Headhunter (video game)
| Headhunter | |
|---|---|
European Dreamcast boxart
|
|
| Developer(s) | Amuze |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Director(s) | John Kroknes |
| Producer(s) | John Kroknes Stefan Holmqvist |
| Designer(s) | Peter Johansson |
| Artist(s) | Johan Lindh |
| Writer(s) | Philip Lawrence |
| Composer(s) | Richard Jacques |
| Platform(s) | Dreamcast, PlayStation 2 |
| Release date(s) |
Dreamcast
|
| Genre(s) | Action/Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Headhunter is a video game developed by Amuze for the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 video game consoles. The Dreamcast version of the game was only distributed in Europe, by BigBen Interactive.
According to John Kroknes, creative director at Amuze, the game was strongly influenced by 1980s action movies and Paul Verhoeven's science fiction films.
For the majority of the game, the gameplay is that of a third-person shooter as players control protagonist Jack Wade. Jack travels between the main levels of the game on his motorcycle, and these sections take the form of a racing game, with the motorbike's acceleration and braking controlled using the sensitive analogue trigger buttons of the Dreamcast control pad.
Music for the game was composed by Richard Jacques and recorded at Abbey Road Studios. In 2004 its sequel, Headhunter Redemption, was released on Xbox and PlayStation 2.
The game takes place in the near future in a city similar to Los Angeles, California. Criminals are punished for their crimes not only by serving time in prison but by having their internal organs surgically removed (if they lost to another prisoner in an underwater arena) and transplanted to benefit the wealthier members of society. Officially responsible for law enforcement are the Anti-Crime Network (ACN) organisation and their employees, the bounty hunter-like Headhunters. In order to prevent damage occurring to the criminals' organs as they are apprehended, conventional firearms have been banned, replaced by Electric Neural Projectile (ENP) guns that fire special bullets which do not damage flesh but instead emit an electrical charge that causes severe pain in victims, paralyses muscles and eventually kills the brain. According to the game, ENP technology was developed by Biotech and the main manufacturer of ENP handguns is Smith & Easton (a reference to the firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson), although the technology can also be used with grenades, proximity mines, rocket launchers and other explosives.
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