Bounty Hounds Preview

Being an exclusive, unseen PSP title, you’d think that Bounty Hounds would have been given the VIP treatment: big signs, large posters, expensive sculptures, etc. Namco chose not to give the game so much flash, which is great for those of us who wanted to take a look at the game without having to wait.

One game came to mind the minute I saw this bad boy in action: Chaos Legion. Then another came to mind: Nanobreakers. Then another, and another. Bounty Hounds is Namco’s answer to that all-you-can-kill buffet genre.

Two buttons are reserved for attacks: square and circle. If you hit them in succession (either square then circle, or circle then square), you’ll execute one of two special attacks. Triangle is used to generate a force field (to help defend against enemy attacks, most likely); X will generate a barrier of some kind or make your character dash. Character movement is controlled through the D-pad, leaving the analog stick open for – who would have guessed? – regaining health.

This unorthodox control scheme just might work if Namco can keep the gameplay from being repetitive. At E3 I saw dozens of enemies charge at the player. Maximillian, the main character and leader of the Bounty Hounds, slaughtered his monstrous foes with several deadly attacks.

Interestingly, the enemy AI is supposed to change according to player health, weapon strength and weapon type. Pull this off and Namco will be on their way to avoiding the repetitive legacies of its predecessors

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