100 Bullets

Acclaim is one of those publishers you can't ever seem to figure out. Beyond their tactless forms of advertising (anyone remember the Turok: Evolution commercials?), the company has made many suicidal business decisions such as nearly killing their premiere sports series, Dave Mirra's Freestyle BMX, by releasing the lackluster BMX XXX. However, despite these and other mishaps, Acclaim has released many good games during its history, such as Aggressive Inline, Burnout and the (earlier) Turok games.

So when Acclaim announced the title 100 Bullets, a third-person shooter that looks like it takes more than a couple cues from Max Payne, it wasn't met with much enthusiasm. Now that a few more details and screenshots have come out though, 100 Bullets looks like it might not be that bad. In fact, it might be downright enjoyable.

The game is being developed by Acclaim's Austin Studios in cooperation with many people responsible for the comic book that 100 Bullet's is based upon. Like in the comic book, 100 Bullets has to do with people's meetings with a man that goes by the name of Agent Graves. Agent Graves is quite the dark creature, who is only made more mysterious when people hear what he has to say - nothing. He instead gives people an opportunity for revenge they otherwise wouldn't get. Giving people evidence of a past crime to plant on the person who has wronged them, immunity from legal punishment, and a gun, people approached by Agent Graves know nothing of his intentions or even who he is. Which, as we may guess, is exactly how Agent Graves wants it.

This scenario leads gamers into controlling characters Cole Burns (a regular in the comic series) and Snow Falls (a character made for the game and for people who like to laugh at stupid names). Control alternates as you wade through the levels, which as you could probably guess from the game's title, relies quite heavily on gun fighting.

Though 100 Bullets so far hasn't totally reinvented 3rd person shooters it has done a lot to advance the genre. The Auto-Aim feature, for example, is far more advanced than other auto-targeting systems used in other games. In 100 Bullets you can quickly jab auto aim and simply knock off a round at your foe, or you can hold it for a little longer and you're bullets will fly at far more devastating levels of accuracy. The game also gives players a few more advanced moves, including typical ones for the genre (using humans for body shields) to the new and innovative (smashing heads into walls).

100 Bullets, even at its early stage of development, looks impressive. Acclaim has teamed up with comic artist Eduardo Risso to replicate the graphic novel feel with a high level of detail.