Die Hard Trilogy 2

The original DHT combined three genres--a third-person action game, a shooting game and a driving game--in one nifty package. And while this sequel does essentially the same thing, it doesn't do it quite as well. Let's break it down by genre. First, there's the third-person action-type gameplay: It's littered with tiny graphical glitches like clipping and polygon dropout here and there. And the Al is either really smart, or really dumb. Sometimes enemies just stand there while you shoot them. Overall, it's tedious, and would score a 5.0 on its own. Next, there's the driving portion of the game: The control is the main problem here. All too often you get stuck on objects jutting out from the sides of a particular area. Using reverse and then drive (as you would in most driving games to get out of a jam) proves to be a ridiculously tedious process--it's better just to restart the level. Thankfully, you don't experience this as much in the city driving levels (which are actually pretty fun). I give this part of the game a 6.0. Lastly, there's the shooting part of DHT2: It's easily the best part of the game, and is GunCon-compatible. There are a huge number of power-ups, and plenty of things to blow up. I give it a 7-5- When you group the three genres together and throw in the story line and what not, it gets an additional half point.

I never played the first Die Hard Trilogy game, so I have nothing to compare this with. But as it is, this is a collection of what would be three barely above-average games made to be one. I think the clipping Shawn mentioned is intentional, like McClain's supposed to see through walls. The gun game and driving games are also both really average on their own. The movie setting of the game is fine, but it could've used more attention to each part.

It can't touch Syphon Filterr but DHT 2 is not the worst I've played. If anything it tries to do a bit too much. I could've lived without the clunky, almost laughable driving portion. It's not needed and it's not fun. The light gun stuff is OK but again, why? Sadly, much of the game is given to you. You can see through walls and enemies line up to get shot. Still, I like DHT 2 to a point, but I can't recommend it unless you're really into these genres. Give it a rent instead.

The original DHT was quite...original for the time (combining three totally unrelated genres into a decent package). Now that the "thrill" of three-games-in-one is old news, the arrival of DHT2 is no big deal. It's a bigger "no big deal" when you actually play it. Some parts are frustrating, because of poor level design. Some parts are plain no fun, because of repetitive gameplay. DHT2 is a nice distraction, but nothing to yell "Yippee-ki-yay" over.