Midway were the masters of fun. Not always the most super polished quality games, but they had a over the top wacky arcade-y vibe that is sorely lacking these days.
The rock having a pointed gun at his face, and following up with an admittedly very long quip before taking the dude out is the most early 2000’s thing I’ve ever seen and I love it so much
Sometimes I really miss this era of games. There were far more titles that weren't designed to be hype magnets, but fun, easy-to-pick-up distractions that were never looking to get any awards. I think middle market games are doing better than they were than in the mid-2010s, though. I don't always want to play a game that consumes so much of my time that it demands all of my attention. Sometimes I just want a cheap, fun romp that will last me 5 hours or so.
Yeah same. While playing Videogames is my "main" and favourite hobby i don't always want to put in the hours after work for example. Sometimes I need something smaller or simpler, maybe both. That's why I'm always happy when a good AA Game comes out, Hi-fi Rush which came out just a couple days ago for example.
I miss the old days where you could just pop in a disc and start playing. Now, you have to sign into your account, sign into the network, install the game, install updates, download dlc, good lord....
@@Gefafawhisptv mission impossible : operation surma, 007 everything or nothing, nightfire and bloodstone, X2 : wolverine's revenge are a few that come to my mind
@@slick7487 Keanu has a more diverse catalogue though, he's played an assassin, a hotshot lawyer and, a weak father in the past decade, off the top of my head.
@Chris West you mean the dozens of pixel art roguelite platformers? The indie scene is as bad as the AAA space when it comes to creativity. Sure you get something creative once in a while, but it's surrounded by dozens of games doing the current flavor of the month
That's what indie games are now, I basically avoid AAA stuff because no big company can deliver what I want quite like some random dude making a game in his basement while working a office day job.
I feel like I'd unironically love this game. Has that blockbuster or gamefly vibe, something you rent for 2 days and beat as quick as possible and enjoy it the whole time but completely forget it exists for years until some obscure youtuber like minime makes a video of it.
I only played the demo when you get disc in the mail. I thought it was cool the car the best thing about it. Lol I didn't even know he was in it until I was an adult.
That is EXACTLY what it was like lol. I remember playing it through and loving it as a kid, I loved the car. Then completely forgot about it until 4 min ago 😂
This game is actually pretty good. I didn’t have any trouble with the controls. And good luck beating it in 2 days because the game is surprisingly hard!
Midway still kinda exist, only now they are doing strictly Mortal Kombat and Injustice. WB Interactive still has many of the IPs that Midway has, like the Rush games, Smash TV, and of course SpyHunter, although there had been 1 game in the series published by WB Interactive
Eugene Jarvis who is pretty much the "Stan Lee" of Midway, is still making games for the arcade under the Raw Thrills brand. It's the closest thing to Midway. Cruis'n Blast is out on the Switch and is AMAZING!
i’m curious if the rock actually remembers this game cuz man the cue card read in that game awards clip seems like he remembers the game exists as he reads
Also the PS2 version apparently received great review scores at the time. Edit: Okay, I rescind my comment. There is another PS2 SpyHunter game from 2003 which actually reviewed great. The Rock one didn't.
The Rock has to go down as one of the weirdest careers in Hollywood. When was the last time a highest paid actor in the world has never starred in a memorable role? And whose entire filmography will be forgotten immediately after he retires. Arnold starred in a number of timeless classics... The Rock starred in... uh... Scorpion King? Baywatch?
Batista is probably the best wrestler turned Actor and Cenas personality is great on Camera, he made Peacemaker very believable. The Rock is the same in every movie, it’s The Rock.
I like that they actually get out of their confort zone, Midway was doing new things, the MK Deception Konkest mode could be the best story mode for a fighting game ever
Konquest mode has been Indeed the best story mode in a fighting Game I have ever played. Probably nobody did one like that again cause it was too expensive to produce. Gladly, it seem Street Fighter 6 took inspiration from it with his "world tour mode".
Thank you Minimme for covering this game. Nobody could cover it better. Only you are worthy. I found out about this game about a year ago through Wikipedia articles and had it in my tabs to go back and read about with the intent to find out more info. It boggles me that this is the only game The Rock has done mo-cap for and the idea of a film tie-in that never happened just somehow made the idea of the project so much clearer. I randomly found the game in a second hand store this November but have yet to play it. I loved the format of the first PS2 Spyhunter so there was a big draw for me to this game and to find out more detailed information on it just whets my appetite.
