Video Game / Headhunter

Headhunter is a third-person action adventure video game series developed by Amuze and produced by SEGA between 2001 and 2004. The first Headhunter was released for the Sega Dreamcast in 2001, and due to the system's cancellation, this version was only released in Europe. It would eventually be ported for the PlayStation 2 the following year for other regions.

Inspired by action movies of The '80s and science fiction films, particularly those by Paul Verhoeven, the first Headhunter takes place in Los Angeles 20 Minutes into the Future. Jack Wade is a headhunter who's suffered a case of Laser-Guided Amnesia after a mysterious incident involving him in a lab, and escapes with good old-fashioned explosions. A headhunter is basically a bounty hunter that doubles as a cop, whose job involves non-lethally taking down criminals, who then get their internal organs moved to help out the rich part of society. Jack's amnesia means that he's introduced to everything about society in this future. Expect motorcycling, shooting guys down with stun guns, and a conspiracy involving criminals and science gone bad, while taking many gameplay and thematic cues from Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil. The game's cinematic soundtrack, composed by Richard Jaqcues when he was working at Sega of Europe, was performed by a live orchestra and the first video game soundtrack to be recorded at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London, where many film scores were recorded prior.

Headhunter Redemption followed in 2004 for the PS2 and Xbox, and was much Darker and Edgier than its predecessor. Set 20 years after the events of Headhunter, the world has become much, much worse. After a virus was released that nearly crippled society and a great earthquake occurred, there are now two parts of society, Above and Below. Above is the surface, while Below is underground that appears to be occupied by criminals and machines, the latter of whom pose a bigger threat to the people Above, as they are controlled by a mysterious individual only known as The Man Who Walks With Machines. Jack, divorced from Angela, also lost his son when the machines abducted him years ago, leaving him a bitter and Grumpy Old Man. He finds a partner in Leeza X, a rebellious young criminal hacker who grew up on the streets of Above, and the game focuses on exploring much of her past. As they discover that a gang of weapon smugglers may be connected to Below, there's hope that Jack might find his son and the tension between Above and Below may finally end. While the first Headhunter had a mix of light and dark tones, this one didn't pull things back, creating quite a contrast between the games. It did well, but not as good as the original. Richard Jacques returned as the game's music composer, and while it was not performed by a live orchestra this time around, the soundtrack retains the cinematic feel.

Both titles were the sole games developed by Amuze, which shut down in 2005.

Not to be confused with the films The Head Hunter or Headhunters.

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Tropes for the Headhunter series include:

Headhunter

• Action Girl: Angela becomes playable later in the game and is just as deadly as Jack. Justified that her dad, the president of the ACN until his murder, taught her how to defend herself.
• Amnesiac Hero: Jack Wade. The game opens of him having no memory of who or what he is, and spends most of the game discovering the truth.
• Anti-Hero: Jack Wade. Made apparent after his fight with Greywolf.
  Greywolf: Help me. Pull me up.
  Jack Wade: One good reason?
  Greywolf: I got organs. You ain't supposed to let me die.
  Jack Wade: I forgot the rules. This amnesia's a bitch.
• Art Shift: The ABCBS News segments are done in live-action video, while the rest of the game's cutscenes resemble the in-game graphics. This is more apparent when story-related characters suddenly appear in the live-action news segments.
• Badass Biker: Jack and Greywolf, the latter being the leader of a Biker Gang.
• Badass Boast: Peppered throughout the dialogue. One example is during the final phase against Greywolf.
  Greywolf: You back a wolf into a corner, that's when he gets mean!
• Badass in Distress: After Jack is captured on the Queen of Hearts, it's up to Angela to sneak on board and rescue him. After The Reveal where both Jack and Angela are captured, she manages to escape and saves his butt again. That said, Angela herself counts when she's kidnapped much earlier in the game.
• Battle in the Rain: It's raining during the Rooftop Confrontation against Greywolf.
• Bittersweet Ending: Hooray, Jack and Angela saved the world and share The Big Damn Kiss. Oh no, it turns out that Jack killed Angela's dad after being hypnotized, plus The Virus is activated by the hypnotic X-Must commercial.
• Black Comedy: The Biotech ads seen in the loading screen consist of this, advertising the convenient and life-changing services that organ trade provides. Lost your legs in a car accident? No problem, Biotech can give them back! Want to spend your last days in luxury? Biotech provides a retirement home that gives you just that, and you can donate your organs on the spot!
• Bloodless Carnage: Justified by the use of Electro-Neural Projectiles. These rounds kill only the brain, leaving the rest of the organs intact, allowing for their harvesting.
• Blood Sport: The Aquadome Arena's gladiator games, where imprisoned criminals fight for the public's entertainment. Winners get a biotech implant with 30 days of freedom for two at a rehab facility, while losers make a generous donation to the organ bank.
• Brain Uploading: The reason Jack was hooked up in the lab at the beginning was because Zweiberg was using him to give Adam some of his more ruthless qualities, but Jack's escape ended up damaging him. It's implied that Zweiberg also put himself through the same procedure to grant Adam his intellect.
• Brand X: The news show seen throughout the game is named "ABCBS News"
• Card-Carrying Villain: Out of all the villains in the game, Esteban Ramirez doesn't have any excuse behind his actions and just loves causing trouble.
• Cool Shades: Jack and Angela can sport these at the player's choosing, but its purpose is purely cosmetic.
• Da Chief: Chief Frank Hawke, Wade's former boss who tries to help him get back on top where he belongs. Compared to most examples, he's rather mellow and breaks protocol to help Wade.
• Deadpan Snarker: Jack seems to live and breathe this. Stella, the L.E.I.L.A receptionist, hands down.
  Stella: Any questions, check the database. Any problems, give it a whack. Anything else, ask anyone but me.
• Deuteragonist: Angela Stern, the daughter of Jack's murdered boss and the second playable character.
• The Don: Don Emelio Fulci, who rules the criminal underworld and pulls the strings on much of the plot.
• Even Evil Has Standards: When Greywolf saves Jack in the Aquadome, he claims it's because his mother taught him never to owe anyone a debt, and this makes things even.
• Evilutionary Biologist: Doctor Ernst Zweiberg. His goal? Create a "perfect" being who will rule the world after humanity is wiped out, including himself. His creation's name? Adam. Along with the Biblical reference, the idea of a Master Race comes across as Does This Remind You of Anything?
• Exploding Barrels: Present throughout the game, and can be used to take out enemies. You pretty much need to use them in the fight against Greywolf.
• Faux Affably Evil: Dr. Ernst Zweiberg is this, speaking in a jovial and well mannered tone even as he tries to kill Jack and Angela and unleash a virus on the world.
• Fun with Acronyms: L.E.I.L.A stands for "Law Enforcement Intelligence and License Approval".
• Game-Breaking Bug: A few in the Dreamcast version. Trying to skip the cutscene where Angela blows up a wall to save Jack causes the game to crash, but more are present when replaying the game on harder difficulties. An enemy for the L.E.I.L.A. B license test doesn't act as they're supposed to, and picking up the infinite ammo reward from the star dispenser will prevent you from picking up the Code Breaker that's vital to completion, making the game impossible to beat. These were rectified in the PS2 port.
• The Ghost: Don Fulci doesn't actually exist. It's actually Alan Sharpe.
• Graceful Loser: Greywolf. In return for Jack saving him, he cooperates with Jack and tells him what he knows about Fulci. Once he's in cuffs, he compliments Jack and tells him of a storage near room nearby where he can stock up on ammo and other stuff.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: Greywolf quickly cooperates with Jack after he's defeated and the headhunter saves him from falling off a building, providing useful information in exchange. He later comes to Jack's rescue in the Aquadome and the two escape the underwater prison together, only to be captured. Once Jack is rescued, his top priority is to find his new friend. When he does, Greywolf is already dead.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Jack Wade becomes this when the ACN goes after him and Alan Sharpe declares him a menace to society.
