Hei$t
Preview
If you want to succeed in Heist you will have to become an expert
by Howie Howard
previewed on PC
Blend of Action Games
Heist is the new action shooter from developer inXile entertainment. It’s being published by Codemasters and we expect it to make its debut during the forth quarter of 2007. This one will be available for all of the major platforms but it will be released first for the PC and Xbox 360 with a Play Station 3 version to follow later.
After taking a look at this new bank robbing shooter I can see a definite blending of the various action gaming elements. You can expect to spend the majority of your time going around shooting things ala Grand Theft Auto. The second major action sequence in Heist will involve your ability to drive and handle motor vehicles in the ever present need to get away. This part of the game reminded me of the Need For Speed racing games in that you are constantly trying to run away from the police. If you want to succeed in Heist you will have to become an expert escape artist. The third action element in the game is the planning stage. This part of the game is necessary and if you fail here then you can forget about pulling off that big bank job. In fact you will simply land in jail because of your lack of planning.
Life of Crime
Heist takes place in 1960s San Francisco. The mood of the 60s is presented very well and we see the various characters sporting period afro-haircuts, bell-bottom pants and those ugly over sized glasses that were popular during that era. Add some popular period music to this eye candy and we have the makings of a very exciting ride through the brutal but lucrative world of bank robbery.
As the game player, you assume the roll of Johnny Sutton, son of a wronged master bank robber who’s recently released from jail. Johnny is a man who has the desire to prove himself in his chosen vocation. This is of course a life of crime with the emphasis on robbing banks. As you work your way through this life of crime the bank jobs will be many and varied and they will progressively become more difficult as you get deeper into the game. You are required to rob six major banks along with twenty lesser banks while you prepare for the big job. Johnny’s ultimate goal is to rob the Federal Mint and to find out who double-crossed his father.
You might be thinking at this point that robbing a bank is easy; after all, the only requirement that is needed is to find a bank, go in, show a gun and then run out with all the money. That may be true in some cases but unfortunately in this world of bank robbery there are things called safes, bank vaults, alarm systems, fidgety tellers, crazy customers, quick trigger bank guards and cops that make the agents in The Matrix look like push overs. If you fully prepare yourself, plan the job, acquire the tools and skills and get accomplices to help then it will be possible to pull off the perfect Heist.