Loved this game as a kid. Especially the little spyhunter mini games. I remember grinding for hours and hours on the hardest difficulty (which for my prepubescent little self was probably way harder than in reality) to unlock infinite ammo or upgraded versions of all the weapons I can't remember
A relatively recent successor to a driving/shooting Bond-inspired game is Agent Intercept, which uses the same Spy Hunter formula, but adds more 007 cheese with supervillains and their hideous plots. Now if you think of it, Vin Diesel's 2002 movie XXX directed by Rob Cohen might be the closest thing to the unmade The Rock's Spy Hunter movie we could've got (bar the transforming car, of course). Which holds true in some way since both franchises (XXX and Spy Hunter) started out as 007 derivatives, or successors, if you will. Aside from that I'd like to suggest you taking a look at Driver: San Francisco's unique Wii version. Recently I found that despite carrying a San Francisco subtitle it is a completely different game with its own story which serves as a prequel to the whole series. And, of course, it features unique motion control scheme that utilizes both the Wiimote and the nunchuck. I think you could make an interesting video on this topic Yeah, and another franchise that you definitely should check out is Pursuit Force on PSP: it has it all: driving, shooting, on-foot sections, leaping from car to car, QTEs, and hammy B-movie performances. Pure gold for those who are into that type of games :)
I second the Driver San Fransisco Wii version. Is it as good as the normal one? No! But it is still a really cool game in its own right and has lots of nods and easter eggs to past Driver games. Wish I could get higher res versions of some of the concept art though, would love to replace the box art with one of the concept ones, some of them looked pretty dope.
Thank you for unlocking an early memory for me. I remember playing Spyhunter on the PS2 when I was a little lad and I just watched a full playthrough just for the nostalgia
There's a NES game called Super Spy Hunter by Sunsoft, it's pretty good, originally released in Japan as a Spy Hunter inspired game, the highlight is the soundtrack which has several "legally distinct from the Peter Gunn theme" tracks.
I perfectly remember this as being Vin Deisel. I even remember my friend and I trying to imitate Vin's voice as we played. So this is quite freaky to me! Even very clear memories can be warped and wrong. I'll never trust my memories again!
@@kamenanew9867 This is the logical explanation but at the same time it’s so unlikely we’d forget because both myself and my friend used to play the old version for hours on C64 that had the 8 bit version of the “Peter Gunn” theme so it was a very familiar game to us and notable to be playing a version on a “current gen” console. So it was really very memorable. So since commenting I asked my buddy “remember when we played that weird version of Spy Hunter with the big Hollywood star and we laughed and made fun of him?” And he said “Yeah Vin Diesel” so HIS memory is as messed up as mine.
It's crazy to see you make a video on this game! I appreciate the game for what it is, but it's mostly an on foot experience in a series mainly about driving a Bond-esk car. The 2001 reboot is still one of my favorite games today. Great video!
Do the italian job on ps1. It's based on the sixties movie, it's like driver, it has a mediocre but not bad micheal kaine imitator. It's as if back in the 2000's someone said, "hey, in the future there's going to be this youtube channel called minnie me, where this guy talks about weird licensed games. Let's make a game for him to talk about." And then they made the italian job on Ps1.
The Mortal Kombat PS2 games were GREAT and they did do quite well, actually. SpyHunter was an awesome franchise and I really wish they went through with the movie. I think it would have made much more sense than putting him in those goddamn F&F sequels. Releasing a lame movie-game as a SpyHunter sequel was a teerrrrible move though
I remember playing this at my friend's house. I thought it was a weird but cool departure from the original that I had played on of those plug-n-play consoles with a bunch of ROMs. Good times
1:05 - 1:16 Laughs in Keanu Reeves. They only intended him to be a minor character in CP 2077, but he was LOVED so much during a release preview, that they rewrote most of the entire game to include him, basically making him the main character.
I'm amazed I never played this game considering theres ragdoll physics and you can throw enemies. Since that was and still is my entire criteria for games. Speaking of, the Minority Report game had fun ragdoll physics in spades if you ever think to check it out. Dolphin runs it well and i forgot about all the cheat codes that there were.
Stranglehold is actually awesome though and held in pretty high regard every time I hear people talk about it. So it's odd you would say that. It was one of my first 360 games alongside COD 4 and Halo 3 because the gameplay footage I saw beforehand blew my mind and I needed to have it. Also the 3D MK games are great too.
1:43 This 2 second clip of the game immediately made me want to see you cover it. That is the sort of game aesthetic that really sticks in my brain wrinkles.
I used to rent the first two Spy Hunter games,, I remember getting this one and being super confused,, I was like 7 and didn’t care for the third person aspects I just wanted to drive the Fast Spy Car. I still get the main theme stuck in my head randomly lmao
scooby doo mystery mayhem on the playstation 2 is also another beloved scooby doo game which had the best variety of them all like puzzles, disguises, capturing ghosts, boss fights and other stuff that i don't wanna spoil for you.
Great review as always MiniMME. Having only played Spy Hunter from 2003 I can honestly say it felt like a bad 007 clone and was quite difficult in places. Glad I missed out on these but at the same time it's fascinating to see this bizarre game in that series. In terms of movie games I could happily recommend Fight Club for the PS2/Xbox as that game got "mixed" reviews upon release and as is seen as a bizzare game at times by gamers. Keep it up! :)
So great to see this video being blessed by the RUclips algorithm, you deserve the views brother! Been a fan for a long time and I hope you keep making vids !!
I think I remember that The Rock was supposed to star in a movie adaptation of Spy Hunter. I guess he was still under contract but in the end it was made into a game.
By the way I really recommend the Spy Hunter game on 3DS. Emulate it, pick it up for cheap, or load it on to your soft modded 3DS. It's not terribly deep So I can imagine being frustrated to pay full price for it but it's a lot of fun and one of the games I've revisited the most often since modding my 3DS.
