Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza is a 2002 First-Person Shooter developed by Piranha Games, a then newly-established Canadian company and published by Vivendi Universal and Sierra Entertainment for the Microsoft Windows.
Like what the title states, it's a rather loose adaptation of the classic action film, Die Hard, where players assume the role of John McClane. Much like in the film, John's attempting to reconcile with his estranged wife, Holly during a Chritsmas Eve party in Nakatomi Plaza, where Holly works, only for terrorist mastermind Hans Gruber and his legion of mercenaries to take over.
Besides recreating most of the movies' scenes in video game form, Nakatomi Plaza also expands on a few plot points from the film, like giving John a wider range of firearms and even more mooks to kill.
Why didn't you stop them, John?.. because then you'd be dead too...
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: There's a stage where John ends up in the sewer system underneath Nakatomi Plaza and needs to navigate his way around, something the game just made up. It has plenty of terrorists for John to kill, of course.
- Adaptation Dye-Job:
- Harry Ellis is blonde in the game unlike his dark-haired movie counterpart.
- The game adds a mole on Takagi above his left lip. He's also slightly younger than his movie counterpart, with black hair combover-style.
- Adaptation Explanation Extrication:
- John attracts Al Powell by dropping a terrorist's body from a higher level onto Powell's police car, but unlike the film where John sees Powell driving under the Nakatomi Plaza building, here John simply guns down every terrorist in a conference room and throws a dead body upon the first vehicle he sees. It could be a randomly parked police vehicle, for all he knows; this version of John is just ridiculously lucky the car is occupied.
- There's no reason why John couldn't salvage shoes from the dozens and dozens of terrorists he killed and needs to remain barefoot the entire night, other than just because. In the movie, the only opportunity he has to salvage shoes is after killing Tony, and it just happens Tony's feet are "smaller than his sister's".
- Adaptation Expansion: Beside increasing the amount of enemies for the sake of more action, the game also throws in additional missions, like retrieving hostages and escorting a SWAT team who made it into the Plaza.
- Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole:
- The game's recreation of Hans' masterplan from the film - hijacking all the bearer bonds from Nakatomi Plaza's vault, stage a faked suicide bombing and escape in their getaway vehicle makes a lot less sense when translated to video game, given how Hans brought along nearly a hundred extra mooks - compared to the film where his team consists of twelve guys. How does a small army of terrorists fake a suicide bombing without raising any suspicions? And should Hans' theft of the bonds goes off without a hitch, how is his legion of goons going to evacuate discreetly given their numbers?
- John meets a bunch of SWAT officers in one stage and helps them escort some hostages, and that was before the helipad scene (like in the film) where he tries to evacuate the rooftop of hostages only to be mistaken for a terrorist and shot at. Despite having met up with the relevant authorities who likely informed their superiors that John isn't one of the terrorists.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Harry Ellis is far less of an asshole compared to his movie counterpart.
- Air-Vent Passageway: John spends a few levels sneaking around vents, just like his movie counterpart.
- Deadly Rotary Fan: When John tries to get off the roof through the fan, a terrorist follows him and gets sucked through it.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: Every terrorist in the game is killed by bullets, including Tony (who gets a Neck Snap in the film), James and Alexander (killed by explosion). Alternatively, Tony can be killed by activating a cutter that somehow launches a board at him.
- The Faceless: John McClane is never shown at all and mirrors don't work as it should.
- Fire Alarm Distraction: John attracts the attention of Tony, the first prominent terrorist leader, by triggering the fire alarm and starting a shootout when Tony and a bunch of mooks arrive, unlike in the film where Tony just wanders into the same room John was in.
- Lighter and Softer: Compared to the film, shootouts are quite lower on the carnage. For instance, the game's recreation of the scene where Hans executes Takagi is now a Gory Discretion Shot.
- Phony Degree: A rather blatant one; John can rescue the Nakatomi Plaza's architect and ask for directions, and in the subsequent cutscene the architect's framed certificate issued by "Generic University" can be seen on a wall.
- Railroading: The earlier segments of the game tends to force John, which the player is controlling, to follow the movie's events, and any other choice of path the player selects will end badly. For instance, when the terrorists first take over, John escapes capture just like in the film, and if he tries shooting back, he gets overwhelmed even with the easiest difficulty - he must go straight to the fire escape, so the game plays out like the movie it's based upon.
- Sean Connery Is About to Shoot You: John McClane is shooting at the players on the game's cover art, a trait he averts on the iconic poster.
- Setting Update: The game seems to be set in the 2000s instead of the late 1980s, unlike the film, notably when John uses a Motorola phone and it's a model too advanced for the 80s.
- Shoot the Hostage Taker: Hans, like his movie counterpart, uses Holly as a Human Shield in the final confrontation while intimidating John. Unlike in the film, John saves Holly by performing this trope on Hans via Sniper Rifle.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Oddly enough, the game does this to a minor terrorist from the film, Uli (the Asian member played by Al leong). The rooftop scene has John scaring away hostages without killing anyone.
- Time Bomb: John needs to disarm several of these in one stage, an element absent in the film. Wire Dilemma is averted however, the bombs are deactivated instantly regardless which wire's cut.
- Villains Out Shopping: Sometimes, the game's mooks will actually chill out while waiting for their boss, Hans, to carry out his master plan. Notably in the garage where John comes across a trio of terrorists sharing a cigarette, and later two of them can be heard chatting away about football in a conference room.
- Vulnerable Civilians: A few levels have John finding hostages and evacuating them, an element absent in the film. Shooting hostages penalizes John, naturally.
