Mindjack

Overview

Mindjack is a third-person shooter developed by feelplus and published by Square Enix for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Mindjack boasts a “unique online experience” as described by Square. Players are given the choice to “hack into” or seamlessly join any other players campaign mode that happens to be set to public. Players are also given the choice of starting their own games and given the choice to set the campaign to public or private.

Plot

The game takes place in the year 2031 where world governments are becoming weak and corrupt organizations are taking their place. A team of rogue agents are trying to uncover the conspiracy surrounding new technologies that are aiding these powerful organizations and threatening mankind.

FIA agent Jim Corbijn is tailing a rebel named Rebecca through an airport when he suddenly stops another man who was about to kill her. Unfortunately, the man turned out to be an undercover FIA agent as well, and now Jim is considered an enemy by his own organization. With no one else to turn to, both Jim and Rebecca fight their way through legions of FIA personnel as they try to discover the reason why they are being targeted.

Gameplay

Mindjack offers a traditional third-person playing experience much akin to Gears of War in the way that a main button allows for sprinting, taking cover and interacting with the environment, as well as allowing for cover based shooting and blind fire from cover. Mindjack’s main game play feature is “Mind Hacking:” A feature which allows the player to leave their bodies and transfer their consciousness to an NPC on the battlefield. Mind Hacking allows for players to hack both civilians, who will then magically spawn a gun in their hands, as well as allowing hacking of injured enemy NPC’s (if they have been enslaved first) and even some mechanical weapons.

After a brief tutorial, players are also given an option to host or join a server, which allows seamless transition between single- and multi-player. The fifteen single player areas also double as the multi-player maps. Each server can hold up to four players, and these players can either join the blue team (the good guys) or the red team (the enemies). The three extra players can join in at any time to the multi-player match, similar to Left 4 Dead. After every firefight section, there are "winners" and "losers" depending on who is still alive at the end of the fight. Both teams, however, can gain a small amount of experience and level up. Like other shooters, this leveling system unlocks new perks when certain milestones are met, such as lower weapon recoil or extra health.