Keanu Reeves was really good in The Gift and was playing against type. And while not doing anything to out of his wheelhouse, I think the Rock's role in Be Cool is easily one of his best.
I never played this when it first came out and mostly forgot about it, but a couple years ago my friend was asking about old PS2 hidden gems to check out and I suggested the original 2001 reboot (which I love), but because of a miscommunication he got this instead and after we found that out he showed it to me and we had a laugh at all the dumb fun. I guess there's no real point to that story, but I'll just reiterate what others are saying about how much Midway is missed. The aforementioned 2001 Spy Hunter, Psi-Ops, Wheelman, Stranglehold. Good times.
I have to disagree with the mortal kombat 3d era games, they are constantly being talked and remembered by mortal kombat specific channels and in the fandom, for better or for worse they are not forgotten.
I love The Rock and I want to see this movie, and I want it fully retconned so this game is 100% canon. This is the real GoldenEye remake we all deserve.
Spy hunter hits some weird nostalgia. My cousin had the 2nd one on PS2 and it always looked so cool. Game was so scratched we couldn't get any more than 5 minutes into it before it would freeze. I've never heard another human talk about it until now. Don't even get me started on the fast and furious arcade game!
Yeah Midway had some pretty fun and crazy games, shame what happened to them. NARC is probably my favorite game they published lol that also had a Europe only pc port years after its release for some reason.
God I miss Midway so much. They’re output in the 5th and 6th generations is classic dollar bin arcade fun. This looks like everything I look for in a $5 video game.
That last second clip made me laugh. This is one that I did not play during the Ps2 days, but I recently purchased a Ps2 on ebay and I'm on the hunt for games just like this. This also reminds me of Jet Li's Rise to Honor, being that it features an action star in a third person action shooter. Good stuff! I enjoyed your video!
The mortal kombat games on ps2 aren’t that bad. They have the same problem of modern mortal kombat games, the new characters are bad and the fatalities are limited by how they design their character models…
When i was a kid i always thought "Man the movie to this game must be sick i wonder if i can watch it any time soon" and after watching this video i found it there was no movie and it was just the game
After reading what I could in the screenshot of the article by Gary Susman, It appeared that The Rock was still on a contract with Universal Pictures which explains the movies he did such as The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King, The Rundown, Doom, then Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run.
With all due respect. You probably didnt play the " not so good mortal kombat sequels" when they came out. They were awesome. Sure deadly alliance dosent hold up with its 1 fatality per character lol. But deception was awesome even at the time. Konquest was a good expansion to the lore, sorta . Armageddon was fun. Endings were dull but they were there. Shaolin monks is top tier 👌
I remember this game very fondly. I was excited for this one because Spyhunter 2 was an amazing game. I got it a month before its North America release on my modded PS2 in Pakistan. I used to get all the new games and movies. I also got Driv3r and GTA San Andreas months before they came out in the states. Good times.
There's actually a really cool NES era game called Super Spy Hunter which in actuality is a rebrand of a Japanese only Famicom game called Battle Formula, developed by Sunsoft. It gives the Spy Hunter recipe boss fights, some really cool set pieces, a new plethora of power ups, and has a really great soundtrack. It's honestly really not talked about a lot in retro gaming circles.
You're missing Sunsoft's super spy hunter on nes from 1992, looks like a 16 bit game with fake mode 7 and parallax scrolling and lots of sprites on screen with multiscreen bosses and epic music.
I just saw the cover of the game on the thumbnail and I had this feeling of nostalgia and after watching the gameplay, Now I vividly remember when I used to wait all day in school just to come back and play this game. The idea of a car turning into various things was my absolute fantasy at that time. It really shows, It’s not the game that matter’s sometimes, It’s more about your mental age. The fact that most of us adore old games is not because they were better. It’s because we played those games in a time period when we weren’t facing the fatigue of living adult life.
The racing sequences here are really cool. Wish the game focused on them! They're brilliantly fast. It really shows Midway's experience as an arcade game manufacturer to see 3d scrolling that quickly on a PS2.
Weirdly enough I had the Tapwave Zodiac version of the first Spy Hunter reboot. Was honestly wicked solid, and impressive af for a handheld game at the time. Never knew this one existed, but looks like the kinda game I need rn.
I was 10 when this game came out and couldn't ever finish it. I would revisit every few months and get a little bit further, I still remember the boat and bike levels. I had no idea there was even a shooter packaged into the game, never got far enough to leave the vehicles. Also just now realising that it's The Rock on the cover lol
This brought me back! I remember getting this game 2 months after it came out and I think I got it for pretty cheap. I remember being excited that I got a good price on it and it was new. In the cutscene where he jumps out the window, Max Payne style, he's not even aiming at the guys. The gun looks like it's aiming towards the left and in the cutscene where the car turns into a bike, it looks so silly. It's a car and out of nowhere, it just turns into a bike. No transformation, just bike
I love the idea of one of the biggest, widest human beings alive being a secret agent. Yeah, no one's gonna remember the 9 foot tall wall with legs who clotheslined the Austrian finance minister out of a window.
This game was ahead of its time in some ways, it had the over the shoulder cam which wasn't the standard for third person until Xbox 360 and PS3. But because they were trying to do too much the quantity screwed over the quality.
