The Top Shelf: The Second Round 002: Headhunter

Welcome to The Top Shelf, a weekly feature wherein I sort through my extensive PS2 collection for the diamonds in the rough. My goal here is to narrow down a library of 185 games to a svelte 44: the number of spaces on my bookshelf set aside for my PS2 collection. That means a whole lot of vetting and a whole lot of science that needs to be done - and here in the second round, that means narrowing our laser focus to one game per week (at least). Be sure to check out the Case File Repository for more details and a full list of games/links!

Headhunter's been a riot, though I'm not sure how I feel about it qualitatively. Part of that is due to its age: initially a 2001 release for the Dreamcast (later making its way to the PS2 in 2002, which is the version I'm playing), Headhunter is in the most reductive terms a Metal Gear Solid clone. Specifically, the first one. I want to imagine its developers saw what Metal Gear Solid 2 was about to do to define the PS2 generation and tried to bring that sort of multi-faceted action-adventure-shooter-stealth game to the Dreamcast, which was crying out for something that would allow it to compete. A lot of games of this era were still grappling with the controls and mechanics of the 3D third-person shooter genre, most notably the Resident Evil sequels and its own pack of clones (like Deep Fear, or Blue Stinger, or Extermination, or Carrier, or... jeez, there were a few of them), and I could imagine how difficult it must be to forge a path distinct enough from what Kojima was doing but still learning what you could from the bold new advances he was making. I say Headhunter's a MGS clone but really the game is wholly its own thing, taking elements of Resident Evil and survival horror to supplement its more "MGS-like" traits.

So, let's begin with how it's similar to Metal Gear Solid. The game forgoes tank controls for more contemporary analog stick movement, thank god, but it's still relatively strict about letting the player control the camera. Being able to see around an environment with the right analog stick is one of those ubiquitous modern conveniences that its absence here becomes very conspicuous, even if the player is still able to effectively point the camera by hitting the "aim" button while pointing in their desired direction. Like MGS, the game has you aim first with the right trigger before firing with the X button, though it lacks the free-aiming (at least, I wasn't able to figure it out) and hold-up mechanics introduced in Metal Gear Solid 2 (the explanation there, I'd imagine, is that both games were in development at the same time and Kojima kept a lot of that tech close to his chest). The game also emphasizes stealth over open conflict, as it takes very little time for enemies to whittle down your health if they get the drop on you and there's limited health items available. The best solution is to sneak up behind enemies while they patrol and choke them - the distance you need to pull this off is fairly ridiculous though, to the extent where you need to be so close that you're actually pushing the target. The last significant similarity is the game's big focus on VR training: as your protagonist Jack Wade (great '90s action hero name, incidentally) gets closer to uncovering the game's major conspiracies, he must first get promoted as a titular "headhunter" agent by upgrading his license from C to B to A to AAA for the level of access higher ranks provide. This involves stopping the plot dead to complete VR tests every few missions, each set of four following a predictable pattern of A) motorcycle checkpoint racing, B) full stealth, where you can't be spotted even once, C) full combat, where alerted enemies pour into a room and you have to take them all down as quickly as possible, and D) a final exam that combines B and C. The game gives you a goal time target and a much shorter "record time", held by your burly rival Hank Redwood (another great action hero name - I suspect these guys watched the Space Mutiny episode of MST3k too), and beating all those records gives you the genre-typical unlocks of weapons with unlimited ammo for use in new game+.

Now, for how it's different. The most obvious and perhaps worst innovation is Jack's motorcycle. This is his main means of conveyance around a semi-detailed city that you can't interact with - I'll give it credit for creating such a large map, at least - and each of the VR training missions can't be attempted until the player hits a certain cap of "skill points" with the bike. Skill points, as far as I'm aware, can only be earned one way: maintaining a very fast speed, with more skill points earned the faster you go. However, later licenses require that you maintain a high speed without crashing, which instantly docks you points and needlessly protracts this pointless exercise. One of the better aspects distinct to this game is its presentation: the graphics haven't aged well, but I remember enough about games from 2001 to say it's definitely above the median and the game's score is fantastic with the highlight being this theme tune (which regular viewers of GameCenter CX should recognize). Best of all is the game's mildly satirical dystopian angle, taking a few pages from RoboCop's playbook. In addition to a plot about organ harvesting and unbridled privatized law enforcement agencies, there's a lot about this near-future setting that feels a little off, from forcing seniors to count votes (who will be rewarded for meeting "the expected result") to how people are warned to stay clear from any commercial foodstuffs with organic ingredients. The delivery mechanism for all this world-building are these wonderful live-action FMV cutscenes of newscasters commenting on whatever the player just did, or just day-to-day newsworthy events that serve to embellish this outwardly pleasant oppressive future - Headhunter starts to feel like a Remedy game in parts because of the on-point dark humor of these live-action skits, which includes great lines (and appropriate reaction shots to same) like "I bet there a lot of people who'd like one of Jack Wade's organs inside them" after the hero is captured and ready to be harvested by the corrupt Anti-Crime Network.

I appreciate that the game tossed in a few survival horror style puzzles - from using a box to reach a power control panel, to moving an engine block out of the way to reach a locker, to indenting a coin-shaped blank key by taking half a key and mirroring the pattern. There's one tense sequence where Jack rides around LA disarming suitcase detonators to prevent a bomb from exploding, each of which has its own set of QTE prompts to quickly solve, and other sequences where the playable character duties switch to the game's deuteragonist for a brief time (these work a lot like Onimusha: the heroine isn't nearly as strong or well-stocked, but is given an easier mission to compensate). It's a game with an imagination, one that tries to throw something novel at you for each set-piece mission, and it has some clever MGS-style boss fights too where it's never as simple as a battle of attrition you can easily brute force.

In most respects, Headhunter is a sub-par Metal Gear Solid game with some ideas about how to mix things up that only hit about half of the time (RoboCop dystopian satire = good, anything to do with the motorcycle = bad, orchestral soundtrack = good, insufficient camera controls = bad, etc.), but it's not a game without merit. Even so, Metal Gear Solid 3 is currently fighting for its right to be on the shelf, and I don't think Headhunter really compares to it. MGS2, sure, maybe I could see an argument there, but then I already eliminated that one months ago.

Result: Eliminated. (But it put up a worthy fight, at least. If early MGS is your jam, I'd give it a shot as being one of the better games nipping at its heels.)

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