B-Hunter (a.k.a. Bounty Hunter) - Review

Author: Vlakey Date: Nov 13 2004 - 13:57 Score: 60 points

Introduction:
This is an action game set in a futuristic city full of crime and corruption, and you are a bounty hunter flying in his hovercraft, doing the dirty work for police and various individuals. The whole game has a cyberpunk atmosphere, and reminds of films like "Blade Runner" and "The Fifth Element" with hover cars flying all around.

Features:
This game has 9 episodes which contain nearly 50 missions, and even though it's somewhat short (it can be completed in one day, if you're persistent enough), if you're not rushing things this game can last quite a bit. All episodes take place in a futuristic city, which is probably New York, if you take a look at some of it's sections: Downtown, Old Bronx, Space Port, The Docks, Industrial Complex, Central Stadium, Financial District and Chinatown. The good thing about this city is that it is huge, as you get into new episodes, new parts of the city will be available to you in addition to the ones you've already been to. The bad thing about it being huge is that you can easily get lost, but after some time you'll get accustomed to following the signs, and there will be very few occasions in which you'll have problems finding a place. When you start a game you will be given the opportunity to start the first episode right away, or undergo a training mission first, and I'd recommend the latter, because it will make you somewhat familiar with how the things work.

There are three vehicles at your disposal: Barletta, Stinger and Viper. Barletta is the slowest, but is easiest to control, and it's the one I would recommend you use. Stinger is faster than Barletta, but is much harder to control, and Viper is the fastest, but almost impossible not to wreck while driving around. There is also a hidden vehicle (which you can obtain by typing "iabat" while in the game), which is best described as Viper's speed meets Stinger's handling. When you complete the game, you can try having another go at it using one of the faster vehicles, which take more time to master, so this adds a bit to the replay factor.

Graphics:
Nothing spectacular, but they are far from bad. The city's atmosphere is nicely influenced by the great choice of building and highway textures, and space ships flying above are a nice touch. The thing I especially liked are the signs that point to more important places which get zoomed (and transparent) as you approach them from a distance. The lens flare, smoke, and explosion effects are also nicely done.

Controls:
I have played the game with keyboard/gamepad, and in my opinion, flying any vehicle besides the Barletta is extremely hard. I haven't tried it with a joystick (game supports using two joysticks at the same time, which would be cool, I guess), and my guess is that it would be easier that way. You can also use mouse to fly, but I wouldn't recommend it. Controls in the game are overall pretty responsive, and if you use the Barletta vehicle it shouldn't be too hard.

Sound & Music:
The sounds in the game "do the job", although some of them could be better. The game supports 3D stereo sound, so you can hear the sounds exactly from the direction they are coming from, and it has a nice Doppler effect (the pitch of the sound changes as you pass it, like the police sirens for example). Music is a techno/rock crossover, but I played the ripped version only, so I don't have any details.

Conclusion:
This is one of the best looking abandonware games in my opinion, and considering it's size (less than 7 mb) you really should try it. It will probably be fun, even if you're not into this kind of games (flying/shooting).

	Title / Type	Submitter	Date
	Review	Vlakey	Nov 13 2004

Go to the game page
Submit a review

You need to be logged in to post comments