After a lot of delay and even a change in publishers, Mace Griffin, Bounty Hunter is finally ready to land.

Half FPS and half space combat game, Mace takes place in the future (hence the space combat), where you assume the role of the title character. After spending ten years in prison for a crime he didn't commit (everyone is innocent in prison, just like The Shawshank Redemption said), Mace, a former member of an elite law enforcement agency known as the Rangers, is out and he's slightly bitter. He decides to take a job as a bounty hunter and fulfill the prophecy laid out by the game's title.

As a bounty hunter, you will transverse the galaxy taking jobs and trying to get closer to finding the people who framed you. You'll find yourself protecting crime lords, recovering smuggled goods, destroying space stations, and stopping rustlers from stealing alien cattle. In the midst of all that, will Mace find the time to avenge his imprisonment and to fall in love? Only time will tell, but with twelve single-player missions spread out over thirteen levels, it doesn't seem likely. Then again, with Henry Rollins providing Mace's voice, he might be able to just scare a woman into submission.

Obviously, the big draw in Mace is the mix of first-person shooter action and the battles in space. From what I've seen of the game, the transition is done very well, with no loading times or delay, an accomplishment which is nothing to scoff at. In fact, it is possible to leave the cockpit in mid-flight and walk around your ship. This makes the game feel more like one big adventure and less like a forced mix of two separate genres.

If your enemy is giving you too much trouble in space, you can often lead him down to the surface. While on the ground, you will be forced to go head-to-head with some advanced enemy AI. With eleven different weapons at your disposal it couldn't be too hard, could it? Nor could taking on enemies in the air, with five ship types and seven different weapons at your fingertips, right? Well, Mace is boasting an impressive AI system where enemies will use team strategies and environments to their advantage, so it may not be that easy.

The levels that play host to the ground-based missions are huge, and judging from the screenshots, finely detailed - with a strong space-western flavor running throughout. With different objectives like rescues, protection, and even assassinations, there’s plenty to keep you on your toes, too. So despite the wait, it looks like FPS fans and space melee fans alike will find Mace worth it.

Key features:

• 12 single-player missions
• 13 levels
• 11 ground weapons
• 65 character types
• 16 ship types, 5 that you can use
• Seamless transition between ground and space missions
• AI uses cover and team strategies to fight

Fight:			Several different types of objective:
Bandits	Smugglers		Assassinations	Protection
Security forces	Alien terrorists		Data retrieval	Rescue
Religious fanatics (!)	Crime cartels		Destroy space stations	Sniping pilots in drop ships
Mercenaries		Stabilizing a sabotaged ship

So, as you can see, it looks pretty good so far. Don’t take my word for it though. I’ll let the many, many pictures speak for themselves.

  

· · · AFX