• I Take Offense to That Last One: Hank Redwood, now the number one headhunter in Jack's absence, introduces himself by trying to dupe Jack into thinking he was always second best. Jack doesn't buy it, and remembers that Hank had an abusive father, flunked high school, never had a girlfriend, and his dog walked out on him. An angered Redwood then challenges Jack to reach the top from the bottom and reclaim his crown once more.
  Hank: Oh, and hey! My dog never walked out on me!
• Karmic Death: After Alan reveals himself as the man who arranged Christopher Stern's murder, he's shot and killed by Angela. Unlike Chief Hawke, his death is particularly painful, and when Angela wakes up next to him later, his corpse is prepped for organ donation.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Jack's own drives much of the game's plot, as well as the twist in the game's climax.
• Law Enforcement, Inc.: The ACN is the main police force in the game, but Headhunters can go independent as well.
• The Man Behind the Man: After Fulci is exposed and disposed of, it turns out Zweiberg is the one really pulling the strings.
• My Death Is Just the Beginning: Part of the reason Zweiberg created a new race of superior beings is so they can carry on his will after he dies. He revives Adam just as he dies, setting up the final conflict.
• Mr. Exposition: Or Mr. and Mrs. in this case. The news hosts Kate Glosse and Bill Waverly are used to explain the game's setting and lore, as well as many off-screen events.
• Neck Snap: Jack's preferred method of initiating a stealth kill. As well as Angela's.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Greywolf sees himself and Jack on different sides of the same coin, two guys doing their jobs and doing what they can to make a buck with the way Fulci is running the show. Jack's not entirely convinced of this at first.
• Psycho for Hire: Esteban Ramirez, a career criminal and Recurring Boss.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: The game's script is filled to the brink with them by heroes and villains alike.
  Greywolf: Sorry headhunter, but I like my men to taste blood. And this here is my number one lieutenant. Jack Wade, meet Bruce. Bruce, kill Jack Wade.
• Press X to Not Die:
  • At some point Jack has to race across town to disarm numerous detonators for a bomb, and does so by putting in a sequence of buttons that have to be pressed in the right order and within a small amount of time. The inputs increase with each bomb, starting with three and ending with eight.
  • Against Hank Redwood in a shoot-out, which is out of the blue as there isn't anything that indicates this.
• Product Placement: Jack's VM-52x watch is Casio-branded. Also doubles as a cell phone!
• The Reveal: Alan Sharpe is actually Don Fulci, Jack was Brainwashed into killing Angela's father, and Zweiberg is The Man Behind the Man.
• Revenge: After Jack recovers from the hospital, Angela hires him to get payback against Don Fulci and the people who murdered her father. She doesn't want him behind bars, she wants him dead.
• The Rival: Hank Redwood. At first, he just comes off as a jerk. Turns out he's working under the bad guy's payroll.
• Save the Villain: Jack does this to Greywolf after the gang leader offers to exchange information on Fulci for his life.
• Stealth-Based Game: The mission segments play very similarly to Metal Gear Solid, requiring Jack to avoid being seen by enemies or risk facing them in a gunfight, although some scripted events force Jack into one. While you have more of a fighting chance against them if you're detected, facing numerous enemies head-on without a plan will quickly get you killed. Jack can hug walls and peak around corners, throw blanks to distract enemies, and can perform a stealth kill by sneaking on them from behind. Some of the mandatory L.E.I.L.A tests also require that Jack reach the end of the stage without being seen by AI enemies.
• Story And Gameplay Integration: You actually have a time limit in the first stage as Jack is slowly losing health the entire time. He passes out in the street moments after he escapes the lab he was in.
• Take Cover!: One of the mechanics you'll be using often is taking cover behind objects and popping out to shoot enemies. Effective during shootouts and stealth segments.
• Those Two Guys: Or Those Two Hosts for that matter. Kate Glosse and Bill Waverly, the hosts of ABCBS' "All You Want/Need to Know".
• Timed Mission:
  • The first stage has to be beaten quickly, as Jack is slowly losing health the whole time.
  • Midway through the game, Fulci threatens the city with a thermonuclear bomb, and places numerous detonators across town. Jack has to race on his bike and disarm every one of them, and a time limit is given for when the next one is set to blow.
  • The L.E.I.L.A missions are also time-based.
• Turned Against Their Masters: The first thing Adam does when he is released? He attacks his creator, Zweiberg, which eventually kills him.
• Turns Red: Some of the bosses. For example, Greywolf will retreat to a corner when he's low on health, which gives him a clear view of wherever you're attacking him from, making it difficult to hit him.
• Video Game Tutorial: Upon starting a new file, the game offers a brief optional tutorial level that pits Jack in a VR training simulation to learn the basics on moving around, shooting targets, and its stealth elements. Understandable, since you will likely end up getting killed in the first stage on your first playthrough.
• Virtual Training Simulation: Jack will need to partake in these to upgrade his headhunter license and continue the game, with missions involving riding the bike, stealth and gunfights.
• You Killed My Father: Angela hires Jack early in the game to hunt down the man who killed her father, who she suspects is Don Fulci. When she discovers Jack was the one who did the deed, she immediately turns against him, and probably would have killed him if Zweiberg didn't tell her the truth.

