Hunter: The Reckoning

Interplay June 2002--Load one shotgun barrel with the four-player co-op and character building aspects of Gauntlet, the other with the frantic pace and surrounded-on-all-sides intensity of Smash TV, shove it all in the rotting mouth of an undead ghoulie, and pull the trigger. What ends up splattered on the wall (figuratively speaking) might look something like Hunter here, an arcade-style action/ shooter set in a modern city overrun with hellspawn. Each of the four selectable characters possesses different traits (strength, speed, spells, etc.) you can boost by mowing down wave after wave of bad guys. Grab any guns (shotgun, flamethrower) or hand-to-hand weapons (sword, axe and our favorite: the chainsaw) you find lying around to help. Groovy.

Long time readers will know I am the resident zombie lover of the GameFabrique staff. So it was with eager anticipation that I got my hands on Interplay's latest zombie slaughtering effort. As I tore open the package a smile beamed across my face as I looked forward to destroying the undead in new and exciting ways.

Well first off, I should tell you that I just happened to have 3 friends over and that it was decided that we would test out the multiplayer facet of the game. As we booted it up, we were treated to a pretty decent intro with that trademark stylish flair that Interplay games seem to all have. From there, we each chose a character. Think of this game as more of a gothic-type Gauntlet game. There are four characters to choose from, each with varying powers and positives/negatives. However, unlike Gauntlet, each character possesses what is called an edge weapon, a type of magic that each character is endowed with that allows them to unleash upon the denizens of the undead. As the characters become more powerful throughout the game, so to does the power of their edge weapon. This is in tune with the glyphs that are found scattered about the game's massive levels. While some glyphs will heal characters, others provide valuable information and still others increase character attributes.

Each character (Avenger, Defender, Martyr and Judge) has both a ranged weapon and a melee weapon. Some of the characters' ranged weapons are more powerful then others, ditto on the melee weapons. Now, what sets this apart from your normal run-of-the-mill slaughter fest is that there are more powerful weapons to be found as the game goes on. This coincides nicely with the fact that the monsters also seem to get stronger. I always seem to get a warm feeling in my belly when I whip out a machine gun and mow down a gaggle of monsters. When fighting monsters, shooting them once doesn't seem to do the trick and often times you must keep shooting (or hacking) until the critter isn't much more than hamburger.

Monsters look good with high detail and quality polygon usage. The environments certainly work well with the game's overtones, creepy town streets, sinister looking buildings and even an abandoned (well mostly abandoned) prison. Hunter is yet another graphically superior game for the Xbox.

This game is a bloody one. Some gamers won't care for the excessive gore and dark overtones and some may struggle with Hunter being a difficult, albeit short, game. I don't see this one being a 'must have,'? as it was targeted for an older crowd. But if you like killing monsters as much as I do, then this one's a winner.