Also the mid 2000s there were still Blockbuster videos around. So to add to the nostalgia, it was a time where you could just go browse a bunch of new and weird games, you'd rent them and return them months late lmao. Feels like there was so much variety back then.
I remember when this game came out, spent a lot of time playing both the ps2 spyhunters with my dad. So many games from that time were no where near perfect but they were FUN
The spyhunter game at 3:23 on ps2 was one of my favorites when it came out. Unfortunately some guy broke into our house and stole just one thing,,,, this game
What's funny about the original Spy Hunter game, it was, as you say supposed to be a James Bond game but they could not get the licence. Fast forward to 1990 and publisher Domark (the European arm of Square Enix) and developer Kremlin released the licenced James Bond game The Spy Who Loved Me, which was a direct rip off of Spy Hunter.
Midway were the masters of fun. Not always the most super polished quality games, but they had a over the top wacky arcade-y vibe that is sorely lacking these days.
I remember always feeling a little disappointed when I saw the midway logo but I don't remember if that was logical or not
their sports games were reliably entertaining. From NBA Jam to NFL Blitz to NHL Hitz, lots of bangers of sports games from Midway in the 00s.
Yea they really put the "mid" in Midway
Midway should've adopted the self aware casual attitude that Devolver has adopted, I'd love for them to still exist and get a HD port of Cruising USA.
Suffering?
The rock having a pointed gun at his face, and following up with an admittedly very long quip before taking the dude out is the most early 2000’s thing I’ve ever seen and I love it so much
It's actually a 4th wall break; when the movie character knows the whole movie plot.
What does he say it not here
Lol! The bad guy could've shot him in the face five times before he actually attacked. I love it!
Sometimes I really miss this era of games. There were far more titles that weren't designed to be hype magnets, but fun, easy-to-pick-up distractions that were never looking to get any awards. I think middle market games are doing better than they were than in the mid-2010s, though. I don't always want to play a game that consumes so much of my time that it demands all of my attention. Sometimes I just want a cheap, fun romp that will last me 5 hours or so.
Yeah same. While playing Videogames is my "main" and favourite hobby i don't always want to put in the hours after work for example. Sometimes I need something smaller or simpler, maybe both. That's why I'm always happy when a good AA Game comes out, Hi-fi Rush which came out just a couple days ago for example.
Yeah I agree, all these games that want 40+ hours start feeling like work. Now getting into a game is like a life decision lol
I miss the old days where you could just pop in a disc and start playing. Now, you have to sign into your account, sign into the network, install the game, install updates, download dlc, good lord....
I'd love a 5 hour romp too 🤫
Absolutely!
A movie tie-in game without a movie to tie into is always something fascinating.
At least Ecks vs. Sever is a true hidden gem on the GBA
@@ElectroPotato One could say it was very Graphically Impressive.
what other examples are there of this? I'm keen to find more now
@@ElectroPotato that game was such a blast to play
@@Gefafawhisptv mission impossible : operation surma, 007 everything or nothing, nightfire and bloodstone, X2 : wolverine's revenge are a few that come to my mind
I miss the times when Dwayne could play a character in a movie and not himself. He's the same character in every movie now.
I agree. Especially in the Fast and Family series.
He’s not the only one with the exception of “bill and Ted” Keanu reeves has been doing that for years. Lol
He was always himself. He can't really act. But he is likeable.
@@slick7487 Keanu has a more diverse catalogue though, he's played an assassin, a hotshot lawyer and, a weak father in the past decade, off the top of my head.
@@rikiishitoru8885 yes and they all were just Keanu reeves lol
Video games used to be the Wild West of entertainment and there was tons of weird stuff like this in every genre. We need Midway more than ever.
Boy, wait until you discover indie games on pc....
@Chris West you mean the dozens of pixel art roguelite platformers? The indie scene is as bad as the AAA space when it comes to creativity. Sure you get something creative once in a while, but it's surrounded by dozens of games doing the current flavor of the month
That's what indie games are now, I basically avoid AAA stuff because no big company can deliver what I want quite like some random dude making a game in his basement while working a office day job.
never sen a good indie game i can recall, as stated, tons of bad pixel games. Midway is pure americana, no weeb nonsense or nothin like that
@@Sterling20073 very very well put!!😂
I feel like I'd unironically love this game. Has that blockbuster or gamefly vibe, something you rent for 2 days and beat as quick as possible and enjoy it the whole time but completely forget it exists for years until some obscure youtuber like minime makes a video of it.
I only played the demo when you get disc in the mail. I thought it was cool the car the best thing about it. Lol I didn't even know he was in it until I was an adult.
Ya this game looks really fun lol
That is EXACTLY what it was like lol. I remember playing it through and loving it as a kid, I loved the car. Then completely forgot about it until 4 min ago 😂
Played the shit out of it as a kid on the original Xbox, throwing bastards inside a shark tank was really satisfying. Yes, as a kid
This game is actually pretty good. I didn’t have any trouble with the controls. And good luck beating it in 2 days because the game is surprisingly hard!
I miss Midway. They put out a lot of hidden gems, especially during the 6th gen.
Midway still kinda exist, only now they are doing strictly Mortal Kombat and Injustice.
