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Hunter: The Reckoning for Xbox
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Hunter: The Reckoning for Xbox
56 reviews   4.2 of 5

Product Description

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Summary

This is Gauntlet only with undead. It's kill, run, clear the level. It gets really old after 20 minutes. Some have asked: "So why did you give Serious Sam a good rating? That's all you did in that game." Well, I'll explain it in two words---camera control. In Serious Sam you could change your perspective and look around; in Hunter, all you could do is zoom in and out. Also, Serious Sam had better weapons and death splatters. Heh
It made no sense why they couldn't let the right thumbstick or directional pad control the direction of the camera. I found myself running into approaching zombies, missing key items and having to go back, and basically just becoming frustrated with the field of vision in general.
However, I digress, this is a good multiplayer game mainly because a friend can join in at anytime and up to 4 people can play at once. As a single player game, I'd suggest renting it first.
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Summary

With all the GREAT reviews for this game, I HAD to post my review.

One word: Gauntlet. Get ready for some real violent fast paced gauntlet style gameplay. You are the hunter and you are trying to save the city (imagine that) from vampires, demons, spirits, etc. You have 4 players to choose from, 2 guys, 2 girls. Each with their own weapons and style. Each has one melee weapon and a shooting weapon with infinite ammo. Rumor has it, character selection has a crucial part to do with certain enemies during the game. (I'm not ruining anything, but I suggest you not make the mistake and read up on this AFTER you get a long way through the game!) Why they did this, I dunno! Gameplay itself is very smooth! A true beauty. I zoomed in a just slashed for awhile when I got tired of looking for switches and keys.

OK, I'm gonna go ahead and get onto the point of why I posted this review, the pros and cons of this game. One thing I have to comment on, that really made me mad, was the camera. All you can do is zoom in and out. This proves to be useful when needing to know which way to go and fighting, but God forbid you may miss a spirit or key and have to go back. Now, you have to walk towards the camera not knowing what you're walking into.

The main BAD thing about this game, is the enemies. I mean, it gets old slaying zombies for 15 minutes at a time before you can move on. It's not so bad, if you really enjoy it, in the first part of the game. The zombies are slow, you can just use your melee weapon and slice 'em in half or shoot them with your default weapon. Often having to just run in circles for a long time until they're all dead (some places it's required to kill all enemies and there can be 50+ sometimes, gets VERY old). But besides that, the hardest part, is the zombies with guns. They're offscreen, both sides, 5 or more at a time sometimes all shooting. If you get hit with a bullet it takes a HUGE chunk of life away. This is totally rediculous. It takes all the fun out of the game when it takes 10 hits to kill a character with a axe or rifle and they can kill you with a puny handgun with 2 shots. And they just keep coming. One court could have 10 or more to kill. So pretty much alot of this game is running, shooting, running, shooting. When you have the melee weapon, your most advanced combo will be hitting R and L in different orders. No Joke. Pathetic.

There are some really cool and fun things about this game, though. I found it hilarous trying to fight the zombies with the little girl waddling behind me with the teddy bear. But of course, it got old, quick.

To sum it up, this game is really fun through the first board, but after awhile, as I've said, it gets very old just slashing and shooting and running trying to kill ALL those ENEMIES!! It's not hard, just so freakin' time consuming!!

Sound

No gripes here either, besides the contrast in sounds. I turn it up to run around and once I find something the [shring] sound is really loud compared to the ambience noise. Nothing really creepy, though as heard in Silent Hill. But hey, everything sounds great, so all 5.

Gameplay

This got a low score with me. I played by myself, so if you're going to be playing with another person, by all means, DISREGARD THIS!!! I'm sure the game is 100% more fun with 3 or 4 people all slashing away at the same time!! Unfortunately, I didn't have the fun of experiencing it.

There are some good things, however. A really cool feature that really gets you into the meyhem is when a certain amount of characters get on the screen, the music picks up. Heavy, fast metal music.

