Im a
Gauntlet fan from way back. When I first got my Gamecube I couldnt wait
for the newest Gauntlet game to be released. Imagine my disappointment
when Gauntlet: Dark Legacy was released, offering almost nothing new and
full of glitches. When I heard about Hunter: The Reckoning I thought
that maybe this could be the Gauntlet for a new generation. Once again I
was disappointed when I finally sat down to play the Gamecube version of
Hunter: The Reckoning, with no improvements over the X-box version and
some of the most frustrating gameplay ever.
I really
tried to like this game. In theory it should have been great: up
to four players going hog wild blasting away zombies. There were moments
I really started to like it. Then the camera would swing behind a tree
and we wouldnt be able to see anything. Or even worse yet I would fire
six rounds at a zombie directly in front of me and miss with every shot.
All I wanted from this game was some mindless action that my friends and
I could get together and go through with a couple of beers. By mindless
I didnt expect to be puked on by a giant teddy bear. Thats right;
there is a giant teddy bear for a boss and one of his main attacks is
puking on you. I guess somebody, somewhere thought this was pretty
clever. Myself, at two in the morning, having had a couple of beers,
still didnt find it amusing.
I dont
really know much about the tabletop RPG in which this game is derived,
but what we get for story at the beginning of the game is pretty light.
You are one of a team of Hunters: special people with the ability to see
the evil that normal people cannot. Flash to a year in the past where
you witness an execution that sets off evil spirits whom take over the
prison staff and prisoners. Of course a bloodbath ensues. The Hunters
are able to contain the evil, luckily, and the prison is boarded up. All
is well until a bunch of misguided youths decide to throw a rage in the
old abandoned prison, as misguided youths are so prone to do. This sets
those darn evil spirits right off. Now the whole town has been taken
over by evil and the Hunters must return to save the day.
For the
most part you are only required to run around and blast zombies, lots
and lots of zombies. Millions of zombies. They are constantly appearing
from nowhere, right on top of you. I felt overwhelmed all the time. I am
all for tension in a game, but it is ridiculous that I didnt even have
enough time to reload because the zombies appear out of thin air,
practically chomping on me already. I just really wanted to bite them
back.
After a
while you must find keys in order to advance through the levels. For me
that meant playing up to a gate then going back through the level and
finding the one zombie I didnt kill. It was always that one zombie that
had the key. I just really wanted to bite him.
Of course
there is the lead a small child through a level, protecting the child
from all sorts of evil while the child walks as slow as possible and
takes the most asinine route towards sanctuary. This is made even harder
as you never know where a zombie will appear. I would be leading the
child through an area that appeared to be cleared of baddies when a
hoard of zombies would pop-up between the child and me. They would be
killing me and the poor child before we even knew what hit us. The child
has no defense; it doesnt even know to run from the zombies. All the
child does is follow you. Im pretty sure, when I looked in that childs
eyes, that she really wanted to bite somebody too.
In
preparation for this review I went back and reread the X-box
Hunter: The Reckoning
review. For greater detail on the game you should read it. The only
difference between the two is the degradation in audio and video from
the X-box to the Gamecube. It is too bad that they couldnt have fixed a
couple of the problems that the X-box version had before releasing it on
the Cube. But really it wasnt about making a good game; it was about
making more money off of the title. I understand the urge to make more
money, I sure would like to, but they could have at least made sure that
it was as good as the X-box version. Sure the hardware is different but
I think that they could have figured out something.
I did
really enjoy the sound of my pistol firing. I could feel it through my
subwoofer. It sounded like an actual gun firing in my room (dont ask
how I know what it sounds like having a gun shot in my room, I just do).
This probably doesnt do anything for those of you without subwoofers
but I thought I better say something positive.
This is
far from the worst game I have ever played. The major problem with this
game is just the fact that it really is boring. It just wasnt a whole
lot of fun to play. It had oodles of potential and I think that is why I
found it so disappointing. There where moments where I was nearly drawn
in. Too bad I was always slapped back to reality with the unadulterated
mediocrity of this game. Also, what is with the limited continues? Im
not putting quarters into my Gamecube. Why not let me continue as much
as I want? In the end I really just wanted to track down the developers
and bite them.