WB Interactive still has many of the IPs that Midway has, like the Rush games, Smash TV, and of course SpyHunter, although there had been 1 game in the series published by WB Interactive
Eugene Jarvis who is pretty much the "Stan Lee" of Midway, is still making games for the arcade under the Raw Thrills brand. It's the closest thing to Midway. Cruis'n Blast is out on the Switch and is AMAZING!
I just want a good Gauntlet game again
@@StevelyBruckShut me too man, me too
@@StevelyBruckShut Me too.
i’m curious if the rock actually remembers this game cuz man the cue card read in that game awards clip seems like he remembers the game exists as he reads
He mentioned it once when promoting the Jumanji movies lol
Makes it much funnier Jumanji The Video Game did much worse meta critic wise
@@TheMasterTroll360 cause that game is just garbage.
Also the PS2 version apparently received great review scores at the time.
Edit: Okay, I rescind my comment. There is another PS2 SpyHunter game from 2003 which actually reviewed great. The Rock one didn't.
"I'm thankful for this Kids Choice Award for... Jumanji 3? When the hell did I...?"
the hierarchy of power in the PS2's game library changed with this game!!
Stranglehold wasn't a bad game, it was actually pretty fun and it introduced me to the movie hard boiled
Trust it was a sick game
fuck yeah!
You are single handedly keep a whole era of mid games Alive on this channel
Thank you!
I wouldnt say single handedly. Game reviews are kinda a big thing on youtube
@@I_am_a_cat_facts I watch ton of these videos never seen this channel, video is great though 🔥
I loved the first spy hunter game on the ps2. Such absurd fun
Exactly
Same, I had the GameCube version. Loved the soundtrack and car design
Ahhh, memories :')
Germany was beautiful, always loved that level
Yeah it was cool. Nice soundtrack too, especially Saliva's song that used the Peter Gunn theme.
You are always reviewing the games I grew up playing that no one remembers and make me question if the games were all just a fever dream..
The Rock has to go down as one of the weirdest careers in Hollywood.
When was the last time a highest paid actor in the world has never starred in a memorable role? And whose entire filmography will be forgotten immediately after he retires. Arnold starred in a number of timeless classics... The Rock starred in... uh... Scorpion King? Baywatch?
Batista is probably the best wrestler turned Actor and Cenas personality is great on Camera, he made Peacemaker very believable. The Rock is the same in every movie, it’s The Rock.
he probably a clone
I like that they actually get out of their confort zone, Midway was doing new things, the MK Deception Konkest mode could be the best story mode for a fighting game ever
Konquest mode has been Indeed the best story mode in a fighting Game I have ever played. Probably nobody did one like that again cause it was too expensive to produce. Gladly, it seem Street Fighter 6 took inspiration from it with his "world tour mode".
They were suppose to make a movie with the rock called SPyhunter but instead made the game and never made the movie
They should still make the movie spy Hunter was a good game series
Thank you Minimme for covering this game. Nobody could cover it better. Only you are worthy.
I found out about this game about a year ago through Wikipedia articles and had it in my tabs to go back and read about with the intent to find out more info. It boggles me that this is the only game The Rock has done mo-cap for and the idea of a film tie-in that never happened just somehow made the idea of the project so much clearer. I randomly found the game in a second hand store this November but have yet to play it. I loved the format of the first PS2 Spyhunter so there was a big draw for me to this game and to find out more detailed information on it just whets my appetite.
10:15 can’t help but grin hearing minimme’s voice slowly become more and more giddy as he explains this 😁
Loved this game as a kid. Especially the little spyhunter mini games. I remember grinding for hours and hours on the hardest difficulty (which for my prepubescent little self was probably way harder than in reality) to unlock infinite ammo or upgraded versions of all the weapons I can't remember
A relatively recent successor to a driving/shooting Bond-inspired game is Agent Intercept, which uses the same Spy Hunter formula, but adds more 007 cheese with supervillains and their hideous plots. Now if you think of it, Vin Diesel's 2002 movie XXX directed by Rob Cohen might be the closest thing to the unmade The Rock's Spy Hunter movie we could've got (bar the transforming car, of course). Which holds true in some way since both franchises (XXX and Spy Hunter) started out as 007 derivatives, or successors, if you will.
Aside from that I'd like to suggest you taking a look at Driver: San Francisco's unique Wii version. Recently I found that despite carrying a San Francisco subtitle it is a completely different game with its own story which serves as a prequel to the whole series. And, of course, it features unique motion control scheme that utilizes both the Wiimote and the nunchuck. I think you could make an interesting video on this topic
Yeah, and another franchise that you definitely should check out is Pursuit Force on PSP: it has it all: driving, shooting, on-foot sections, leaping from car to car, QTEs, and hammy B-movie performances. Pure gold for those who are into that type of games :)
I second the Driver San Fransisco Wii version. Is it as good as the normal one? No! But it is still a really cool game in its own right and has lots of nods and easter eggs to past Driver games.
Wish I could get higher res versions of some of the concept art though, would love to replace the box art with one of the concept ones, some of them looked pretty dope.
