Die Hard Review I

This arcade title is really three games in one - and they're based on the explosive Die Hard movies from 20th Century Fox. For some gamers, one game is never enough. But do you have what it takes for three games in one?

Give it your best shot, or at least die trying as Fox Interactive unleashes three explosive adventures in one amazing game with the DIE HARD TRILOGY for PlayStation. Fight and shoot your way through a high-rise that's wired to explode. Gun down terrorists in a hi-jacked airport. Drive above, below and through a crowded city besieged with hidden bombs.

You're at the centre of three totally different, thrill-packed adventures playing John McClane (a cop with a habit of being barefoot in the wrong place at the wrong time) as he takes on a highly trained team of international terrorists. The first adventure - DIE HARD - puts you inside Nakatomi Plaza, a Los Angeles skyscraper on the brink of obliteration, for an intense search and rescue mission.

The second adventure - DIE HARDER - takes you inside Washington/ Dulles Airport for a fast moving, first-person perspective, arcade-style action shooter. The third time's a charm in DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE, a high-speed urban driving adventure. Get in, sit down, buckle up and hang on as you slam on the accelerator in a race against the clock. Each episode is like a self-contained game world, boasting many levels. There are shooting sections, Virtua Cop-style sections and even a frantic driving section. The graphics and soundtrack are just amazing too. As John McClane would say...Yippee Kay Ay!

Die Hard Review II - Part 2

Any time you walk near a wall, you can see what power-ups, weapons, and--more importantly--enemies are on the other side. It's almost like you've entered some cheat code that gives you x-ray vision. This was especially ridiculous in a level where you had to locate hostages.

Instead of entering the different rooms and possibly getting ambushed, all you had to do was stand next to the wall and you'd see if there were any hostages hanging around. Ugh. The driving game isn't as cool as Driver or any of the Interstate Insert-Year-Here games. The controls are flaky and can be real unresponsive at times.

The levels do capture the race-against-the-clock feel of a lot of the films' chase scenes, but the cranky physics don't do it complete justice. The objectives for each level aren't spelled out particularly well, so you spend most of your time trying to follow the arrows on a heads-up compass display. And with crisp turning almost impossible, it's a real demolition derby at times.

The arcade-style sharp-shooting game is probably the best of the three…if you have a light gun. Without one, it can be kind of lackluster, bordering on the frustrating. Why they let you reconfigure the Y-axis in the "look/aim mode" of the third-person game and not in the shooting game is beyond me. Moving the analog stick up to move the targeting cursor up may seem natural, but after playing a million other adventure/flight/first-person shooters where you pitch up to aim down, this is like typing with your feet.