Vendetta will be one of the first GameCube FPS, and it’s shaping up to be a great game. In Vendetta, you take control of John McClane (Bruce Willis’ character) in search of your daughter, who has been kidnapped for investigating some evil guy’s son or something. Basically, you shoot things good, and then you shoot more things good. Thankfully, Bits Studio (Vendetta’s developer) have included some very cool features that will keep the game from becoming monotonous, while delivering a control scheme that, for the most part, works great.

You move McClane with the left analog control stick, while the C-Stick allows you to strafe, duck, and jump. The left trigger allows you to free look to aim (ala Goldeneye and the R button), the right trigger fires your weapon, and the Z trigger allows you to enter stealth mode, which I’ll explain in a moment. As for the face buttons, A also allows you to shoot, B reloads, and X allows you to snap people’s necks (this is related to the stealth mode). Finally, the D-pad allows you to cycle through your items by pressing up or down, and your weapons (left and right). Basically, the controls are fairly solid, except for the strafing and the use of the aiming. Your character moves ultra fast, but strafing is surprisingly slow. And while using a trigger to access your aiming reticle worked perfectly for Goldeneye, it doesn’t convert very well into Vendetta, which is more along the lines of Half Life when it comes to game speed and required reflexes.

Speaking of Half Life, there are many similarities between it and Die Hard. Vendetta does contain some platforming aspects, though thankfully jumping puzzles are fairly rare. Another fair comparison between the two would be the great use of in game cutscenes, meaning significant events and plotlines unfold while you’re actually playing the game. As previously mentioned, there is also the very cool stealth mode. By pressing the Z trigger, your see your hand(s) raise up (or fists, depending on whether or not you’re holding a gun) in front of you. If you unequip a weapon, then you can sneak up behind unsuspecting guards, put your hands on their neck, and SNAP. Very cool.

Vendetta’s interaction with unfolding events while you play are integrated perfectly. At the beginning of a level where you’re investigating an abandoned subway (a suspected terrorist hideout), you find yourself walking around a hollow station, inhabited by homeless people. Should you quickly run around the corner, right into a camp of enemies, you’re dead. So instead, you’re able to pick up some hobo clothes (actual description), unequip a weapon, and casually walk amidst the terrorists while listening to their conversation (which is portrayed though real time speech). Then you walk up behind the lead terrorist, put your two hands around his neck, and… wait. All of the other villains immediately get in position to shoot you, but the leader tells them to calm down and drop their weapons. You’re then allowed to systematically pick up their guns, as they slowly lie down on the ground with their hands behind their backs. And THEN you snap their leader’s neck (and shoot the unarmed terrorists, execution style). Too much fun. Another cool circumstance is the Matrix-esque slow motion sequence, which appears to happen during certain areas. You shoot at a villain, and time immediately slows down and zooms in on the bullet, rotating around the projectile as it creates ripples in the air. Then once it embeds itself into the enemy, you’ll often see him fall off a balcony in slow motion (with heavy motion blurring) and bounce off the ground realistically. It may be cliché, but it’s just too awesome to matter.

Unfortunately, the version I played was hampered by the dastardly auto-aim. If you’re anywhere near pointing to an enemy, the reticle immediately found them. This, along with some questionable collision detection when it comes to the number of bullets that actually hit an enemy, has me questioning how great this game is going to be. A representative from Vivendi assured me that you will be able to turn off auto-aim, but then the lack of C-stick aiming will really become apparent. Visually, the game is very nice, as beautiful water distortions, bump mapping, and great light maps on the environments and you weapons make it a very, very great effort. Die Hard: Vendetta has a chance to be a very great FPS, but its few shortcoming are too apparent to overlook. Hopefully Vendetta will emerge a great title, as it definitely has the potential.