Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter
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''Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by Warthog Games, published by
Black Label Games Vivendi Games was an American video game publisher and holding company based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1996 as CUC Software, the publishing subsidiary of CUC International, after the latter acquired video game companies Davidson & Associ ...
and released for the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
, Xbox and
Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
. A
GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
version was in development, but was cancelled.


Gameplay

One unique feature is the ability to switch between on-foot first-person shooter combat to spacecraft dogfights seamlessly, with no loading times during such moments. This is extended to being able to move away from the controls and walk around during flight as the ship continues on its course. Each weapon also has an alternative fire. For example: the four-barrel shotgun can be fired as a single shot or a burst from all barrels. The semiautomatic pistol can also be fired in a three-round burst or fully automatic.


Plot

The game's plot occurs in the science fiction
futuristic The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...
Vagner System on the edge of the known universe in an
alternate history Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, altern ...
. The Vagner System is a wild west that is inhabited by large corporations and pioneers looking for a fresh start or to make a quick buck. The backbone of the Vagnerian economy is the large Tannan Corporation, which has a virtual monopoly over the Vagner System. In order to maintain law and order and to protect their interests, a group of large corporations founded the Enforcer police service in the Vagner System. In addition to the Enforcers, the Guild of Bounty Hunters was established. It develops as a series of missions Mace Griffin (voiced by Henry Rollins) is given while working for the Guild of Bounty Hunters. During these seemingly unrelated missions, Mace discovers a dark conspiracy taking place in the Vagner System involving the appearance of mysterious black wormholes while he is out for his own form of justice: revenge for being thrown into jail years earlier through an act of betrayal. He must seek out and destroy those who have wronged him. Three different races populate the Vagner System, all settlers from their own home systems. These are humans; the Jaldari, large gorilla-like humanoids; and Valleakan, green lizard-like humanoids. All three races are at peace and mix freely together throughout the universe.


Development

The game was originally announced by publisher Crave Entertainment in April 2001 as ''Bounty Hunter''. It was set to be released as an Xbox console exclusive for a release near the console's release window in the fall. A month later on May 16, a day before
E3 2001 E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo or Electronic Entertainment Experience in 2021) is a trade event for the video game industry. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) organizes and presents E3, which many developers, publishe ...
, Crave announced to enter into a publishing deal with Electronic Arts, where the latter would co-publish three Crave titles for Windows - '' Freedom Force'', '' Global Ops'', and ''Bounty Hunter'', and that Electronic Arts would also solely publish the Xbox version in Europe, and Crave would solely publish the Xbox version in North America. The fall 2001 release window was missed out, and the two companies would reveal more details for the game in February 2002, set for a fall release window that year. In April 2002,
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
reported that several retailers had listed a version of the game for the
GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
, which was officially confirmed by Crave on May 10 before
E3 2002 E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo or Electronic Entertainment Experience in 2021) is a trade event for the video game industry. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) organizes and presents E3, which many developers, publisher ...
, in addition to a
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
version. In August, Crave sold the publishing rights to the title to
Vivendi Universal Games Vivendi Games was an American video game publisher and holding company based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1996 as CUC Software, the publishing subsidiary of CUC International, after the latter acquired video game companies Davidson & Associ ...
, who would publish it under the
Black Label Games Vivendi Games was an American video game publisher and holding company based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1996 as CUC Software, the publishing subsidiary of CUC International, after the latter acquired video game companies Davidson & Associ ...
publishing label, and the game was delayed once again to a March 2003 release window to give the game a complete refresh. Electronic Arts was still committed to publish the PC version worldwide after Crave's sale of publishing rights but were removed as publishers in favor of VU Games by May 2003, and the PC version was delayed again until September. The game went gold on June 2, 2003, and was released for the system on June 19. In August, Vivendi Universal canceled the
GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
version and the North American release of the PC version due to the game's mediocre reception, but they published the PC version in Europe. In December, MumboJumbo acquired the North American publishing rights to the PC version from Vivendi Universal and the publisher released the game the following month in January.


Reception

The game received "mixed" reviews on all platforms according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.


Comic

A single prequel comic was released by
Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-ow ...
in 2003, telling of the events prior to the game.


References


External links

* * {{IMDb title, 0363783 2003 video games Alternate history video games Cancelled GameCube games Fictional bounty hunters First-person shooters MumboJumbo games PlayStation 2 games Science fiction video games Single-player video games Space Western video games Video games adapted into comics Video games developed in the United Kingdom Warthog Games games Windows games Xbox games