Years after, the short runtime is not much of an issue. Max Payne 2, one of the best campaigns I ever played, is only around 4-5 hours long
Thank you for unlocking an early memory for me. I remember playing Spyhunter on the PS2 when I was a little lad and I just watched a full playthrough just for the nostalgia
Tonight... You.
@@KingLich451 is that... is that a Hand Banana reference?
My favorite part is when he says "It's Spy Hunting time!"
Classic
The movie license game based on a movie that never released based on a game.
There's a NES game called Super Spy Hunter by Sunsoft, it's pretty good, originally released in Japan as a Spy Hunter inspired game, the highlight is the soundtrack which has several "legally distinct from the Peter Gunn theme" tracks.
Sunsoft was on fire with the soundtracks
The PS2 era was THE era for cheesy games, there were so many of them but that's the beauty of it, what an awesome time.
I perfectly remember this as being Vin Deisel. I even remember my friend and I trying to imitate Vin's voice as we played. So this is quite freaky to me! Even very clear memories can be warped and wrong. I'll never trust my memories again!
He was in wheelman, not too dissimilar of a game around the same time. That's probably what you are remembering.
Seems like the memory still checks out
Mandela effect in full effect
Multiverse, baby. Remember the Berestains?
@@kamenanew9867 This is the logical explanation but at the same time it’s so unlikely we’d forget because both myself and my friend used to play the old version for hours on C64 that had the 8 bit version of the “Peter Gunn” theme so it was a very familiar game to us and notable to be playing a version on a “current gen” console. So it was really very memorable. So since commenting I asked my buddy “remember when we played that weird version of Spy Hunter with the big Hollywood star and we laughed and made fun of him?”
And he said “Yeah Vin Diesel” so HIS memory is as messed up as mine.
You upload pretty sporadically to the point that I always forgot I subbed to you and then you upload again and I'm so happy I subbed.
It's crazy to see you make a video on this game! I appreciate the game for what it is, but it's mostly an on foot experience in a series mainly about driving a Bond-esk car. The 2001 reboot is still one of my favorite games today. Great video!
All these cutscenes look like episodes of Xavier Renegade Angel, this is glorious.
Do the italian job on ps1. It's based on the sixties movie, it's like driver, it has a mediocre but not bad micheal kaine imitator. It's as if back in the 2000's someone said, "hey, in the future there's going to be this youtube channel called minnie me, where this guy talks about weird licensed games. Let's make a game for him to talk about." And then they made the italian job on Ps1.
I only knew about this game's existence because of the Bonus stuff from Mortal Kombat Armageddon.
Spyhunter is such a fun concept though. Spy car that does spy things?! Supercar that can transform into a boat?? With guns?? Sign me up.
The Mortal Kombat PS2 games were GREAT and they did do quite well, actually. SpyHunter was an awesome franchise and I really wish they went through with the movie. I think it would have made much more sense than putting him in those goddamn F&F sequels. Releasing a lame movie-game as a SpyHunter sequel was a teerrrrible move though
I rather play spyhunter than f&f showdown and crossroads
i just love how you made it a tradition to include tony hawk in all of your thumbnails
You know a game is rough when the minimme title doesn't even call it "impressive" or "ambitious"
I remember playing this at my friend's house. I thought it was a weird but cool departure from the original that I had played on of those plug-n-play consoles with a bunch of ROMs. Good times
Aight hear me out… Stranglehold slapped. That game was definitely above just “having a famous person” slapped on it.
Stranglehold was just an Asian Max Payne. I mean that in the best way possible.
1:05 - 1:16 Laughs in Keanu Reeves. They only intended him to be a minor character in CP 2077, but he was LOVED so much during a release preview, that they rewrote most of the entire game to include him, basically making him the main character.
I'm amazed I never played this game considering theres ragdoll physics and you can throw enemies. Since that was and still is my entire criteria for games.
Speaking of, the Minority Report game had fun ragdoll physics in spades if you ever think to check it out. Dolphin runs it well and i forgot about all the cheat codes that there were.
Yes ragdolls rule nothing worse than shooting a dude in face and he drops forward with mini animation.
2006 was that random year where nothing drastically historic occurred but everyone remembers the year so well for some reason.
It was the peak year of “2000’s-ness” 07 and 08 stuff started to change
@@kevinrowland5753 yeah as a late zoomer, that was pretty much the main part of the 2000s I can consciously identify with.
Stranglehold is actually awesome though and held in pretty high regard every time I hear people talk about it. So it's odd you would say that. It was one of my first 360 games alongside COD 4 and Halo 3 because the gameplay footage I saw beforehand blew my mind and I needed to have it. Also the 3D MK games are great too.
1:43 This 2 second clip of the game immediately made me want to see you cover it. That is the sort of game aesthetic that really sticks in my brain wrinkles.
I used to rent the first two Spy Hunter games,, I remember getting this one and being super confused,,
I was like 7 and didn’t care for the third person aspects I just wanted to drive the Fast Spy Car.
I still get the main theme stuck in my head randomly lmao
scooby doo mystery mayhem on the playstation 2 is also another beloved scooby doo game which had the best variety of them all like puzzles, disguises, capturing ghosts, boss fights and other stuff that i don't wanna spoil for you.
I wish we got another Rampage reboot with some really cool hand drawn art.
