Being an exclusive, unseen PSP title, you’d think
that Bounty Hounds would have been given the VIP treatment: big signs, large
posters, expensive sculptures, etc. Namco chose not to give the game so much
flash, which is great for those of us who wanted to take a look at the game
without having to wait.
One game came to mind the minute I saw this bad
boy in action: Chaos Legion. Then another came to mind: Nanobreakers. Then
another, and another. Bounty Hounds is Namco’s answer to that all-you-can-kill
buffet genre.
Two buttons are reserved for attacks: square and
circle. If you hit them in succession (either square then circle, or circle then
square), you’ll execute one of two special attacks. Triangle is used to generate
a force field (to help defend against enemy attacks, most likely); X will
generate a barrier of some kind or make your character dash. Character movement
is controlled through the D-pad, leaving the analog stick open for – who would
have guessed? – regaining health.
This unorthodox control scheme just might work if
Namco can keep the gameplay from being repetitive. At E3 I saw dozens of enemies
charge at the player. Maximillian, the main character and leader of the Bounty
Hounds, slaughtered his monstrous foes with several deadly attacks.
Interestingly, the enemy AI is supposed to change
according to player health, weapon strength and weapon type. Pull this off and
Namco will be on their way to avoiding the repetitive legacies of its
predecessors
