Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Die Hard Trilogy delivers a bold “three games in one” concept, dividing its action across three distinct genres that each correspond to one of the Die Hard movies. The first segment thrusts you into a third-person action/adventure set inside the towering Nakatomi Plaza. You’ll navigate McClane through thirty floors teeming with terrorists, using an infinite-ammo pistol as your baseline weapon and scavenging for machine guns and grenades to turn the tide. The ingenious transparent-wall system keeps line-of-sight friction to a minimum, ensuring you never lose sight of McClane as you rescue hostages and hunt down bombs before an elevator escape.

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Transitioning to Die Hard 2: Die Harder, the game flips to a first-person on-rails shooter that feels heavily inspired by Virtua Cop and Lethal Enforcers. You automatically traverse Dulles Airport’s terminals, shooting terrorists as they spring into view and picking off weapon upgrade icons to swap your pistol for stronger firearms—until you take a hit, at which point you revert to your sidearm. The ability to destroy parts of the environment adds a strategic layer; a well-placed shot can trigger explosive barrels or drop overhead crates onto unsuspecting foes.

Die Hard With a Vengeance rounds out the trilogy with high-speed vehicular action through the streets of New York City. Guided only by a direction arrow and the urgent calls of your co-driver, you race against the clock to find and ram bombs hidden in mundane objects—phone booths, park benches, even trash cans. Occasional “bomb cars” slash through traffic, requiring you to engage in high-octane chases and deplete enemy vehicle health bars. Collectible power-ups like turbo boosts, extra time, and jump icons let you shave precious seconds off your run and clear obstacles in your path.

Overall, the gameplay variety is the standout feature. From methodical exploration and hostage rescues to pop-and-shoot arcade thrills and pulse-pounding races, each mode offers a dramatically different pace. Controls adapt well across modes, whether you’re using a standard controller or a compatible light gun for the second instalment. While difficulty can spike—especially in sections with tight timers—the diversity of challenges keeps each chapter feeling fresh and replayable.

Graphics

The graphical presentation of Die Hard Trilogy is a mixed bag of textured polygons and sprite work, characteristic of mid-’90s console titles. In the Nakatomi Tower levels, character models appear slightly chunky, but detailed textures and dynamic lighting give each floor its own distinct atmosphere. Transparent walls cleverly remove visual barriers without revealing hidden areas, and the hostages and terrorists fill the corridors with a believable sense of danger.

Die Hard 2’s rail-shooter stages showcase vibrant airport terminals peppered with destructible set pieces. Explosions bloom with bright, flashy sprites, and enemies are bold enough to be easily identifiable against the background clutter. Tear-away textures and occasional polygon warping can be jarring, but they rarely detract from the arcade-style fun of mowing down bad guys in rapid succession.

The New York streets of Die Hard With a Vengeance feature sweeping city vistas rendered in low-poly glory. Cars, pedestrians, and environmental objects are all built from simple geometry, which sometimes leads to quirky “paper doll” effects—particularly when vehicles flip or pedestrians get caught in collisions. The exaggerated blood splatter and destruction, whether from gunfire or ran-over civilians, push the visuals toward a gritty, almost comical level of carnage.

Throughout all three chapters, frame rate dips can surface during heavy on-screen chaos, but load times remain reasonable. While the graphics may feel dated by today’s standards, they capture the raw energy of the movies and deliver an authentic—if rough-around-the-edges—Die Hard aesthetic.

Story

Each segment of Die Hard Trilogy faithfully adapts the narrative beats of its respective film while condensing them into arcade-style objectives. In the first game, you jump straight to McClane’s frantic tower crawl, rescuing hostages and pursuing Hans Gruber’s henchmen without lengthy cutscenes. It’s a streamlined take on the classic Christmas-Eve siege.

Die Hard 2: Die Harder unfolds across snow-dusted runways and bustling terminals, pitting you against General Esperanza’s mercenary squad. Though narrative exposition is minimal, the on-rails shooter pace gives you just enough context—terrorist takeover, hostages in peril, McClane to the rescue—to stay invested as villains pop up in successive gunfights.

In the final chapter, Die Hard With a Vengeance, the plot boils down to a city-wide bomb hunt orchestrated by the villainous Simon. You won’t find elaborate cutscenes here; instead, Brotherhood audio cues and arrow pointers serve as your narrative guides. The simplified storytelling keeps the focus on gameplay tension, recreating the film’s “race-against-time” thrills in bite-sized missions.

Overall Experience

Die Hard Trilogy stands out as an ambitious compilation that dares to mix genres and movie tie-ins in one package. Its biggest strength is variety: if you tire of one mode, you can immediately switch to another, each offering its own brand of adrenaline rush. The three games cohere thematically despite stark gameplay differences, creating a solid arcade-style tribute to the Die Hard franchise.

Control schemes are generally tight, though the learning curve varies from chapter to chapter. The rail-shooter shines when paired with a light gun, while the racing segment benefits from precise analog steering—making a standard controller feel slightly less intuitive at times. Occasional graphical quirks and frame stutters can dampen immersion, but they rarely undermine the core fun.

Ultimately, Die Hard Trilogy is a memorable blast for fans of the films and retro-action enthusiasts alike. It captures the spirit of John McClane’s resourcefulness, the high-stakes gunfights, and the vehicular mayhem that define the series. Despite its age, the compilation remains a testament to creative genre-blending and continues to entertain with its relentless, movie-inspired thrills.

Retro Replay Score

7.3/10