Gameplay itself, very smooth. Gets annoying, though, because it all comes down to either stading still or jumping and wearing out your R button by tapping it OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER again to slice through enemies or running in circles shooting the enemies for half an hour. ech!
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Summary

If you are into hack and slash mayhem, combined with some good battle tactics, this game is for you. The cut scenes are pretty good, gameplay is pretty good the sound and music is awesome and graphics are very good. The background of the game is that an electrocution of a serial killer in a local prison unleashs the tormented undead from the prison. You chose from 1 of 4 different characters with different attributes and different weapons. It also has a 1-4 multiplayer option. Pretty cool to team up with friends in a slaying gore fest.The cut scenes are not very accurate. When the character enters the scene, often they are not carrying the weapon the had. I like the 3rd person format of the game, however I would have liked better camera control. The game does offer a zoom feature, but the position/angle of the camera is not adjustable. This makes it difficult when you have to back track.
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Summary

You're fighting through the city of Ashcroft, overrun by the undead, angry spirits of prisoners killed at the prison. At their head is Nathan Arkady, a possessed serial-killer who freed their spirits from their eternal grave to wreak havoc on the world of the living and get their bloody revenge.

Brilliant rental entertainment abound, this zombie beat-em-up delivers where it needs to.

I have a pretty straight-forward system when it comes to new games. Go to the video game store. Try whatever demos they have there to see if there's anything worth to buy. This system has prevailed many times leading to hours of fun in games such as Halo, SOCOM Navy Seals, and Hunter: The Reckoning. I've discovered that whenever I fail to employ this system I wind up with gaming death, complete with handy straight-jacket to contain your rage (i.e. Turok: Evolution). I also include internet reviews, game magazines, and the such to help my decisions, but the demo's at my local GameStop or EB are what really bring games home.

Occassionally, I feel that the demo isn't enough to convince me to break a fifty, as was the case for Hunter: The Reckoning. If that is the case, in comes BlockBuster for rental goodness! I am so glad I rented this game and didn't break the bank to buy it. Don't get me wrong, this was a brilliantly designed funfest/bloodbath, but it really didn't provide the replay value I really want out of a game. If there were more levels I would certainly buy this zombie B movie come to life, but I got what I came for.

I was blown away by how well this game plays. I assumed it would just have to be loaded with bugs, as this is a very difficult game to run, further hindered by four player slashing. Luckily, the people at White Wolf are pretty down-to-earth guys who understand that the camera could slaughter this game. So they made it stationary through the whole thing. The only part changeable (and not by the game itself, thank goodness) is how zoomed in or out the camera will be. My heart, she is glad. Enemies are as diverse as they are numerous. If you even see just one screenshot of this game it should be clear that the enemies are pretty darn numerous, so my statement ought to tell you something. Fight of zombies, alligators, skeletons, vampires, ghosts, poison burping rats, giant teddy bears, and some of the most hideous, scariest bosses ever imagined in any game, period.

Sound

Marvelous. Absolutely marvelous. Music is on tempo and lovely. Gun effects are very well done, although the pistols seem really off for some reason. Gore sound effects are on key. Weapons, glass breaking, creaking, moody sound effects and generally all the small things are well accounted for and then some. But frankly, I could care less about those things. Why? Because one piece of sound rose above all the others. A game portion often overlooked in all but the best of video games. Yes sir or madam, I am talking about voice acting. It's so deep and real I was just sucked into the game. I need the addresses of the voice actors so I can send them fruit basket full of kiwis and papaya. The range, emotion, and occasional humor they put in is something that can not be ignored even by the most bitter and hateful critic.

I have less gripes about this than anything else. One: Pistols sound really bad. Two: Enemy attacking sounds can get repetitive. Nevertheless, this game has the best sound of any I've ever played.


All in all, everything in this game considered, I just wanted more. This is good and bad. Wanting more shows great gameplay. But in this case the craving is also because this game was just too short for my tastes. A 7 day rental is in order, because sadly that's all it really takes to beat this game. Must-rent indeed. But unless you love the genre or really get into the battle methods, there's no reason to empty your wallet.

