Fugitive Hunter: War on Terror

Overview

Fugitive Hunter: War on Terror (known in Europe as America's 10 Most Wanted) is a first-person shooter developed by Black Ops and released by Encore (for North American regions) and Play It (for European regions) for the PC and PlayStation 2 on November 18, 2003. Released in the midst of George W. Bush's first term as President of the United States of America, the game carries themes that heavily reference the nation's then-burgeoning "War on Terror". The game is known for its inclusion of Saddam Hussein, the then-dictator of Iraq, and Osama bin Laden, founder of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda, as boss characters.

Set sometime in the early 21st century, players play the bounty hunter Jake Seaver, who travels the globe in order to apprehend America's ten most wanted fugitives (including drug dealers, gun runners, militia leaders, and international terrorists).

Gameplay

Fugitive Hunter's gameplay is predominantly based around simple first-person shooter mechanics based around progressing through levels by gunning down enemies while marching toward a series of mission objective markers. Health is recovered via health pack, and extra ammunition can be collected from fallen enemies.

Each stage ends in a boss fight against the stage's target fugitive. It is at this point that the game transitions to a third-person perspective, and the player must defeat the target in hand-to-hand combat. These boss fight set-pieces are similar in nature to a primitive fighting game, with each character's health represented by health bars at the top of the screen. The player must attack the boss using punches and kicks in order to deplete the boss's health and apprehend them to end the stage.

Reception

Fugitive Hunter received generally negative reviews holding a ranking of 42.71% on Gamerankings. On Metacritic the game holds a metascore of 35 signifying "generally unfavorable" reviews. In general critics disliked the game due to poor design, enemy AI, and gameplay. Arend Hart of Game Chronicles, who gave the game a 4.5 out of 10, disliked how the game portrayed minority races and foreign cultures saying "We have enough fear and hatred in this world already, we don’t need to breed more." On the other hand, Steve Steinberg of Gamespy liked the arcade-style shooting of the game calling it "a fun break from a wave of 'press yourself flat against the wall and look around the corner' sneak-around titles."