Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter

Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter
Developer(s)	Warthog Games
Publisher(s)	PlayStation 2 & Xbox NA Vivendi Universal Games EU Vivendi Universal Games (PS2) EU Electronic Arts (Xbox) Microsoft Windows EU Sierra Entertainment NA MumboJumbo
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	NA 20 June 2003 (PS2 & Xbox) EU 26 September 2003 NA 7 January 2004 (PC)
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player
Distribution	DVD

Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter is a first person shooter video game developed by Warthog Games and released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows. A GameCube version was in development, but was eventually cancelled.

Gameplay

One of its unique features is the ability to switch between on-foot FPS combat to space craft dog fights seamlessly, with no loading times during such moments. This is extended to being able to move away from the controls and walk around in the ship during flight as the ship continues on its course.

Plot

The game's plot occurs in the fictional Vagner System on the edge of the known universe in an alternate history. The Vagner System is a frontier or wild west that is inhabited by large corporations and pioneers looking for a fresh start or to make a quick buck. The backbone of the Vagnerian economy is the large Tannan Corporation, which has a virtual monopoly over the Vagner System. In order to maintain law and order and to protect their interests, a group of large corporations founded the Enforcer police service in the Vagner System. In addition to the Enforcers, the Guild of Bounty Hunters was established.

It develops as a series of missions Mace Griffin (voice of Henry Rollins) is given while working for the Guild of Bounty Hunters. During these seemingly unrelated missions, Mace discovers a dark conspiracy taking place in the Vagner System involving the appearance of mysterious black wormholes while he is out for his own form of justice: revenge for being thrown into jail years earlier through an act of betrayal. He must seek out and destroy those who have wronged him.

Three different races populate the Vagner System, all settlers from their own home systems. These are humans, the Jaldari, large gorilla-like humanoids and Valleakan, green lizard-like humanoids. All three races are at peace and mix freely together throughout the universe.

Reception

Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter received mixed reviews from critics. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Xbox version 68.78% and 64/100,^[1][2] the PlayStation 2 version 66.54% and 62/100,^[3][4] and the PC version 57.50%.^[5]

References