When coming up with an idea for new ventures into the third-person shooters realm, you have to make sure that your shooting mechanics are still fun. Sure you can give a game all these new features and powers to utilize, but if the shooting aspect isn't fun, then the game is already off to a bad start. Right now, Square Enix is potentially facing that issue with their latest title, MindJack.

The first thing this game has going for it, is that it is very inventive. While playing the single player, another player joined in to help me take down foes. All of a sudden, another player joined in to take control of enemy players. So this game started out as single-player, transitioned into cooperative play and finished up as a multiplayer deathmatch session. Never have I seen a game do that and MindJack was doing it with ease.

As the namesake says, players can hack into people on the field to continue gameplay. There really isn't a lot of death going on in the game. Once you take enough damage, your body kneels down on the ground while a hexagonal sprite leaves it. After a few seconds, you are able to jack into a nearby body and take control of them. Also certain teams have certain powers they can utilize. During the demo I was able to use my power to remote jack into a robot and could help assist me in combat.

Yet with all these innovations that Square-Enix, the gunplay is going to need a lot of work. Movement speed for the characters is pretty stiff. Aiming is quite difficult at times as well. I had to really hammer down on the controls to make sure I got my targeting reticle in place.

As of right now, MindJack has some great ideas going for it. The abilities of each team can lead to some very interesting gameplay moments and the seamless transition from single to cooperative and multiplayer could make this game stand out. However, the actual shooting mechanics need to be tweaked heavily come October.

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