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Dom Robinson reviews
Midway 
- Price: £39.99
- Players: 1
Spy Hunter was one of my favourite mid-80s arcadeclassicsand on the PS2 it’s riding high again.
In my early teens the arcade game was a top-down driving game which saw youracing along in your car, shooting down enemy vehicles, knocking othercars and bikes into the side of the road, all in order to score points.As you progressed along the terrain you passed over water, at which pointyour vehicle would transform itself into a boat, while other means of transporton land included your motorbike.
When you’re running out of puff, the IES van will appear for you to drive intoand get all items of ammo etc. recharged. Miss this and it’ll soon be “gameover”.
Level after level, wave after wave of bad guys and no let-up in the enjoymentstakes. Those who wish to remain in the 80s can find MAME (Multi ArcadeMachine Emulator) and the ROM for the original game and stop reading here, butthose who want to see what the new century has got planned should read on.
Feeling more James Bond-style than before, Midway’s 21st centuryupdate turns the game into a third-person into-the-screen driving game, butstill with the same essential action and relentless pace.
Sony and Acclaim have set the 2001 benchmark high with their offerings in theform ofGran Turismo 3andExtreme G3 and althoughthis game slightly skimps on the graphics, it’s certainly nothing to complainabout in any great manner.
By comparison with the above two games, what you see on the screen needssome anti-aliasing to smooth out the jagged lines, but it’s largely pleasingto the eye and you wouldn’t turn your nose up at it if you were playing itin the arcade.
Musically, the sound in games like Spy Hunter won’t win any prizesfor originality. The car engine revs, the gunfire rat-tat-tats, the missilesexplode… you know the drill. However, it does rock in surround sound.
Driving forward is no problem, but the handling leaves a bit to be desiredas you can’t reverse so have to accelerate forward when stuck and watch thecar jitter about as it turns round.
The first level you’ll play is the training one, which tests your skills butisn’t quite as strict as would have you believe (thankfully). It’s worthnoting that when you first see the change from car to boat it happensonscreen Matrix-style as the virtual camera spins round you.
Overall, the important thing is that this game is fun. After the initiallevel, the second – and first mission proper – tells you that Nostra is testinga new helicopter code-named “Dragonfly”. Destroy it and then rendezvous withyour van in Frankfurt…
In order words, run your car through the chopper to blow it up and then shoota few trucks along the way while setting off some satellite navigation points.Believe me, if some of this doesn’t make sense now it will do when you playand it’s very easy to pick up.
As the levels go on, so will your movements around the world.
Now Midway, please can we have more 21st century updates of 80s classics?
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC
PLAYABILITY
ORIGINALITY
ENJOYMENT
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.