Great review as always MiniMME. Having only played Spy Hunter from 2003 I can honestly say it felt like a bad 007 clone and was quite difficult in places. Glad I missed out on these but at the same time it's fascinating to see this bizarre game in that series.
In terms of movie games I could happily recommend Fight Club for the PS2/Xbox as that game got "mixed" reviews upon release and as is seen as a bizzare game at times by gamers.
Keep it up! :)
If I knew about this game nearly 15 years ago, I'd call it my childhood
Same, I never even knew it existed
So great to see this video being blessed by the RUclips algorithm, you deserve the views brother! Been a fan for a long time and I hope you keep making vids !!
MK Armageddon and MK Deception were great... Just forgotten.
I think I remember that The Rock was supposed to star in a movie adaptation of Spy Hunter. I guess he was still under contract but in the end it was made into a game.
By the way I really recommend the Spy Hunter game on 3DS. Emulate it, pick it up for cheap, or load it on to your soft modded 3DS.
It's not terribly deep So I can imagine being frustrated to pay full price for it but it's a lot of fun and one of the games I've revisited the most often since modding my 3DS.
Keanu Reeves was really good in The Gift and was playing against type. And while not doing anything to out of his wheelhouse, I think the Rock's role in Be Cool is easily one of his best.
Bro Deception and Deadly Alliance were some of the best of the whole series.
Also shame on you for not mentioning Super Spy Hunter. SHAAAAAAAAAAME
I never played this when it first came out and mostly forgot about it, but a couple years ago my friend was asking about old PS2 hidden gems to check out and I suggested the original 2001 reboot (which I love), but because of a miscommunication he got this instead and after we found that out he showed it to me and we had a laugh at all the dumb fun. I guess there's no real point to that story, but I'll just reiterate what others are saying about how much Midway is missed. The aforementioned 2001 Spy Hunter, Psi-Ops, Wheelman, Stranglehold. Good times.
I have to disagree with the mortal kombat 3d era games, they are constantly being talked and remembered by mortal kombat specific channels and in the fandom, for better or for worse they are not forgotten.
I love The Rock and I want to see this movie, and I want it fully retconned so this game is 100% canon. This is the real GoldenEye remake we all deserve.
Stranglehold would’ve been a legendary game had they omitted that second level.
Spy hunter hits some weird nostalgia. My cousin had the 2nd one on PS2 and it always looked so cool. Game was so scratched we couldn't get any more than 5 minutes into it before it would freeze. I've never heard another human talk about it until now.
Don't even get me started on the fast and furious arcade game!
7:14 good lord that's brutal!
Yeah Midway had some pretty fun and crazy games, shame what happened to them. NARC is probably my favorite game they published lol that also had a Europe only pc port years after its release for some reason.
i think i suggested the spyhunter subject recently! thanks for following through mate, great job as always, thank you 😊🤘🏻
God I miss Midway so much. They’re output in the 5th and 6th generations is classic dollar bin arcade fun. This looks like everything I look for in a $5 video game.
Wow
Damn this video blew up. Your content deserves this many views. Great video!
ʜᴇʟʟᴏ 👋 ғᴀɴ ᴄᴏɴɢʀᴀᴛᴜʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴs ʏᴏᴜ’ᴠᴇ ʙᴇᴇɴ sᴇʟᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ ᴀᴍᴏɴɢ ᴛʜɪs ᴡᴇᴇᴋ ᴡɪɴɴᴇʀs ᴄᴏɴᴛᴀᴄᴛ ᴍᴇ ᴏɴ ᴛᴇʟᴇɢʀᴀᴍ ғᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘᴀᴄᴋᴀɢᴇ 🎁🎄☝️☝️.
This review was HILARIOUS. I wanna play this game now. 😂
I would love to see the video and get your take on it
That last second clip made me laugh. This is one that I did not play during the Ps2 days, but I recently purchased a Ps2 on ebay and I'm on the hunt for games just like this. This also reminds me of Jet Li's Rise to Honor, being that it features an action star in a third person action shooter. Good stuff! I enjoyed your video!
The mortal kombat games on ps2 aren’t that bad. They have the same problem of modern mortal kombat games, the new characters are bad and the fatalities are limited by how they design their character models…
6:30 I burst out laughing at the punching sound affects lol
Mortal Kombat Deception and Stranglehold are awesome.
When i was a kid i always thought "Man the movie to this game must be sick i wonder if i can watch it any time soon" and after watching this video i found it there was no movie and it was just the game
Rock is such a charismatic lovable guy, very nice.
MADEMAN! YOU NEED TO COVER THAT GAME. OMG I thought that it was just a dream, but now I remember that game, it was pretty weird.
Watch it with those Mortal Kombat sequels no one cares for because the 3d era is actually pretty popular
@Otdreamer193 Armageddon had the best side content though, like Konquest.
After reading what I could in the screenshot of the article by Gary Susman, It appeared that The Rock was still on a contract with Universal Pictures which explains the movies he did such as The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King, The Rundown, Doom, then Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run.
