In
a further attempt to expand the selection of games that involve running
around and blowing up aliens, as the human race begins to colonize deep
space in the distant future, Namco is currently putting the finishing
touches on Bounty Hounds for the PSP.With a large arsenal of weapons at players’ disposal,
head-to-head wireless play, and purportedly highly advanced enemy AI the
company hopes they’ll have a hit on their hands when the game is
released later this Spring.
As
with a number of games set in the future, Bounty Hounds sees the human
race setting forth into the stars acquiring new planets to call home,
mine for minerals, and so on.Unfortunately,
these planets often times are inhabited by various creatures that
are far from pleased with the fact that a bunch of humans have decided
to hunker down on their planets.With
that the Extraterrestrial Intelligence War broke out and mankind found a
need for
a
force capable of meeting this new threat, and thus the
Bounty Hounds
were born.In the game,
players will take control of Maximillian, the leader of these
mercenaries, as they travel from one world to the next in order to
battle these aliens.
These
conflicts will be presented in a fairly traditional 3D action game
setting.Players will have
about 500 different types of weapons and armor at their disposal, as they fight 40
different types of aliens over the course of 40 missions set on 4
different worlds.In order
to acquire all of the different weapons in the game, players can either
buy them between missions or sometimes find them as enemies
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drop them
during play.However, players can’t just whip out any of these several
hundred weapons willy-nilly during a mission.Instead they will have to select six to equip before heading out
into battle.Weapons can
range from those that are melee oriented like swords and axes, to those
of the ranged variety like rocket launchers, flame throwers, and laser
cannons.On top of this
there are several types of armor and miscellaneous high tech gadgets
that players can use as well.As
such, one needs to think carefully as to what items they wish to use.
These
weapons and armor selections can also impact the game’s enemy AI, as
the aliens will react differently to players depending on what
Maximillian has equipped at any given time.This AI is also affected by player health as well as the strength
of their weapon.
Players
won’t always have to go it alone in Bounty Hounds either, due
to the game
also having a head-to-head multiplayer mode available via the PSP’s
wireless capabilities.At
the end of the day, though, the game is shaping up to be centered on a
“Bad Ass in Space” vibe considering Maximillian’s appearance and
the sheer number of weapons at his disposal.Players can decide for themselves whether the game lives up to
this when it is released later this year (or read our review, of
course!).