Die Hard Vendetta

America’s unluckiest cop is having another very bad day.

• NA release: 15th November 2002
• EU release: 19th November 2002
• JP release: N/A
• Developer: Bits Studios
• Publisher: Vivendi Universal Games
• NGC Magazine Score: 80%
• Mods Used: None

Starting originally as a game for the Nintendo 64, this Die Hard game eventually made its way out on the GameCube (and then later PS2 and Xbox). One of the first notable things is that John McClaine looks and sounds nothing like Bruce Willis, which is a shame as everything captures Die Hard really well. The story feels right, John’s quips are written in the right way, the villains are interesting and there are some fun set pieces, even if a few are to the game’s detriment.

Die Hard Vendetta is a solid first person shooter, for the most part, and the general shooting mechanics, and weapons, are a lot of fun, especially when duel wielding. There is a hefty auto aim helping things, which some people may hate, but it’s good for me. There are also stealth mechanics, and you can capture bad guys to convince their people to put their guns down (get a goon instead of a leader and they’ll probably just shoot, though).

What lets the game down is that the levels are often confusing in the wrong ways, with no clear path forward, or an awkwardly placed button. Sometimes you just have to shoot things you never would have thought to shoot. It means you can go from a very frantic situation to bumbling about the same small area for ages. In an early level, a Chinese Theatre, you need to get behind the stage. To do this, you need to get to a projection room, find a small box that’s easy to miss that powers on the organ and then ride the organ up to the stage.

It’s a shame as these never feel like they’re supposed to be puzzles, so an objective marker or some hand holding would just speed up the action a lot. Other slow sections also rely on platforming, which is quite unreliable. Once you are in the flow of things, it is a ton of fun and the atmosphere is done well enough that it really feels like a Die Hard experience.

Fun

At the end of the day, though, you should still give Die Hard a look – if only to get a taste of some of the fantastic moments it has to offer and to make sure that all the effort that’s been put into it doesn’t go to waste. It might be a rough diamond, but underneath that it’s still a real gem.

Geraint Evans, NGC Magazine #74

Remake or remaster?

A remaster with some refined elements would be great.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s not official way to get Die Hard Vengeance.

Europe

Japan

North America

GameCube Games by Date

2001: Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

2002: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

2003: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

2004: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

2005: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

2006: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

2007: Mar, Jun, Aug

bits Die Hard first person FPS shooter Vivendi