Headhunter Redemption

• Actionized Sequel: Downplayed. The developers have said they've tweaked the balance to focus more on action than stealth, but only slightly.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: "Make your day great with 6808!"
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: The spunky Leeza X is the Player Character for most of the game.
• Anyone Can Die: Out of the whole cast, only Jack and Leeza survive to the end.
• Bald of Evil: Candy Floss.
• Bastard Bastard: Hank Redwood Jr.
• Bittersweet Ending: Yay, the world is saved once again! Unfortunately, Leeza's dad, Jack's son, and Angela are all dead. Still, humanity is now free from the control of the Machines, so there's hope that events like in the game don't repeat themselves.
• Black Comedy: Some of the arguments that can be overheard ingame. For example, one domestic dispute can be overheard where the wife implies that her husband had previously torn off one of her arms and is taunting him to do it again.
• Blood Knight: Although Che isn't happy about Leeza being a thorn in her side, she's glad the she survived so they can enjoy a one-on-one duel.
• Blood Sport: Like the Aquadome before it, Leeza is forced to partake in the Maze Studio's "live-death" game shows where colony inmates fight to the death for Above's entertainment, with the promise of gaining access to Liberty for those who survive.
• Broken Ace: Jack Wade. His divorce from Angela and the disappearance of his son, on his watch no less, has really torn him apart. It gets much worse throughout the game.
• Casanova Wannabe: Hank Redwood Jr. He thinks he's a real ladies man when he's an eyesore. It actually gets used against him at some point.
• Children Are Innocent: Jack's son Chris is depicted as this in flashbacks. Unfortunately, he was targeted and kidnapped by the machines because of said innocence, a trait that is not only valued by Candy Floss, but also sought out by Liberty.
• Chekhov's Gun: The IRIS allows Leeza to hack into the 6808 mainframe.
• Cool Shades: They're back, but this time they serve an actual purpose, providing a HUD called IRIS (replacing L.E.I.L.A. from the previous game) that allows Leeza and Jack to access information on enemies and databases. Jack can also send Leeza software updates from Above.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: The board of the Stern corporation is filled with these. When Jack finds them, he discovers the entire board is nothing but a series of computers controlled by the machines, who not only control the president and orchestrated the failed missile strike, but have also made the unanimous decision to remove Angela as Chairman and eliminate her.
• Cyberpunk: The setting is much more futuristic than the previous game, with one of the opening cutscenes showing a city filled with large skyscrapers that shine at night. Technology also plays a huge part in civilian life, with said technology threatening to take over the world.
  • Cyberpunk with a Chance of Rain: Not to mention Jack meets Leeza as an adult during a rainstorm.
• Dark Action Girl: Che, a rebellious leader and one of the bosses.
• Darker and Edgier: The game starts off showing how The Virus released at the end of the first game nearly destroyed the world, that Jack and Angela did not live Happily Ever After and became bitterly divorced, their son was taken by the machines and hasn't been seen since, Anyone Can Die, and the game concludes with a Bittersweet Ending.
• Dead Guy Junior: Jack and Angela's son Chris is named after Angela's late father. He doesn't survive either.
• Deadpan Snarker: Just because Leeza's the Player Character doesn't mean the game is short on this. She actually surpasses Jack in this department.
• Demoted to Extra: Angela Stern, the deuteragonist of the previous game.
• Depraved Dentist: Candy Floss, a former dental surgeon who conducted mechanical experiments on children, and came to love their screams and tears of torment. Good reason he was sent Below.
• Doppelgänger Attack: Psycho Star slides across the room, which creates copies of himself that home in on Leeza.
• Driven to Suicide: When Jack goes into Research & Execution, he finds Che, mutilated but still alive. She asks him for his gun, which he gives her to use on herself.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Or her, rather. Angela abruptly dies midway through the game.
• Escort Mission: Leeza has to help Che crawl across No Man's Land by sniping any machines that pop out and threaten to kill her.
• The Faceless: Candy Floss. His face is completely covered by some kind of featureless mask.
• Fat Bastard: Candy Floss. He's huge and his gut is sticking out.
• Fate Worse than Death: What happens when prisoners from Below are taken to Liberty. Instead of being granted freedom on the surface Above, they're plugged into a supercomputer Hive Mind controlled by the 6808 chip and drained of their life energy. Among these is Jack's son.
• Faux Affably Evil: Psycho Star, despite his upbeat and charismatic personality, is a sadistic and psychopathic Jerkass.
  • Also Candy Floss, who is of the Soft-Spoken Sadist variety.
