With that out of the way, let's talk about what Redemption does wrong: everything else. The main problem here is that the game can't decide what it wants to be. Redemption attempts to pass itself off as an adventure game, a stealth title and a generic third person shooter, resulting in a poor amalgamation of three gameplay styles that just don’t work well together.

Partially to blame is the control scheme, which inexplicably assigns two very important functions (sneak and flatten against wall) to L2. Oftentimes you'll end up sticking to the wall when you're trying to sneak up behind an enemy. By releasing L2 you'll be able to move freely once more, but then you'll make enough noise to alert the enemy troops to your presence. Stay stuck to the wall and they'll notice you on the next patrol. Rock, meet hard place.

Since stealth was a bust, you're left shooting your way out of the situation. Holding down R1 activates Combat mode, automatically targeting the nearest enemy. Your aiming reticule waivers erratically, becoming more stable as your character and their target remain stationary. It's a novel concept, but one that gets old very quickly when you can't hit a target mere feet from your character.

If imitation truly is the sincerest form of flattery, then the scanning portion of Redemption is a love letter to Metroid Prime. Much like Prime, you have the ability to scan certain objects in the game for further information. Unlike Prime, however, scanning is rather poorly implemented and doesn't flow well with the rest of the game. In a first person adventure such as Prime, it makes sense to look at an object and receive more information about it. In a third person adventure like Redemption, switching into first person mode to look around the room just doesn't jive properly. It also doesn't help that the objects you're required to scan are often miniscule and easily overlooked, such as the hinges of a hatch or the panels securing a crane to the wall.

The PlayStation 2 version of Redemption also suffers from some technical flaws, such as occasionally visible polygon seams and constant, noisy disc access.

As a game, Headhunter Redemption fares no better than the sum of its mediocre parts. And while the effort put forth by developer Amuze can be considered admirable, it doesn't help the fact that Redemption ends up demanding the very thing its namesake promises.