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Sep 16 2006
Bounty Hounds Review
PSP Game Review | Action
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| Summary: Great concept but camera issues keep BH from reaching potential
78
Graphics - 95
It is quite amazing how much the PSP is able to handle without as much lag as you might think. Bounty Hounds will have many enemies on screen at one time, as well as flowing fire on a heat sword, or a laser beam crashing from the sky, and I have only experienced lag once in my 15 or so hours of play. The look is very much like a mid-age PS2, on the same level as Monster Hunter Portable, except with more action on screen at once.
Sound - 75
The sounds for the game are the average for a Sci-Fi game, generic techno beats, some guitar riffs, but it gets somewhat repetitive after awhile. It fits the style of gameplay, but more variety would have been nice. Attack sounds also repeat with variation only between weapon classes. Another thing that would have been a great add-on would have been the inclusion of voiceover work during the cut-scenes.
Control - 70
This is what really hurts Bounty Hounds, because I would have highly recommended it aside from this. Max (your character) moves pretty well throughout the environment, but a little slow for my tastes. The camera control, combined with the style of game makes things a pain to do. You can’t rotate it, you can center it with a tap on the L button, and hold it down for a very weak lock-on thing, other than that, you’re constantly getting attacked from behind and the radar doesn’t help that very much. All of this combined turns to a button mash.
Gameplay - 80
Aside from the camera trouble previously mentioned, the game plays in a very simple manner. Square and Circle are used for Left and Right handed weapons respectively. X activates your shield which can be combined for special moves, or to absorb damage. You have a “force” meter for these moves much like a power meter. The arrow buttons are used to instantly restore life/force from a “reserve” which can be refilled at the medical center in the main ship. You also have material stocked for reloading weapons which can be refilled, or salvaged from downed enemies. Weapons, armor, and modifications are picked up by pressing L over the dispatched aliens you destroy. Triangle activates a temporary force field (using force meter to use) that will do things like increase damage given, or slow enemies contained in the field down. Great idea, but so far I haven’t really used it. Good button mashing fun, outside the camera, and very weak combo system.
Special Consideration (Action) - 70
Bounty Hounds incorporates some RPG elements, along with the add-on system which provides Armored Core like combinations for your character. The game claims 500 different weapons/armor, but most are just pallette swaps, but others look very cool and unique, so for the “have to get everything” type of player, it could lead to many more hours of play. Wi-fi was a HUGE disappointment for me because of the lack of Co-op play, or even an infrastructure mode. Challenge mode is alright, but nothing really worth playing over and over unless you like bragging rights. The style of the cut-scenes is pretty cool, done in a comic book fashion, but you can’t skip sentences, so it just turned to a bunch of reading and no voice-overs don’t really add much to the hacking and slashing and shooting.
Overall - 78
The concept of Bounty Hounds, though simple, was executed somewhat poorly and had anyone really play-tested the game, they would have seen that the camera issues affected the game so much. Graphically beautiful, but it'll leave you wanting something just a little bit better. The game also seems to be pretty short and will probably rack up to about a 20-25 hour venture. One more thing that didn't fit anywhere else, is that though the game has issues, it is still quite easy to exploit certain things to defeat enemies without much trouble.
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Comments
Disappointing. i was hoping this game was going to be good.
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Yeah same here, but it seems very mediocre  Would still like to try it out though, since I’m very much into action-RPGs.
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I was hoping for more as well..where the game is concerned. Your review is well written and thought out. Thanks for taking the time to write it.
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sorry, didnt read review, but looks sorta like MOnster Hunter Freedom from the screens, am i right?
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Nope, not even close.
Fingers crossed that the EU-version will turn out better - now that we know it has been pushed forward and no longer has an estimated release date (it used to be October 27th).
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