One night, a mysterious Agent named Graves pays you a visit and presents you with a briefcase. Inside it is a gun and 100 untraceable bullets. Graves then offers you the opportunity to exact revenge on someone who did you wrong without getting caught. How you use the weapon is completely up to you. Would you accept it? That's the premise behind Acclaim's upcoming 100 Bullets, their videogame adaptation of the award-winning DC comic book.

100 Bullets is about the mysterious Agent Graves, a member of the Minutemen, a secret group of thugs who were used by the 13 families (Also known as the Trust; they run the U.S.) to keep order amongst themselves. When the Trust grew tired of their personal gang, they set them up and slaughtered them...well...most of them. Graves used hypnosis to erase the memories of the remaining Minutemen and provided them with new identities. They went on with their lives, until Graves reappeared, and through the use of documented evidence unlocked certain sections of their mind. He then showed them a picture of someone who's wronged them, and that's where the gun comes in. There are 100 untraceable bullets, and if they accept it they won't be caught. It's an interesting premise, but in the comic it's not limited to the Minutemen. Graves appears to random people as well, offering them the chance to right a wrong.

There's definitely a great concept behind the game and the story's in great hands. 100 Bullets creator Brian Azzarello (Who's also the lead writer for DC Comic's Batman and Superman.) is writing it. Acclaim's definitely ensured that the feel of the comic book will be successfully captured.

You play as either Cole Burns or Snow Falls, each with their own story to tell. Burns is a former Minuteman turned ice cream vendor who needs a little convincing about his dark past, but once he realizes who he is Graves sends him into battle against the Trust. Falls is a boxer who doesn't seem to have any real connection to all of this, but after accepting Graves's offer and impressing him with her skills, he makes her a Minuteman.

In addition to the cool story, the gameplay shows a lot of promise. If you fashion yourself a fan of gunplay, 100 Bullets shouldn't disappoint. You can wield all sorts of different weapons (Double handguns being my favorite.) and blow away countless bad guys. You can also take hostages and utilize an interesting dodge function that enables you to dodge bullets from far away and turn an enemy's gun against him at close range. If anything, the game's going to have a ton of action. Acclaim's also keeping mum on the subject of a breakthrough gameplay feature that'll eclipse bullet time, but we'll have to wait until E3 to find out what it is.

Based on what I've seen and read, this new feature better be mind-blowing, because gameplay wise, 100 Bullets doesn't strike me. Based on what's been released to the public, there's nothing to discern the gameplay from Hitman, Max Payne and Dead to Rights, though that's a nitpick considering it's a little early to pass judgment on a game that releases this fall.

Visually, 100 Bullets looks promising. Eduardo Risso (The artist for the comic book.) is directing, and while I couldn't discern which location the characters were in (You'll travel to Atlantic City, LA, Paris and NYC.) the graphics are dark, moody, and sharp. They're not very detailed (And I'm not sure whether this is intentional.) but at this stage they're satisfactory. They're also fully interactive. For example, you can't take cover behind a table for too long because it'll eventually get blown apart, making taking cover a lot more hair raising than it was in Namco's Kill Switch.

100 Bullets looks and sounds great, but the real test is whether or not the A.I. and the controls will be up to code. No matter how great the story, I'm not going to put up with stupid enemies and an atrocious control scheme. If Acclaim can guarantee success in those two categories, I'll gladly accept the briefcase when the game ships this fall.