Gameplay

Levels don't ramp up in the beginning, so you have plenty of time to get used to the controls, which have a steep learning curve. But once you get used to them you can play with amazing ease, slicing through, shooting down, or blowing up the undead at will. The sword-combat system is self-adjustent (the characters know exactly where the zombies are, and fillet as such) so no difficult combos need to be memorized. The game gets difficult, but not too difficult. Since you're bound to spend hours locked into your basement playing this game anyway, the bosses won't present an impossible challenge. But a difficult challenge nonetheless. More fun than playing on your own, this is in my mind X-Box's first good party game. Not technically, but that's how four-player co-op is going to feel. Missions are more diverse than you would think, and more fun than I dared hope.

But, of course, perfection eludes everyone. In this game, replay value is something sorely missed. Admittedly, it's fun to play this game again, but what's the point? There's nothing to unlock except for more modes. You can play it again, but not as much as I would have wanted. Also, in some spots you can find yourself bored, performing the same move on the same zombies again and again, and because of an odd little slice of the game, they can't follow you through that door you're hiding behind. These problems are small in the large scale of things, but it still can detract some of the fun value.
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Sound

The sound was pretty good. There is a fair amount of ambient sound, but that tends to get drowned out by the repeated sword slashing/weapon firing. There is a fair amount of industrial music sprinkled in - it kicks in when you run into a larger battle.

Gameplay

The gameplay is entertaining, but the action tends to get a little repetitive. Hack, slash, repeat. The problem is this - making the game simple fun also can play party to decreasing the replay value to gamers. The controls are simple: Attack, jump, switch weapon, use "Edge" skills.
"Edges" are skills unique to each character - as an example, one of the characters has a "Cleave" edge - causes his axe to light on fire, and strengthens his attack. Another has a healing "Edge", used to bring back health.

I have a serious complaint with control, as well. Unfortunately, the game limits you to firing/aiming your weapon in only the basic eight directions. Not such a big deal with the melee weapons, but trying to fire from a distance can be difficult because of it.
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Summary

