I don't know what it is. The movie can be the most awesome videogame concept ever made: Take one skyscraper in downtown LA, throw in 30 hostages, a few foreign terrorists, a couple of plot twists, and one man to stop them all. Mix thoroughly; add a few classic one-liners, and pow! Videogame Movie Gold.
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So can anyone tell me why is it that 95% of games adapted from movies are crap?
Die Hard was one of the most popular movies of its age, and still maintains a cult following to this day. It was a defining role for actors such as Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, and Reginald VelJohnson. Very well played, it told the tale of NYPD cop John McClane, in his one-man onslaught against all odds to rid the City of Angels of bad guys, and have a Merry Christmas with his estranged wife. With no shoes on, no less.
Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza is an adaptation of said film, where the player follows the script of the movie almost verbatim, with a couple of additional passages that were not in the movie, for the sake of adding playing time - they add nothing to the story whatsoever. Any red-blooded American has seen this movie 18,000 times on basic cable, and knows EXACTLY how the story is going to end. So it begs the question - why bother playing this game? In order for the game to be a winner, it falls upon the developer to add something new to the game - excellent AI maybe, diverting the plot line perhaps, getting the original actors to reprise their roles in the game possibly. Heck, even using a state-of-the-art graphics engine in order to give it that extra little panache it needs to stand up against quality FPS titles like Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast or Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. I mean, we all know how WWII ends, but MoH:AA is such an inherently good game that we WANT to play it to its conclusion. DH:NP is no such game.
The developers dusted off the LithTech engine for the graphics, and I will say in the game's defense, it's very well rendered. The interiors of the 40-story Nakatomi Plaza are as plush as one would expect a Japanese corporation's American HQ to be, but the engine shows its limitations in the rendering of the game's player models. The models are blocky, low-poly and stiffly animated, and add nothing to the environment other than targets to shoot at. The skins for these models are another matter altogether - they are very well done. They are as detailed as the models will allow them to be, but since the animations are so terrible, the effort that was put into skinning these models is ultimately a waste.
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Gameplay is standard FPS fare. It seems that the developers played a LOT of CounterStrike. (Not that that's a bad thing, mind you - The game was made by Sierra, which distributes Half-Life, and consequently CounterStrike) All of the weapons offered in this game are CS mainstays - the HK MP5, the Colt M4A1, the belt-fed SAW, and my personal favorite firearm of all time, the Steyr AUG assault rifle. The firing mechanics take a lot from CS, as far as sprays and recoil, but there is a distinct difference. You would notice this more, however, if you got the opportunity to use most of these weapons. 80% of the bad guys are toting MP5's, so that's all the ammo you're getting. I ran out of 5.56 rounds (AUG and M4) soon after finding them, and got no reloads for at least 5 levels! I know that in the movie everyone had MP5's, and only Karl (one of the head terrorists) had an AUG, so why even introduce the weapon if the usage is limited to the level that you find it?
The enemies also carry flashbang grenades and know how to use them, which is nice. It adds something that wasn't originally a part of the movie into the game in order to enhance the experience. If only this was done a bit more, the game would have been much more enjoyable. The AI is also pretty good. Not great, but the enemies are smart enough to take cover, maneuver for firing position, pitch flashbangs and to fall back when an opportunity presents itself. Nothing new, but an adequate job was done here as well.
Lastly, if you're going to make a game based on a popular movie, and use the original script, you had better be sure to either: a) hire the original actors, b) dub the original score into the game, or c) hire GOOD voiceover actors. The purpose of this is to capture the original feel of the movie, so that when the lines are read, the player remembers the movie fondly. To the game's credit, the original script is used when re-enacting scenes - swearing and all. But to my eternal shame, I will never again hear the line "Yippie kay yay, motherfucker" again and not think of the incredibly bad voice actor who belched out the line for this game. Its TERRIBLE. John McClane sounds like he's from San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury, not like the tough-as-nails New Yorker he's supposed to be. Where are the sinister qualities in Hans Gruber that made me LOVE Alan Rickman? Not here - the game's Hans sounds as though he's got a 6-inch wooden pole surgically shoved up his bunghole. And EVERYONE suffers from Captain Kirk disease: They......pause.......every........other.......line......for dramatic effect! And they fail......miserably!
When all is said and done, Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza is nothing to write home to mother about. Just another game adapted from a movie that completely fails to impress. The only thing good about this game is the scenery and the weapon mechanics, but even that isn't going to rescue this game from fading quickly into obscurity and the bargain software bin.
Yippie kay yay.
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|  | highs Nice eye candy, Weapon physics are nice, can never go wrong with an Aug; | | lows Voice acting as atrocious, extra levels are pointless, available ammo restricts weapon usage. | | stability Stable learning curve Moderate | ||
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