• Flashback: The game opens with one involving Jack rescuing Leeza from her father when she was a child. Another reveals how Jack's son was abducted by machines.
• Graceful Loser: Che. She compliments Leeza that she fought well and won fair, and even tells Leeza to take her weapon. Leeza declines, preferring things that go bang.
• Gratuitous Spanish: Che's dialogue is filled with it.
• Hate Sink:
  • Psycho Star, despite his comedic personality, is despicable to the very bone, lacking any redeeming or sympathetic qualities.
  • And there's Candy Floss, an incredibly repulsive, sadistic Torture Technician and utter psychopath who conducts cruel experiments on people and even children.
• Heroic BSoD: Poor Jack goes through this when he discovers what's become of his son in Liberty and unplugs him to put him out of his misery.
• Hive Mind: Liberty is revealed to be this, containing a legion of people from below whose bodies and minds are plugged into its system.
• Honest Corporate Executive: Angela Stern, despite Taking A Level In Jerkass, is largely responsible for developing a cure for the Bloody Mary virus and is committed in wiping it off the face of the earth. Unfortunately, this puts her at odds with the board of her corporation, whose decisions she constantly challenges.
• Honey Trap: Leeza pulls one in order to get the missile codes from a certain captive who is a bit full of himself.
• Hope Spot: Angela reveals to Jack that their son may still be alive after all this time right before she dies. It's probably better that she didn't live to find out the truth.
• Hot Blooded Sideburns: Psycho Star has some huge sideburns. He's one of the more upbeat characters in the cast.
• Humanoid Abomination: The biomechs, the ultimate creations of Candy Floss.
• Humiliation Conga: Despite his survival in the game, Psycho Star ends up subject to this. In an attempt to humiliate Leiza, he broadcasts their fight on live national TV in the hopes of showing off his revenge for her mocking him to the point of losing his composure, only for the reverse to happen and he end up floored on said TV, suffering a hit to his ratings. Then after capturing Leiza, he subjects her to his Blood Sport TV show, which she easily cleans house in. He then tries to deny her any survival by sicking first one, then two mantises on her. But the first one is dispatched and the other two are deactivated by the Man Who Walks With Machines before they can attack her, causing Psycho Star to fumble over her obvious victory and destroying his TV show's reputation. And finally, he is forced to put on a mask after his show's cancelation in favor of a less impressive show and is forced to sit aside and help Jack get into R&E. It's not clear what his fate is afterward.
• Karma Houdini: Psycho Star. He's probably the only character other than Jack and Leeza that's still alive at the end.
• Lack of Empathy: Candy Floss, as heard in his audio recordings about his discoveries on his living experiments. He isn't concerned for the pain he inflicts or the blood that he spills, just the results of his research.
• Lady of War: Che, the female leader of an opposition movement found early in the game, is a hardened warrior who rules her men with an iron fist but is loved for it.
• Malevolent Masked Man: Candy Floss wears a mask that covers his entire face, but has no features on it.
• The Man Behind the Man: Turns out The Man Who Walks with Machines, Leeza's dad, is actually used as a puppet by a network of machine-like humans in a Hive Mind who were part of a computer network system Leeza's dad made but got out of hand. They want to destroy the humans Above as a way of getting revenge on humanity.
• Mechanical Evolution: The ultimate goal of the game's true enemy, the original 6808 chip, in order to become a life form that can grow, evolve, and ultimately surpass humanity. Candy Floss also hopes his bio-mechanical creations can rise to the surface for the same reason, to reach their ultimate potential.
• The Mentor: Jack plays one to Leeza throughout much of the game and monitors her progress from Above. Thankfully, he's not out of action for too long and is playable for a good portion of the game.
• Mercy Kill: Jack allows Che to do this to herself with his gun after Candy Floss tortures and mutilates her, and Jack does this to his son when he discovers he's part of Liberty.
• Mood Whiplash: The game takes itself much more seriously with a setting much more grittier than the previous game, but when Leeza first makes her way to Entertainment, things change. She finds herself on a Wild West and space TV set (with enemies wearing appropriate costumes), and the battle music changes into something completely cheesy and upbeat. This culminates in a duel with the TV entertainer Psycho Star, whose boss fight is colorful, trippy, accompanied by disco music and is just plain weird. Naturally, given the mood of the overall story, the fight against him was considered a highlight of the game.
