Spy Hunter for PS Vita, AKA Nowhere to Run II?

This time, There Really is Nowhere to Run, and thank goodness for that. Embedded below is the trailer for the new PS Vita version of Spy Hunter. And quite unlike Spy Hunter 2 and Nowhere to Run, this one looks enjoyable. In particular, I'm intrigued by all the customizable options for the Interceptor.

If you have a Vita and want to take a crack at reviewing this one for us, by all means, leave us a comment below or shoot us an email: codereddnet@hotmail.com.

Hot Piano Chick approved.

PS2 Review: Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run (2006)

Turns out there's plenty of places to run to in Nowhere to Run. In fact, you do much more running and and grappling than you do driving and intercepting, which is an odd choice considering the property, and the creators of this game seem to have their priorities almost completely misplaced. The Spy Hunter series (including the classic PS2 remake, winner of the Code Redd Net Award for Best Action Game, and its unfortunately sucky sequel, winner of absolutely nothing and liking it) is about high speed vehicular combat. You drive fast and shoot things; one would think such a concept is virtually foolproof. And while I appreciate the attempt to innovate the Spy Hunter formula by putting the action on terra firma, this is one series that needs to keep its passengers locked up inside the super spy car. Nowhere to Run is a bit of an oddball; it was supposed to be the tie-in game for a Spy Hunter movie starring Dwayne Johnson (you know him better as The Rock) that has never left development. So all we have to go on in this game, and if its story is any indication, that movie would blow. You play as agent Alex Decker (The Rock), pilot of the awesome IES Interceptor, but this time the vehicle is stolen by the generically maniacal Nostra corporation/nation/band of thieves. So now you have to steal it back, but unfortunately you get to chase after it in the Rock's digital walk-waddle. It's slow, tedious going getting around in this swampy world. Controls are either excessively tight or exceedingly slippery, so while aiming your guns is slow as can be, driving the Interceptor is like ice skating. But the hand-to-hand combat is surprisingly enjoyable for its exaggerated sound effects and super finishing moves. There's plenty of fun to be had tossing adversaries about with the Rock's selection of devastating wrestling maneuvers, or lifting them above your head in a gorilla press and then throwing them helluva far, including off of bridges, construction sites, and airplanes. Ragdoll physics make this kind of carnage that much more delightful. I'd even say that my opinion of Nowhere to Run is comparable to the ideas shared in my review of Driv3r. That is to say, this game is just so bad it's actually redeemable. So very many weird things happen that it becomes comedy. Sure, it can be frustrating at times (most levels require some form of trail-and-error progression) and the graphics are muddy at best, but there is a lot of freedom and fun in choosing how to dispense with the Nostra grunts, and in seeing the limb-flailing, glitchy results. If you like broken, strange things, I say pick this one up. Everyone else would do well to stay far away.

PS2 Review: Spy Hunter 2 (2003)

The original Spy Hunter re-make (2001, and recent recipient of the Code Redd Net Award for Best Action Game) remains one of our favorite PS2 games to this day, and so you can probably imagine the level of anticipation we had for Spy Hunter 2 when it was announced. Now imagine our disappointment when the product finally arrived. SH2 is an absolutely startling example of taking an established, successful, you might even say nearly bulletproof, formula and stripping it of those elements that made it successful in the first place in favor of underdeveloped and incoherent new ideas. The smooth controls of the original are replaced with a sticky, unresponsive set, and even when you can get the Interceptor to behave properly, it feels like you're driving Mom's SUV rather than a souped-up-for-spies supercar. Furthermore, ammunition is no longer as plentiful as before, so you often find yourself using it sparingly rather than liberally, a strategy which is an odd fit in such an arcade-y universe. And the difficulty is totally uneven; while one level is strikingly easy, the next is maddeningly difficult, and the game bounces back and forth indiscriminately between these two extremes. SH2 also has a co-op feature, something which theoretically sounds fun, but is not satisfactorily executed at all. In this mode, the first player controls the vehicle and its primary and secondary weapons, while the second player can only manipulate a weak turret situated on top of the Interceptor, and this often leads your buddy with little or nothing to do. I will say, though, that SH2 has a decent variety of missions to complete, and the few boss fights are enjoyable and different. Overall, however, SH2 is a mediocre follow-up to a PS2 classic. It's a game which seems more impressed with getting the self-professed "hot piano chick," Vanessa Carlton, to pen a lame song for the soundtrack than taking the formula laid out by the original in any appreciably new directions.