Genre-mixing has become a major trend lately. It seems like every genre is getting mixed with every other genre these days, from mixing the FPS with the RPG for Borderlands to mixing survival horror with crafting to make 7 Days to Die. However, while genre-mixing has gotten big in recent years, there were games in the past which had multiple genres as separate modes, and Die Hard Trilogy was one of the most successful examples. Unlike Alien Trilogy which was connected to the titular films in only a few discreet ways, each of the first three Die Hard movies is represented reasonably with their own self-contained games (though some liberties are taken).
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The first Die Hard is a third-person shooter where John McClane gets to spend Christmas Eve trapped in his wife's office building hunting terrorists. I don't have to explain any more of the plot since this is one of those movies that EVERYONE has seen guaranteed. Die Hard has plenty of pros and cons. The action is solid although, like with Alien Trilogy, the controls begs for two thumsticks. Rolling sideways with the shoulder buttons to dodge incoming fire is very stiff. The visuals are reasonably solid for the time, but the clipping, while useful for spotting terrorists hiding around corners, makes the graphics look half-finished. Finally, the save function has issues. Not only does the player have to remember to pause at the start of a new stage to save, but also lives aren't replenished when the game gets reloaded. If you save on your last life, you will reload on your last life. Overall, the first game based on the first movie is decent.
Die Harder, the game based on Die Hard 2, is a light-gun shooter that involves blasting terrorists that had seized control of Dulles Airport in DC one Christmas Eve after the first Die Hard. This one plays like a much bloodier version of Virtua Cop. The environments look great even today and are almost completely destructible, the weapon pick-ups are all useful, and the difficulty is well-balanced. Aiming with the d-pad is manageable which is rare for light-gun games. Speaking of light-guns, any light-gun produced before the GunCon can be used for this mode, though, because of how the difficulty is balanced, using a light-gun rather than the standard controller makes the game too easy. The Playstation mouse can be used as well, but I think more people bought the Genesis mouse than that one. Overall, Die Harder is the best game of the trio. It's no wonder Playstation demo discs highlighted this one.
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Die Hard with a Vengeance, based on the third movie, is a racing game where John has to drive through the streets of New York to take out bombs before they explode. This is easily the weakest game of the whole bunch, so poorly handled that it drags the whole package down. First of all, why isn't reverse tied to the brake button like virtually every other driving game ever made??? Pressing down on the d-pad to reverse is completely counter-intuitive. Second, the voice of Zeus, McClane's unwilling partner, is beyond annoying, less Samuel L. Mother-Effing Jackson and more Chris Tucker. Third, the time limits for each bomb are WAY too tight. Though there are plenty of time-extension pick-ups littering the levels, the only realistic way to beat the game is to find the faster secret cars WHICH THE GAME NEVER MENTIONS AT ALL!!! I don't mind difficult games, but I do mind games that can only be beaten by cheating. The visuals are solid enough, and the concept is okay. However, the execution is so terribly flawed that I think driving through actual rush hour traffic in New York would be more enjoyable.
I really wish I could fully recommend Die Hard Trilogy. However, having only two of the three games be enjoyable really hurts the package as a whole. It may be worth picking up for fans of the movies if it can be found for dirt cheap. However, it's not the kind of deal for the general public to say "Yippee-Ki-Yay!" over.
