After years of blasting mutants into so many chunks of meat, I'm finally ready to go vegetarian. H.E.D.Z. may be the key to my new diet; Hasbro Interactive's latest game neatly subverts the run-and-shoot genre so beloved by young males. Looking for that huge chaingun? You won't find it here. Dull earth tones and dank dungeons are definitely out, replaced by bright colors, wacky characters, and a sense of anarchic fun. Call it fragging for the free-spirited.
In H.E.D.Z., you're a member of an alien race whose favorite pastime is abducting humans to sever their noggins for collecting – these guys have apparently never heard of baseball cards. Head-collecting as a hobby works like this: You toss 225 heads into a big arena and race around grabbing them; each time you put on a head you gain that person's characteristics. You might find yourself as a thinly disguised Johnny Rotten clone who gobs his enemies into submission or an aircraft-carrier head who sends off tiny planes on strafing runs. Musicians, shrieking German generals, Neanderthals, New York cabbies – they're all here. Best of all, you never die; if you run out of heads, you just get beamed out of the game arena.
While Hasbro clearly wants to catch the eyes and ears of nontypical action players (read: women and children), hardcore shootists will be surprised at how fast and frenetic the play is. And there may be a larger lesson here: While we're busy working or playing, it's the aliens who end up getting a head in life.
H.E.D.Z.: $39.95. Hasbro Interactive: (800) 400 1352, www.hasbrointeractive.com/.
| STREET CRED
| Put Your Noggin to Good Use
| ReadMe