• Noble Demon: Che. Although she hates Above and wants to deprive them of electric power to give them a taste of darkness, she is convinced that cooperating with The Man Who Walks With Machines will lead her people to freedom, and is an honorable fighter. She also helps Leeza once she's bested by her and learns that she's been double-crossed by Psycho Star.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Psycho Star's appearance is heavily based on Johnny Knoxville. Somewhat fitting as Star is the comedic host of a popular television show revolving around people getting seriously hurt (at best).
• Offing the Offspring: The game opens with Leeza's father attempting to do this to his daughter, but Jack comes in and saves the day. After the Time Skip, Leeza's father reveals she was the key in bringing the 6808 to life, which he tried to prevent The Men in Black from doing. Later, Jack discovers what's left of his son in Liberty and is forced to do this. Twice.
• Psychopathic Man Child: Leeza's father. Because the Machines used him as their connection to human beings, his mind is now reduced to child-like levels.
• Rebellious Spirit: Leeza's appearance and attitude embodies this, but she has more heroic qualities than one would expect.
• The Reveal: Leeza's dad is really The Man Who Walks With Machines, the 6808 contains his DNA, Jack's son has been imprisoned by the Machines, now a sickly, crazed, horrifyingly warped version of himself that's forced to be put down, and the Machines are actually an unintentional product of Leeza's dad's work.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Jack normally doesn't take work if it involves going Below, due to the incident with his son, but that finally changes when Leeza is captured and Angela is killed after discovering their son is still alive.
• Rooftop Confrontation: One occurs on the roof of the Stern building.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Leeza does this often. For instance, her first encounter with Che:
  Che: I rule them with a fist of iron, and yet they love me. A woman, yet I wear more battle scars than any of them. A sister to my men. A mother to my people-
  Leeza: Get over yourself already.
• Spicy Latina: Che, the first boss encountered by Leeza.
• Straw Feminist: Che is quick to let Leeza know that a woman, not a man, is the leader of the opposition in Manufacturing and is more hardened than the men under her. Before their duel, she boasts that her weapon was taken from a man she defeated. She later helps Leeza in discovering the truth, but only seems eager to help her only because she's also a woman.
• Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Angela, the Deuteragonist of the previous game, is killed midway through the game.
• Take That!: President Goodman is a blatant expy of George W. Bush, who bears a similar voice and accent, states that his father was also a previous president, declares action against the terrorists of Below, and most notably, stutters whenever he speaks. The latter is due to the fact that, in reality, Goodman is nothing more than a literal puppet used by the machines, which introduces another case of Does This Remind You of Anything?
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Angela Stern, big time. Aside from being a constant hindrance to Jack, she still blames him for what happened to their son, and makes it clear she thinks very little of Leeza and that Jack took her in.
• Trauma Conga Line: The game is a huge one to Jack. Basically, his son was abducted by the machines years ago right in front of his eyes, Angela divorces him for it, she later dies in front of his eyes, he discovers his son is alive but as a living corpse, puts him out of his misery, and has to put him out of his misery again. And the game doesn't hide how much Jack gets broken more and more over the course of the game.
• Undead Child: What's become of Jack's son in Liberty. Even after Jack kills him, a machine uses his corpse for Jack's final boss fight.
• Vasquez Always Dies: Che's ultimate fate.
• The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: Liberty.
• Villainous Rescue: Just when Jack is about to get screwed over after being named champion of the Aquadome, Greywolf saves him.
• Voice of the Legion: The inhabitants of Liberty.
• Would Hurt a Child: Candy Floss laments that being sent Below means he can no longer hear the cries and screams of children that he tormented and experimented on Above. However, to his undeserved delight, Jack's son became one of his subjects when he was captured and taken Below. He's put out of his misery by his own father.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Files in the Stern corporation's database reveals that Angela has constantly challenged the board's decisions (with all the right intentions no less). They decide to remove her from power and eliminate her for this reason.
• You Killed My Father: Hank Redwood Jr. eventually discovers from his employers that Jack killed his lowlife father, and wants revenge.
• "X" Makes Anything Cool: "Leeza X". The X at the end doesn't have much of a purpose, apart from sorting of orphans, and she's referred to as "Leeza" thoughout the game, anyway. Hank Redwood Jr. was initially given the name "Hank Y" before discovering his true heritage.

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