Using a story created specifically for the videogame, 100 Bullets' plotline has actually been penned by Azzarello himself and follows the tone and mood of the funny book rather faithfully. For the unfamiliar, 100 Bullets the comic follows a loose anthology type format and illustrates the exploits of the mysterious Agent Graves as he offers vengeful people the chance at finding peace -- namely, by giving them the chance to hurt somebody who has hurt them without the fear of being caught. To pull its off successfully, Graves supplies his marks with an attach¿ case containing a single gun and 100 unmarked bullets -- what the person does from is usually when things start to get interesting.
Of course one of the most powerful questions that the comic has always raised has been the identity of Agent Graves himself. His intentions and employers still remain unknown, and his supposed status as a government employee remains as mystifying as his proposition. To add some importance to the storyline, the videogame version will attempt to explore that aspect of the series further; Following "Split Second Chance" star Cole Burns and an all-new character made specifically for this tale known as Snow Falls.
Featuring art direction by Eduardo Risso (100 Bullets, Tangled Web of Spider-Man), the look of the game so far is very reminiscent of what we've seen on the written page. Approximately 50-60% finished so far, the visuals are definitely somewhat rough at this point in regard to the framerate and animation; but in terms of presentation and style, its faithfulness to its source material is dead on. Particularly with Cole Burns -- who looks exactly what we figured his 3D model should look like.
Gameplay appears to be similar to titles like Max Payne and Minority Report, with a severe emphasis on action and shooting. Fortunately or unfortunately, ammo isn't limited to 100 bullets as the title would suggest (though that would certainly make for some interesting combat decisions) and there are a multitude of different weapons to choose from to help you out. In the build we were demoed only three of the guns were available (dual Remington sawed-off shotguns, Tec-9's, and SW99's), but we've been assured by the crew that there are plenty more of them on the way. Players can take hostages for use as human shields in addition to their typical offensive maneuvers, and you'll be able to perform spectacular kill scenes not unlike Dead to Rights' disarm techniques for added dramatic effect. It was obvious by the stages we saw that Acclaim is dedicated to capturing the cinematic feel of the 100 Bullets universe as accurately as possible.
One of the most talked about elements of gameplay, however, actually wasn't discussed at all. Promised to "blow away" the "Bullet Time" feature of Max Payne 2 and similar titles, Acclaim couldn't help but be excited about an upcoming element said to change how action games are played without ever going into detail. It definitely left us curious as to what this could be, but like everyone else on the planet we're waiting until E3 2004 when Acclaim says it will finally unveil exactly what this revolutionary feature really is.
What we do know, though, is that players will be able to use context-sensitive action buttons to counter attacks and use environmental objects to their advantage. Tables can be knocked over, walls can be destroyed, and other sections of the world can be deformed and manipulated in similar ways. Sadly, we're unsure at this point just how much of the environment can be interacted with -- but we're sure the answer to that question will present itself in due time.
100 Bullets does have potential, especially with Azzarello and Risso at the creative helm, but how well their ideas will end up translating into a videogame universe is still as big a mystery as Agent Graves. In its current form, though, 100 Bullets still appears to be on its way towards becoming just another crime-action thriller that happens to benefit from stronger than usual storyline. With that new "super feature" being prepped for its debut at E3 and a verifiable powerhouse when it comes to source material, it just may end up becoming something more. Check out the first screenshots that we've included below and stay tuned for more on 100 Bullets as we learn it.