Hunter is a 3rd person action/RPG genre, based on the White Wolf fantasy rpg universe. Hunter is unique because it is designed for cooperative multiplay from the ground up, and not as a last minute bonus.
The storyline goes like this, sometime ago, during the execution of a prisoner named Arcady at a rural prison facility, a rift to an evil dimension was opened. Four individual witness to the execution where imbued with special powers and defeated the evil, containing it inside the prison. These Hunters each possess a special gift or magic, they separated in the world each on a quest to find and destroy evil. Later, the prison facility was re-opened by teenagers hosting a rave, unwittingly reopening the town to terror. The Hunters have all come together to stop evil once again.
The characters: The Avenger, a motorcycle gang ruffian who wields an axe and a pump shotgun. His magic revolves around flaming axe attacks. He is most effective as a melee fighter, cutting a path through the hordes with his giant axe but he is extremely slow and his magic is not effective. Next there is the Judge, a priest with a long leather coat, crossbow, and crucifix sword. The Judge starts the game as the weakest character, his cross-bow is very ineffective, seemingly. He is not the fastest character, so his melee skills are average. His skills becomes evident as the game progresses, his magic is the most powerful in the game and his once weak cross-bow becomes the most effective weapon in the game against vampires.
The Defender is a balanced character, her magic includes the ability to heal herself, and later on her party. She wields a very quick blade and trusty six-shooter magnum. She is quick & reliable, but becomes less effective later in the game. Last, but not least is the diminuitive Marytr, a tiny asian chick similar to Lara Croft, with her twin handguns. She sports a nice Japanese school girl mini-mini skirt, hip length white jacket, heels, and spiked 'do. In addition, she sports twin knives to go with her twin guns. Her magic is also some of the most useful in the game.
The story in Hunter is very well told, with several real time cutscenes, not only at the beginning of missions, but also throughout the missions. The voice acting is very good, and at times very emotional, and very mature.
Hunter is played from a top-down 3/4 perspective for the most part. Unlike most multiplay games, the screen is not divided. So naturally, the group has to stick together. This leads to a lot of teamwork, yelling, cussing, fun, and frustration. Also, Hunter can be played with friendly fire on or off. To me, the game is best played with friendly fire ON, thus requiring the most strategy and yielding the best sense of accomplishment. However, if playing with children, you will have to turn it off.
Aside from the two mainstay weapons each character gets, you can also pick up the usual suspect of weapons in any video game. Double barrel shotguns, assault shotguns, uzi's, assault rifles, rocket launchers, chainsaws, and the almighty flame thrower. What makes Hunter special, is the enemies also use all of these weapons. The weapons are without a doubt all very cool.
Logistics in Hunter are a mixed bag, the menu interface could be better. All the save games are in one pool, making it easy for people playing a whole new game to write over your game. Games can be saved only after completing a level, and loading times are very decent. Once loaded there is absolutely no slow down in the game, despite the excellent graphics and tons of enemies, even with four players. Framerates are fast and consistent, production quality of this game is very high.
Graphics and sound are simply superb. If you don't have Dobly5.1, you don't know what your missing. Windows shattering, machine guns spittin, flame throwers engulfing, environmental audio is used superbly in this game, and really adds to the mood at night with the lights off.
The enemies are vast, you start out with boring zombies, gargoyles, spider heads, then progress to giant mutoid monsters, monster teddy bears, once inside the prison you encounter vampires, dogs, fat guy zombies in white shirts with shotguns, and flame throwers, ghosts and spirits. There are boss battles at the end of a handful of missions and they are very entertaining, unlike the frustrating boss battles of most games.
The negative, controls are somewhat sloppy in Hunter. Often times you will find yourself targeting friends, because something just compels your character to do so. Melee combat is not very precise and the combos for some characters are not very effective. Jump attacks for some are not effective. Finally, the game can get a little boring when tons and tons of zombies keep coming out. They could have slightly reduced the number of zombies, because they are not a challenge.
Overall, I'd give Hunter a 90/100, however with a qualification. As a multiplayer game Hunter is that good. Somehow the game is just not the same in single player. So if you don't plan on playing regularly with friends, you may not enjoy the game as much in single player mode.

Sound

Sound is equally impressive as graphics. The voice acting is very very good. Carpenter, a bad guy who ends up lending a hand early on is particularly impressive. Also, their are cutscenes made for each character, so no matter which character you have when the cutscene plays you will see them step forward and begin talking. If you playing multiplay, then its random which character will do the cutscene, but the cool part is the proper partners you are playing with show up in the background, really nice touch.
The weapons all have their own signature bark and its impressive in positional audio. Music is paced to the action. So when it gets hot an heavy the techno-thriller soundtrack will get louder and play faster pace music, enhancing the thrill. When the pace slows, the music also slows back down. Impressive for a while, but it becomes predictable after a few levels. Oh and no, you can't use your own playlist in Hunter. To sum it up, the sound is GREAT.
Let me recap by saying Hunter is a great game in multiplay mode, and that is the only mode I will ever play this game in. The game is medium length, somewhere around 20 hours. But, if you don't use team tactics, this can easily stretch out to 30+. Replay value is limitless because there are so many character combos to use, and each combination makes the game different. Plus, this is a game you will want to keep for when friends or family show up, it is sure to please. Once you finish there is a nightmare mode, which is very hard, but adds nothing significant aside from new costumes. I look forward to Hunter 2.

