundbreaking gameplay elements. One annoyance I discovered was the inability to change your controller configuration while in-game. This is especially annoying when first playing the game. This is usually where most tweaking is done to create the most comfortable experience possible.
Overall – 8
Mace Griffin is actually a fine example of a single-player FPS. The music and visuals make for an enjoyable experience, and I was involved enough in the game to play it through. The lack of multiplayer modes will be a major let-down for many. Without multiplayer, the replay value plummets. After you defeat the game for the first time, you may never want to play it again, which is a huge problem when spending $50. I would probably play the game over again, but I enjoy single player games.
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*Grampa Game*
X365 Member
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I think you were pretty generous with the scoring there Chad,.. "to each his own" however. too bad the quality reloading sequence wasn´t extended to the rest of the game.
the game doesn´t touch brute force or the online king "return to castle wolfenstien" in the area of "immersing the player into the gameplay".
and it feels even more "plasic" than the decent "timewaster" RED FACTION. even though I know its mediocre (after playing it at EB) I was still tempted to buy it (the local Hollywood Video didnt have it to rent) just to play something different. But thanks god KOTOR is comming in less than 2 weeks(so I´ll hold off) for some reason I´m still having fun with brute force on brutal. (playing on Brutal really brings out the beast in the game, especially when you try to beat a level without losing a single life).
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Ckron
Heckler
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Brute Force on Brutal is great, agreed, but Mace Griffin is a good game on its own. Neither game is Halo, they are just good ways to pass the time until Halo 2. In my opinion, MG is much better than most FPS games ported to the Xbox, so that alone sets it near the best.
This game may not be for everyone, but it can satisfy many single player FPS fans.
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IP: 12.162.45.73
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Mr. Big Black Box
X365 Member
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I have given the game a play based only on the OXM demo disc. The first couple of times I was really disapointed. But someting in my mind kept telling me to pick it up and play it again. It kind of grows on you. I would not spend $50.00 on it right now, maybe I will pick it up on sale or in the used game section at my local EB games store.
The only gripe I had with the game, was the AI. Not real smart! When you are used to HALO everything else is second best.
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Christov
Heckler
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I think the game is really entertaining - sure it slows down in places and there´s a couple of frustrating elements but overall it´s a blast. I´ve bought it and it´s been worth every cent. I got well over 30 hours of gameplay out of it - it´s absolutely massive so the lack of multiplayer is forgiveable.
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*Grampa Game*
X365 Member
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Well I finally rented the game, the graphics look sharper and crisper on my tv than it did at EB, after logging in about 8-10 hrs, I have to admit its not a bad game after all. theres enough to it to make you keep playing long enough to want to know what´ll happen in the next level, and its cool how mace goes deaf and his vision blurs when he is in the proximity of an explosion.
So yeah, I´m getting my rental value out of it.
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TFC’s:Men Hunter
X365 Member
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[ONLY ON XBOX] ?
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IP: 24.91.137.86
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Mr. Big Black Box
X365 Member
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MULTI-PLATFORM! Xbox, GC, PC, ps2
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doodx
Heckler
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I PICKED UP PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN THIS WEEKEND .HOLY LAG !DOES ANYBODY HAVE PATIENCE FOR THIS GAME ?IM thinking I should of picked up Mace Griffen!!!!!!!
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*Grampa Game*
X365 Member
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after playing a rented copy of Mace Griffin for 4 days, my perspective has changed drastically(I now have to agree that Chad pretty well called it right in his review), the game is Huge! 10 levels, with about 8-9 sections in each level. some of the textures are repeated thru some of the levels, but that can be expected from a game this big, some interesting traps, puzzles and diverse situations can be found, I think the makers of this game have pretty nearly exhausted every probable objective that can be put in a FPS.
most reviewers don´t do the game justice. (I even thought it was garbage when I tried the opening level in the store, its better than red faction).but mace griffin will grow on you....if the game had a flashlight, used xbox specific graphic enhancements, and made the "got shot" animations more varied and realistic,(used some ragdoll physics), weeded out the unnecessary cut scenes (even the cut scenes have cut scenes)and improved the "spotty" AI, this game would have been a bonafide hit. as it is now,.. its still a good excuse to waste time with.
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Mr. Big Black Box
X365 Member
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I rented Midtown Madness 3 over the weekend, I think I will trade it in on this one (Freedom Pass). Sounds like I need to give the full game a play.
FYI: Block Buster Video has the Freedom Pass back for $19.99 a month. You get to rent one game on the pass and keep it for as long or as short as you want. If you rent a game, go home find out it sucks. Then you can go right back if you want and get a different game the same day. If the game rocks you can keep it till you tire of it. The pass renews each month for $19.99. Great way to give alot of games a spin and not get burned on a bad purchase.
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DR AWESOME
Heckler
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do some of you people not realize that all games repeat textures??? halo even reused a WHOLE LEVEL. the snow map is played, forwards and backwards. if you actually play this game through you´ll notice that there are about 1000 more textures in it than halo, and that there is about 8-10 more hours of gameplay. mace griffin is an incredible game.
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doodx
Heckler
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Im going right now to go trade butt- pirates of the caribbean for MACE GRIFFIN .(I noticed I spelled it wrong on a previous post)I dont have much patience either GRANDPA . I think 6 days is just enough time to figure if Im gonna keep it,or trade it.Better than RED FACTION huh?( ya know 99% of the time my SECOND IMPRESSION is always right!he he .LOL
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doodx
Heckler
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oops ! )
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Mr. Big Black Box
X365 Member
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I just rented RED FACTION II last night. What a waist! If that is the best it gets for the PS2! HA HA HA!!!
I will be tradeing it in on Mace tonight!
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doodx
Heckler
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MACE GRIFFIN IS A GOOD GAME! EVERYBODY´S GOT TO CHILL- OUT AND STOP PICKING APART EVERY GAME ,AND START ENJOYING SOME OF THEM .ya know!
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lotw
Heckler
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The problem with most of the reviewers is they didn´t play the game past the @!*% few missions. Those missions are easy and pretty boring for a reason. To learn how to play the game. I even read a review where some idiot said the enemies just stand there and not try to dodge or anything. That is bull, in later missions not only do they dodge and use cover, but sometimes even plant proximite grenades for you to walk by and get killed. Once you make it into the alien spaceship things pick up difficulty. Having to switch weapons fast and dodging single kill shots from them.
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Mr. Big Black Box
X365 Member
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Well I finally have played the full version of the game from my local Block Buster Video store. I have to say it is a pretty good game! It is no HALO but like I posted above it kind of grows on you. The AI is not that smart, but it is all about having fun blowing shit up! At the very least give it a rent.
FYI: Block Buster Video has the Freedom Pass back for $19.99 a month. You get to rent one game on the pass and keep it for as long or as short as you want. If you rent a game, go home find out it sucks. Then you can go right back if you want and get a different game the same day. If the game rocks you can keep it till you tire of it. The pass renews each month for $19.99. Great way to give alot of games a spin and not get burned on a bad purchase.
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