With all due respect. You probably didnt play the " not so good mortal kombat sequels" when they came out. They were awesome. Sure deadly alliance dosent hold up with its 1 fatality per character lol. But deception was awesome even at the time. Konquest was a good expansion to the lore, sorta . Armageddon was fun. Endings were dull but they were there. Shaolin monks is top tier 👌
I remember this game very fondly. I was excited for this one because Spyhunter 2 was an amazing game. I got it a month before its North America release on my modded PS2 in Pakistan. I used to get all the new games and movies. I also got Driv3r and GTA San Andreas months before they came out in the states. Good times.
Let's talk Mortal Kombat Armageddon ;)
There's actually a really cool NES era game called Super Spy Hunter which in actuality is a rebrand of a Japanese only Famicom game called Battle Formula, developed by Sunsoft.
It gives the Spy Hunter recipe boss fights, some really cool set pieces, a new plethora of power ups, and has a really great soundtrack. It's honestly really not talked about a lot in retro gaming circles.
You're the king of stacking up adjectives, I love it!
ʜᴇʟʟᴏ 👋 ғᴀɴ ᴄᴏɴɢʀᴀᴛᴜʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴs ʏᴏᴜ’ᴠᴇ ʙᴇᴇɴ sᴇʟᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ ᴀᴍᴏɴɢ ᴛʜɪs ᴡᴇᴇᴋ ᴡɪɴɴᴇʀs ᴄᴏɴᴛᴀᴄᴛ ᴍᴇ ᴏɴ ᴛᴇʟᴇɢʀᴀᴍ ғᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘᴀᴄᴋᴀɢᴇ 🎁🎄☝️☝️.
You're missing Sunsoft's super spy hunter on nes from 1992, looks like a 16 bit game with fake mode 7 and parallax scrolling and lots of sprites on screen with multiscreen bosses and epic music.
I just saw the cover of the game on the thumbnail and I had this feeling of nostalgia and after watching the gameplay, Now I vividly remember when I used to wait all day in school just to come back and play this game. The idea of a car turning into various things was my absolute fantasy at that time.
It really shows, It’s not the game that matter’s sometimes, It’s more about your mental age. The fact that most of us adore old games is not because they were better. It’s because we played those games in a time period when we weren’t facing the fatigue of living adult life.
The racing sequences here are really cool. Wish the game focused on them! They're brilliantly fast.
It really shows Midway's experience as an arcade game manufacturer to see 3d scrolling that quickly on a PS2.
Weirdly enough I had the Tapwave Zodiac version of the first Spy Hunter reboot. Was honestly wicked solid, and impressive af for a handheld game at the time.
Never knew this one existed, but looks like the kinda game I need rn.
The calibre of films the rock finds himself in, he will always be wrestler first and movie star second.
I was 10 when this game came out and couldn't ever finish it. I would revisit every few months and get a little bit further, I still remember the boat and bike levels. I had no idea there was even a shooter packaged into the game, never got far enough to leave the vehicles. Also just now realising that it's The Rock on the cover lol
This brought me back! I remember getting this game 2 months after it came out and I think I got it for pretty cheap. I remember being excited that I got a good price on it and it was new.
In the cutscene where he jumps out the window, Max Payne style, he's not even aiming at the guys. The gun looks like it's aiming towards the left and in the cutscene where the car turns into a bike, it looks so silly. It's a car and out of nowhere, it just turns into a bike. No transformation, just bike
On god I thought you added that unzipping noise at first 😭🤣 5:45
I love the idea of one of the biggest, widest human beings alive being a secret agent.
Yeah, no one's gonna remember the 9 foot tall wall with legs who clotheslined the Austrian finance minister out of a window.
This game was ahead of its time in some ways, it had the over the shoulder cam which wasn't the standard for third person until Xbox 360 and PS3. But because they were trying to do too much the quantity screwed over the quality.
Gauntlet Dark Legacy was stellar, awesome game play. My sister and mother and I would play it for hours on the GameCube together.
Also the mid 2000s there were still Blockbuster videos around. So to add to the nostalgia, it was a time where you could just go browse a bunch of new and weird games, you'd rent them and return them months late lmao. Feels like there was so much variety back then.
Cheesy? This shit was really good lol the car turning into a boat was the most mind blowing shit
I remember when this game came out, spent a lot of time playing both the ps2 spyhunters with my dad. So many games from that time were no where near perfect but they were FUN
Well, it serves the main purpose of video games:
Having fun and this game surely seems fun
The spyhunter game at 3:23 on ps2 was one of my favorites when it came out. Unfortunately some guy broke into our house and stole just one thing,,,, this game
What's funny about the original Spy Hunter game, it was, as you say supposed to be a James Bond game but they could not get the licence. Fast forward to 1990 and publisher Domark (the European arm of Square Enix) and developer Kremlin released the licenced James Bond game The Spy Who Loved Me, which was a direct rip off of Spy Hunter.
The failed Spy Hunter connection is why Dwayne Johnson was in the Rampage film.
theres a soft spot in my heart for mid-tier 6th gen games like this
Basically the entire midway library in the 2000s (excluding Mortal kombat) I enjoyed Psi ops and stranglehold
Dude Hollywood video rental days !! PURE NOSTALGIA
11:28 Oh dear, look at that ragdoll, and insert Yello's Bow Bow Chica Chica sound effect from Forest Buller here lol