Plot
Gameplay (NES)
There are 40 terrorists scattered throughout the building, and John McClane's task is to clear each floor of terrorists, and using the stairwell or the express elevator to travel between floors 31 and 35 (with more floors being unlocked in "Advanced" mode). By shooting at grids in the wall, John is also able to climb in the vents, dropping into a designated spot or moving down or up a floor. At the start of the game, the player character can only use a pistol (with 15 bullets) and his fists to dispose of enemies, but later acquires several weapons, such as submachine guns, explosives, rocket launchers, flamethrowers and flashbangs which the terrorists can also use. When McClane is shot, a few picked up items can drop where he must pick them up again. The player's bullets have minimal range, and due to the control scheme can only be aimed at 90- or 45-degree angles. However once acquired, the submachine gun can also fire a spray of bullets in an arc, allowing for more firing angles. McClane's health, which is drained by bullet wounds, can be restored by collecting soda cans from enemies, snack machines (by shooting several bullets at them) or empty rooms. The player loses the game when all life is lost. The player has about four minutes before one of the six locks are opened, but can gain more time by destroying the main computer on the fourth floor. Once all the locks have been opened, the vault is opened and the game's final battle is triggered. The player has only a few minutes to go to the 30th floor, for a final confrontation with Karl, Hans, and any of the 40 terrorists left alive. During the game, the player is initially aware of Hans shouting orders to his guards through a two-way radio. After the second lock is opened, Hans will tell everyone to not use the radio. Also notable is the "foot meter". The meter starts out full, but will eventually decrease if the player character steps on shattered glass or runs around. If the meter becomes empty, McClane will walk much slower than he does when the foot meter is full. It can be restored by collecting med-kits. The game features cinematic sequences, which change the story depending on which actions the player takes. For example, if there is less than one minute left, and the player defeats Karl, the last scene with John and Holly will tell the player the roof has been destroyed by the helicopter sent by Hans.Version differences
The Nintendo Entertainment System and TurboGrafx-16 versions of the game are played from a top-down perspective. The Commodore 64 port shows a side view of the player in a side-scrolling format. The camera remains fixed behind the player at all times in the DOS port. Developed by Pack-In-Video and published by Nihon Bussan, the TurboGrafx-16 version saw its early life as entirely a different game under an overhead action shooter game format. At some point, in order to draw attention and garner sales, Nihon managed to secure the ''Die Hard'' license and have many changes implemented to the original product including character models and the plot to try and coincide with the film. Because of this, the game takes several liberties with the source material, such as McClane fighting his way through a jungle, then a Vietnamese river while shooting an assortment of generic enemies such soldiers, Vietnamese troops and security guards before finally reaching the basement of Nakatomi Plaza to climb to the top a destroy an enemy attack helicopter to rescue his wife, Holly. Also in this version, Hans Gruber only appears in a cutscene; John never fights him directly.Notes
References
External links
* * * * {{Die Hard 1990 video games Activision games Action-adventure games Christmas video games Die Hard video games Video games developed in Japan Commodore 64 games DOS games Cancelled ZX Spectrum games Nintendo Entertainment System games TurboGrafx-16 games Run and gun games Pack-In-Video games Shoot 'em ups Third-person shooters Top-down video games Video games about police officers Video games set in Los Angeles Single-player video games Video games about terrorism Video games developed in the United States Silent Software games