E3 2019 - Hands on with John Wick Hex
When the first John Wick movie released, there were a lot of people that were completely sold on the character joining the world of videogames and by the time the second movie rolled around, the demand was even higher. Well Lionsgate must have thought so as well, as they started to look for developers to help make it happen and while they were pitched plenty of action games, Bithell Games provided a concept which proved to good to pass up and at E3 2019, I was lucky enough to try it out and for a while, become John Wick.
If you have not seen anything on the game yet, the first thing you need to know is that it is not an action game, but a strategy game, as each move you make, and every action you take, is crucial to surviving and moving on. The game has a story that is set before the first movie, but the section of the game that I played, did not delve to into the story, so after getting a quick rundown on how it plays, it was time to jump in and test it out for myself.
As a strategy game, the game plays out on a hexagonal grid, meaning you can move in one of six ways, should an enemy be near you, they will also attempt to intercept you, moving on that same grid. But it is how the game recorded moves that was, I think, quite interesting and could lead to some serious showpieces when played back. Each action you take, be it moving, shooting or whatever, takes a set amount of time, taking a step forward, might cost you .2 seconds, shooting will take .3 to aim, then .1 per shot for a total of .5 seconds. As you are watching all this play out, each and every enemy on screen is moving as well, so if you are moving to a location, someone might walk out into your space, or if you are planning to shoot someone else, you might get shot from someone else.
As each action takes time to begin, if you are interrupted before that happens, you lose that action from your movement, meaning you have to start again, the best example of this I can provide is that an enemy was close enough to punch me and as their punch time, was shorter than mine, they were able to land consecutive hits on me, without me being able to stop them. Once your action begins though, as indicated by the different colour on the action timeline, you can’t be stopped, so whilst aiming takes time, once your shot time begins, you are free to end without interference. Because the game is paused, while you are waiting to decide on your action, it means that you can take as long as you like to plan things out.
As with most strategy games, you won’t be able to see the entire map, only the smaller section around you, but if you crouch, you lose some more visibility, as you might expect. But crouching also gives you a bonus on your shooting, as you are more stable, but on the flip side, you can’t move as much as if you were standing. When you are close enough to an enemy, if you select them, you can take a list of actions, from things like strike, which is perfect for a melee attack, or takedown, which lets you move the body into another direction, perfect for getting it out of the way. Depending on the enemy type, your actions will have a percentage of chance, as to how effective they will be, which lines up with the shooting when crouched. If the strike rate is 100%, then it will land and take down the enemy, however if it is below that, then the enemy stats come into play.
The game has multiple enemy types, for example those wearing jackets, will most likely be packing a gun, whereas those without, won’t have any on them, it means that you will need to plan each move, dependent on the person you are targeting. Even actions like reloading your pistol or applying a bandage, take time and if you are one of those people that reloads after taking a single shot, be warned, you will lose all the ammo left in the clip. Perhaps though the most interesting part of the game is that between levels, nothing respawns, so whatever ammo you ended the level with is what you start with in the next round, same with bandages, the game however, will round your health up to five points, but if you are above that, you get nothing else.
John Wick Hex is a game that I can’t wait to play more of again and as someone who is not a strategy game guy, that is saying something. Because each action takes time, there is no major RNG factor to be wary of, you just need to ensure you plan each of your moves, before taking action.
