Vivendi and Bits Studios are showing their new first-person shooter based on the Die Hard property, titled Die Hard: Vendetta, at their booth at E3 today. Two brief levels are playable in the demo: a subway and a warehouse. Predictably, the game drops you into the role of John McClane, hero of the three Die Hard movies. Vendetta will feature a new storyline somehow related to the movies but also with original elements.

　　The version of Vendetta that we played seemed to be fairly early. The warehouse level starts you out as a stowaway in the back of a truck, armed with only a pistol and your fists. After jumping out and dispatching a few unnamed but well-armed opponents, you'll have access to an M16 that makes your job a lot easier. There really wasn't a whole lot else going on in the demo, though. We killed lots of enemies, traversed a couple of jumping puzzles, and ran around the dilapidated old warehouse.

　　The subway level was a little more interesting than the warehouse, but only because its atmosphere was a little more fleshed out. There were a few vagrants sleeping in the opening area of the level, burning trash fires and generally hanging around. An Uzi was quickly made available here after a couple of soldiers were offed. Later on, we found an extra pistol and an extra Uzi, after which we got some double-fisted action happening. Like the warehouse, though, the subway didn't feature a whole lot of varied gameplay aside from the standard run-and-gun action of most FPS games.

　　Vendetta seems to be coming along, but so far it's shaping up to be a fairly average first-person shooter. Perhaps as the game progresses, its use of the Die Hard license will become more evident. For now, though, it's pretty standard fare.