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Die Hard Arcade

 
Games: Die Hard Arcade
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Game Description

Die Hard Arcade takes place after the second Die Hard movie, Die Hard with a Vengeance. Single or multiple players may take the role of John McClane and his female partner as they stand against a horde of terrorists to save John's wife and the president's daughter.

Gamers must traverse the rooftops, galleries, and restrooms of the Nakatomi Corporation's building, while fighting punks, martial arts experts, sumo wrestlers, and SWAT team members. Die Hard Arcade features multiple endings as well as the Sega Arcade classic Deep Scan. Completing Deep Scan in one try unlocks extra credits for Die Hard Arcade.
~ Shawn Sackenheim, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

Let's get the graphics out of the way first. The character models consist of very few polygons and look even blockier than they did in the Arcade version. Backgrounds are solid but they have that overall bland Saturn feel with texture maps that could've been a little more hi-res. Overall, they're not bad but they are definitely not what you would call groundbreaking.

So, if you're still with me you must care more about a game than just its graphics. To its advantage, however, the game features some high quality animation and character design that still looks good, even with the low polygon models. There also is always a number of enemies on screen at once (human or robotic) that would normally result in slowdown. Thanks to the low polygon models the system isn't pushed as hard and can keep the game nearly 100% slowdown free!

Then there's the gameplay. You'll find numerous ways to defeat your enemies, be it using one of the many weapons that you will find laying around, by throwing them into other enemies, or by busting out a Virtua Fighter style combo! Of course, the enemies can also pick up the same weapons that are laying about which really makes the game more versatile as you will quickly have to adjust to the way they will start fighting.

Aside from its mediocre graphics, the only flaw that really hampers Die Hard Arcade is its length. The game is astoundingly short as it was originally an arcade quarter cruncher. Of course it's loads of fun and you'll find yourself returning numerous times but as far as secrets or rewards you can forget about it.

Die Hard Arcade will forever be an underrated game as it doesn't come off as being anything more than an action game with weak graphics and the Die Hard movie title attached to it. Beneath the license and the graphics lies a game that is more fun, initially challenging, and diverse than most other 32-bit beat-'em-ups. If you're a fan of the genre, definitely check this one out!
~ Shawn Sackenheim, All Game Guide

Review: Enjoyment

Grab a friend and you'll have a blast! Loads of fast paced fighting action
~ Shawn Sackenheim, All Game Guide

Review: Graphics

Blocky characters and shoddy texture mapped backgrounds. Very nice animation however.
~ Shawn Sackenheim, All Game Guide

Review: Sound

Decent tunes with lots of sound effects for all of the weapons and attacks.
~ Shawn Sackenheim, All Game Guide

Review: Replay Value

While it is fun to return to the game over and over, there's really no incentive to keep playing after you beat the game once.
~ Shawn Sackenheim, All Game Guide

Review: Documentation

An average manual with the usual information on storyline, options, and controls.
~ Shawn Sackenheim, All Game Guide
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Wikipedia: Die Hard Arcade
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Die Hard Arcade

Developer(s) AM1
Sega Technical Institute
Publisher(s) Sega
Fox Interactive
Designer(s) Roger Hector & Rikiya Nakagawa (Producers)
Makoto Uchida (Producer & Director & Game Designer)
Artist(s) Robert Steele (Art Manager) Kunitake Aoki & Tatsuto Kumada (Art Director)
Composer(s) Howard Drossin (Music & Sound Effects)
Platform(s) Arcade, Sega Saturn
Release date(s) 1996 (Arcade)
April 8, 1997 (Sega Saturn)
Genre(s) Beat 'em up
Mode(s) Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s) ESRB: Teen (T)
Media CD-ROM

Die Hard Arcade is the licensed American/European version of the Japanese videogame Dynamite Deka. The game is a beat 'em up with loose ties to the Die Hard movie series of the same name.

However, other than the title, the building and the fact that the hero (named Bruno Delinger in the Japanese version) resembled John McClane, the game and the movie have little to do with each other (in fact, the license was purchased when the game was essentially complete for the American and European releases). It is a 1 - 2 player game in which the male and/or female characters fight through action-packed levels to save the president's daughter from a band of terrorists.

Gameplay

The game is played by fighting your way through waves of enemies, using your fists, feet, and a ludicrous variety of weapons, from household items such as brooms to high-damage anti-tank cannons. You progress through the requisite enemies and bosses with cut scenes interspersed into the action. Various cut scenes in the game contain Quick Time Event sequences, in which the player must press a particular button within a short time limit to alter the impending scene e.g., defeating an enemy or group of enemies in the sequence so that the player will not have to then engage them in combat.

At the end of the game if both players are still alive, the gameplay will change to that of a fighting game, where the two players will fight each other on the rooftop of the skyscraper to gain the sole appreciation of the president's daughter.

The game also features an emulated port of Sega's 1979 arcade game Deep Scan, which can be used to gain extra credits.

Development

It was created by Sega, using a team up of the successful Japanese AM1 (Arcade Machine 1, also known as WoW Entertainment) group and US-based Sega Technical Institute (STI), which developed in collaboration with Sonic Team some of the Sonic the Hedgehog series of games following the original, to create this game. AM1 provided the engineering, and some of the design and art, and STI provided art, design and animation. Incidentally, Die Hard Arcade was also the final game developed by STI before the studio was dissolved.

The game was created simultaneously for the Titan Arcade system and Sega Saturn but the home version was released later.

The Japanese version of Die Hard Arcade, Dynamite Deka, was followed by a sequel titled Dynamite Deka 2 for the arcade and Dreamcast. The sequel was released internationally as Dynamite Cop.

External links

v • d • e
Die Hard series
Die Hard (1988) · Die Hard 2 (1990) · Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) · Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
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