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NDA Die Hard Vendetta GameCube Games
John McClane is back, and he still hasn't got a clean vest. Die Hard: Vendetta is the GameCube's first exclusive first-person shooter and, despite some problems, it puts the [expletive deleted] back into yippie-kai-yay. There have been lots of attempts at making video games out of the Die Hard films; the only decent one so far has been the original Die Hard Trilogy for the PSone. This new game isn't based on any single film but features its own story that takes place several years after Die Hard with a Vengeance and so has nothing in common with the recent PC game Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza. With Vendetta it seems as if the developers are trying to "do a GoldenEye", taking an established action franchise and building a fairly unique shooter around it. Although it's not as inventive as its inspiration, there is a genuine attempt in Vendetta to provide something new: the real-world police settings are well conceived and the constant set-pieces are exciting and well scripted (complete with lots of foul language). Where the game falls down is in the awful graphics and some questionable level design--in particular a number of irritating jumping sequences. But if you can persevere with these there's much to enjoy, especially some of the neat little touches such as being able to hold bad guy leaders hostage and build up Matrix-style bullet time by saving innocent people. It can't be recommended unequivocally but if you like the films or first-person shooters in general, Vendetta is well worth considering. --David Jenkins.
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NDA Judge Dredd: Dredd vs Death (GameCube) GameCube Games
2000AD fans have had to put up with a lot over the years, from a rubbish Stallone film to a gazillion rubbish video games; now some drokking games company has gone and bought 2000AD and turned Judge Dredd's life as a street judge into a first-person shooter. Actually, that last isn't necessarily a bad thing because Dredd vs Death really isn't as bad as we might have expected. The Death in question is, of course, Dredd's dimension-hopping evil nemesis who, along with his fellow dark judges, has popped over to Mega-City One to, well, kill everyone. There's also been a nasty outbreak of vampirism, which means that Dredd has been working overtime. Although it's an FPS, there's more storyline here than normal and Dredd has the option to arrest perps instead of just shooting them dead with his lawgiver--indeed, if he doesn't get the balance right between lenience and severity he'll be in trouble with his superiors. The world of Dredd vs Death looks exactly like the comics books and all of Dredd's equipment, from the lawmaster motorbike to the multiple-warhead lawgiver, are in full effect; there is however less of the trademark dark humour than many fans would wish. It's a good buy for fans of ol' stony face, but by no means one of the best first-person shooters available. --David Jenkins
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