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Nakatomi Plaza at E3 2001

The Specs

This game began as a Half Life mod. But Die Hard is a jealously guarded Twentieth Century Fox property, so somewhere along the line lawyers and licensing got involved. But this time, there's a happy ending: Fox Interactive picked up the project, convinced its creators at Pirhana Games in Vancouver to use the LithTech engine, and signed an agreement with Sierra to publish it. Sierra then went on to show their gratitude by misspelling Piranha's name in all the press materials. This single-player only game loosely follows the action of the first movie as John McClane takes on a cadre of terrorists occupying a skyscraper. In addition to set peices from the movie, Nakatomi Plaza will visit new areas and situations -- after all, the game has to last more than ninety minutes. In addition to the standard assortment of weapons, you'll have a lighter to light your way in the air ducts, a radio to communicate with enemies and allies, and a badge to turn SWAT team members friendly and calm down panicked neutral characters. The mod is striving for a Hollywood style of realism, so there won't be any one-shot kills, but there will be reloading, stamina limits to running, and a morale system that determines how the bad guys react to you.

The Speculation

Mark's Comments: If I was going to get into a Bruce Willis adventure, it would probably involve Demi Moore and sending home the servants early. This one has all the look of being an ordinary shooter, and it's missing the most important element — voiceover work from Bruce Willis himself. If Nakatomi Plaza is going to be recreated, recreate the Willis wisecracks too. Movies are not games and games are not movies.

Tom's Comments: Nakatomi Plaza can't be any worse than other licensed Die Hard games. Which isn't saying much, considering how universally awful they've been. But with the quality of free third party work these days, how viable is it to take a mod, drop it into a retail box, and charge $30? Is this happening to Nakatomi Plaza because it's got a big name license or because it's that good? Based on what I saw at E3, I'd guess the former. With so many open engines, content isn't just king, it's also often available as a free download.

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May 22, 2001