On the First Day of Die Hard, My True Love Gave To Me...

One would think that to make a good Die HardThe 1980s were famous for the bombastic action films released during the decade. Featuring big burly men fighting other big burly men, often with more guns, bombs, and explosions than appear in Michael Bay's wildest dreams, the action films of the decade were heavy on spectacle, short on realism. And then came a little film called Die Hard that flipped the entire action genre on its head. game you really only need a few specific elements. One would be John McClane, because if you had any other hero in the lead role, would it really be a Die Hard game? The second would be terrorists, because in any proper Die Hard there have to be terrorists for John to fight. And the third would be a building. Although plenty of Die Hard clones (and a few Die Hard sequels) moved the action away from a skyscraper, Nakatomi Plaza is the iconic central location of the first film of the series. If you’re going to make a game called Die Hard, you’re probably putting it into a skyscraper.

Any game that has those three elements can probably call itself a Die Hard, but we probably should have been a little more strict about the requirements. Sega had the Die Hard license in 1996 and they put together a game that had those three key components – McClane, terrorists, and a building – and they then managed to make a game that feels like the least Die Hard that a Die Hard game could be while still having the title. You’d almost think this wasn’t even a real game in the series at all, except Sega had the license so, yes, this is legit. It’s just… not at all what you’d want or expect.

Die Hard Arcade (later released in Japan, where Sega didn’t have the license, as Dynamite Deka) is an action beat-em-up that features John McClane, and partner Kris Thompsen, heading into a skyscraper to rescue the President’s daughter. She’s being held by a group of terrorists led by Wolf "White Fang" Hongo. The two cops have to scale up and down through the building, taking out squads of Hongo’s goons, all before getting a shot at the big man himself. They’ll have to fight him once in the main office of the building, and then again on the roof as Hongo tries to make his escape. If successful, John gains the appreciation of the President’s daughter, and the thanks of a grateful nation.

The action in Die Hard Arcade is pretty straight forward. John (and Kris, if playing two-player) will run into a room where a group of baddies (usually three, although sometimes four) will be waiting. They have to fight these bad guys until they’re all defeated, while more bad guys will show up over time, adding to the fight. Once all the enemies are downed, it’s on to the next room to do it all over again through each floor of the building until all of the enemies are defeated. It’s all pretty standard for a linear brawler.

As you’d expect from a standard brawler, your play has all the usual fighting moves. They can punch, kick, jump kick, grapple, and ground pound. With the right inputs you can do a few fancy fighting movies, like flying spinning kicks, giving the fighters a bit of flourish. Just bear in mind that any fancy moves leave you open for a few moments, and the enemies can easily take action during those beats to interrupt your moves and get the upper hand. You’ll have to be quick, and effective, to get through the game alive.

Assisting the warriors are a few pickups they can get. Basic melee weapons, like fire axes and pipes, can be found, and these are good for stronger attacks. There’s also a selection of guns (with limited ammo) that will appear from time to time. These are good for dealing a quick bit of damage, but enemies are just as likely to use them as you are, and what can do real damage to them can easily peel off your health quickly as well. Just bear in mind, too, that any time you kneel to pick up an item you’re leaving yourself exposed for attacks, and the enemies can be pretty vicious. Plus, if you get hit you’ll drop the item you’re carrying, meaning you’re likely to be fighting empty handed most of the game.

Fighting is most of what you do in the game, but there are a limited number of quick time events that help to break up the action. As the heroes are running through the halls between encounters there will be times where they have to press a button to kick or punch. This will let them get a preemptive strike on enemies, sometimes avoiding damage and other times avoiding encounters altogether. Other times there will be sections where the heroes have to scale the building and they’ll need to avoid environmental hazards or risk taking damage. These aren’t long moments, but they do break up the pace a bit and make the game feel a little more cinematic.

This is aided by the graphics of the title. Although they feel ancient by today’s standards, there’s still charm in the chunky 3D graphics featured in the game. This was the first game to use texture-mapped 3D polygon graphics, and they did look good at the time. They’re quaint now, sure, but there’s something about the style of the title that still works. It’s got a cheesy, puffy look to it, but not in a bad way. Everything looks solid, and then graphics add to the depth and weight of the brawling on offer.

In general, though, you’ll be fighting, and this is both good and bad for the game. On the one hand the brawling controls are deep and chunky, with a lot you can do if you get the enemies into a solid combo. At the same time, though, the game is utterly ruthless, with the enemies seemingly able to dodge your attacks and get the upper hand in ways you can never match. This is especially true in the two battles with Hongo, the final boss, who seems to be reading your inputs considering how easy it is for him to avoid everything you do. The game is there to take your money, and it does it effectively well if you let it.

The biggest flaw of the game, though, is that it just doesn’t feel like Die Hard. Yes it has the name, and it has a hero that looks like John McClane, but very little of the meat of the title feels like a Die Hard adventure. John doesn’t do street fighting moves, and he doesn’t brawl his way through hundreds of terrorists. He certainly doesn’t fight fire fighters, sumo wrestlers, samurai, or robots, all of whom show up in this game. It does feel like a proper mission for John McClane, in no small part because John McClane wouldn’t get called in to do something like this. He’s the guy that shows up because he has to, not because he wants to.

Sega has a fun, if hard, game here and I can respect what it does. Under any other title (like Dynamite Deka) it works. But as a Die Hard game I just never got immersed. It has style and substance, but it feels pasted in from a different series entirely. I know I’m being pedantic but I like it better as a game than as a Die Hard game. It works decently well as one but absolutely not as the other.