Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run Review (Xbox)

Gameplay - On Foot

What was supposed to break up those vehicle sections and give the game more depth, the on foot sections, actually only serve to hurt the game overall. If you have played any third-person-shooter in the last five years you should know basically what to expect here. One major difference is that the game has some decent melee combat that takes advantage of The Rock’s unique talents. You can do punch combos, beat people with pipes and other objects, and even body slam them. Nothing is better than picking up a bad guy and unceremoniously throwing them off a cliff. You can also perform a Rock Bottom finishing move, which is pretty cool. Once guns come into the picture, though, the fun dies out pretty quickly. The game goes into an over the shoulder view when you have a gun, but the controls are pretty slippery and it is hard to shoot accurately. Also, you don’t really get any sort of feedback when you are taking damage. You’ll be getting filled full of lead and won’t really notice which is a very bad thing. The melee stuff is definitely a lot more fun than the shooting, but the on foot sections overall are more annoyance than fun and you definitely look forward to getting back to the Interceptor.

Graphics and Sound

Graphically, Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run is a mixed bag. Occasionally there will be some nice lighting and the water definitely looks cool, but the levels are pretty bland overall and the enemy designs are repetitive and just plain bad. The Interceptor and The Rock both look pretty good, though.

The sound is a little better than the graphics, but still pretty generic. Weapons and explosions sound just like you expect and the music is typical action movie fare. The Rock does a good job with the lines he was given and definitely adds to the experience. Plus it is always fun to add a “Jabroni” or a “It doesn’t matter what your evil plan is” after his dialogue while you are playing. It made us laugh anyway.

Bottom Line

Overall, Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run has some interesting ideas but the execution is lacking. The Interceptor levels are fun, but repetitive. And the on-foot sections are hampered by some less than responsive controls and it is unfortunate that you are forced to use guns so much when the melee and wrestling is a lot more fun. The presentation also leaves a lot to be desired. I think the biggest problem is that there are a lot of games that do all of this exact same stuff a lot better. 007: Everything or Nothing, just for example, does third-person-shooting and car chases far better and that game is several years old now. If you are a fan of the last couple of Spy Hunter games or The Rock, Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run makes a decent rental but I wouldn’t recommend it for a purchase.