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Intro Based on the tabletop title of the same name, Hunter: The Reckoning’s videogame incarnation foregoes most of the original’s RPG elements to bring gamers a white-knuckle battle for survival against hordes of the undead. Despite its quirks and annoyances, High Voltage has managed to give gamers a solid title that brings zombie genocide up to par with the current generation of systems. Gameplay: 7/10 Choosing from four players, each with their own distinct weapons and powers, Hunter provides a light RPG experience in the way of characters gaining experience points as they hack and shoot their way through the monsters and save those in peril. Fitting in with the original game’s gothic theme, you can choose between Judge (Father Esteban Cortez), Martyr (Kassandra Cheyung), Avenger (Deuce Wyatt), and Defender (Samantha Alexander), whose special powers will increase with experience, and range from enhancing the melee weapons to super speed. All come with their standard melee and range weapons, like axes, swords, pistols, single-shot shotguns, etc. Each character represents a similar, but unique, playing style that becomes more prevalent as they gain experience. With the beat ‘em up genre falling by the wayside lately, it’s nice to see a new title pick up the reins and add a bit of flair to the mix. Battling the undead will lead the heroes to city streets, churches, playgrounds, and various other locations, along with the two most essential locations: sewers and graveyards. Along the way, players will pick up and use a variety of weapons that range from machine guns to flamethrowers, and all provide equally pleasing destruction. Due to the limited combat areas, making maximum use of the weapons never becomes overly difficult and it’s only when switching to the standard melee and range weapons that the game’s problems begin to show. Regardless of the game’s difficulty - which can get a bit excessive at times - the limited continue option is a piece of gaming history that seems to be falling out of favor with me. While some can be earned through progression in the game, it seems as though the difficulty and limited continues were used to lengthen the game, which would be extremely short, otherwise. However, even with those implementations, Hunter can be finished in about 10 hours and little is left to extend the replay value; similar to the console Baldur’s Gate title(s), new modes can be unlocked, but those simply make the game even harder and do little to actually extend the game’s interest. What could have saved the title was the multiplaying experience, and although it would seem to be what the game was designed around, it really doesn’t live up to its potential. Without an increase in the stronger weapons, the players who aren’t able to scramble to the prime weapons are left with their extremely weak basic weapons, going on and on and on, until the screen is empty. Yes, more players means that the monsters will be dealt with faster, but half the fun of Hunter is messing with the various weapons, and button mashing relentlessly, with little being damage being done, just isn’t much fun. Oddly enough, I had a better time going through the levels solo; those who got to try out the multiplayer with me were left just as bored as I was whenever I had to resort to hacking away or shooting endless rounds, while someone else got to use a beautiful machine gun and mow down rows of oncoming monsters. The characters are interesting, slight RPG elements are a welcome addition, and killing zombies passes as my favored hobby; in all these areas, Hunter excels, and with the experience it offers, it should be a nice break for Xbox gamers.
Graphics: 7/10 Sound:
7/10 Control:
8/10 Overall: 7.5/10 [ top ] | |||
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