Gameplay

Gameplay is simple, fast, and fun. Again, co-op multiplay is the only way to play this game to me. The controls are unique. The left stick controls movement, the right stick controls aiming, however in Hunter you can basically shoot the opposite way you are moving, and also straff, by pulling the sticks in different directions. The right trigger is attack/shoot, or you can configure the right stick button, which is how I play. Same for left trigger, which is jump, but left stick can be made to jump also. You also have a roll movement, which is fast escape maneuver, the animation is different for each character. The face buttons control switching between main two weapons, and weapons picked up. There is no limit to the number of weapons you can carry. Ammo is limited on the weapons you pick up. Some weapons require fuel, like flamethrower and chainsaw.
Enemies don't just die, head fall off, arms, legs, to the point where a lower torso will follow you around. Enemies catch fire, blow up into pieces, etc. Enemies can be made to shoot each other.
You can walk at different speeds up to a run by controlling how fast you move the thumbstick. You have a life bar and a magic bar. Each can be replenished via glyphs, and also destroyed enemies sometimes release magic and life energy in the form of blue or red dots, which can be picked up.
The missions are diverse, they range from simple survival, to escorting little girls through woods at night. The overall goal though is to make your way to the prison to where Arcady was executed. On the way you must go through a train station, a town, a church graveyard, a church, catacombs under church, various prison levels, etc. Excitement really picks up inside the prison, this is where the cool enemies present themselves.
Boss battles are cool because there are two ways, usually to beat the bosses. One is the trick way, which makes it easy, two is the old reliable slug it out until he dies.
Speaking of dying. There are innocent people which you can save throughout the game. Each one you save gives your team an extra life. If you die, as long as you have lives, you can comeback immediately. Otherwise hope your partner can find another innocent, then you can comeback, if you run out of lives, that is when you must restart the level.
The action is heavy. In the beginning, its zombie overload, and it begins to get boring. But again, once in the prison, the enemies become varied, and the excitement kicks in. Plus, more weapons become available. The action of the weapons is great, from the reverb of the shotgun to the repeating pattern of the machine gun. Characters recoil, and reload accordingly when firing weapons. Enemies absorb the bullets and recoil and lose limbs when shot.
Gameplay is basically all out war as the enemies main tactic is just to overwhelm you with numbers and surprise attacks. But if your team is well coordinated, you will develop strategy and tactics that will even one up Sharky's Machine.
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Summary

There is this town called Ashcroft. It's got a prison where the inmates were brutally tortured and killed at the prison. Then there was one man Nathaniel Arkady who was to be executed by the electric chair. When he was dead all the angry spirits who died in that prison were awoken and wanted every in that jail dead. These four people went through imbuing. Imbuing is when you can see the undead. The four people were imbued because they had something to do with Arkady. First, Spencer "Deuce" Wyatt. When he was fourteen he witnessed his mother's death by Cornelius Boothe a very important man to Arkady. Later that night Spencer killed Cornelius. Afraid of what Arkady would do to him he left town. Twenty years later he came back to visit his mother's grave. Then confused and some fear he sees Cornelius get out of a car and go to the prison to watch Arkady's execution. Spencer goes to see what's going on. Next, Samantha Alexander. Samantha is a police officer and was the officer to bring Arkady down. So she goes to witness his execution. Then there's, Kassandra Cheyung. Kassandra and her friend went to visit her friend's ex-boyfriend who was in prison. Then they decide to witness Arkady's execution. Last but not least, Father Esteban Cortez. Cortez was a chaplain at Ashcroft. He speaks to the prisoners before they were to be executed. He was the last person to speak to Arkady. These four after being imbued saw all the horrible creatures and locked up Ashcroft Prison. They left and hoped this would never happen again until... The town had a big rave in celebrating Arkady's execution about a couple years later. Right infront of the prison. Now this didn't go well with the spirits who died at this prison. Once again being awoken again and angered at the whole town they want everyone dead. Not just the people at the prison, everyone. The four have come back to Ashcroft hoping to lock up this spirit world for good.

Sound

Some sounds in this game are nice and some are just annoying. The sounds of a sword being drawn out or guns reloading produce some nice sounds. Yet when there is a whole army of enemies coming at you there will be some in game music unless it's the rock tunes the other music should have been left out. The option of using your own tracks would have made it better. Also if you have Dolby Digital 5.1 in your X-Box you would feel like you are one of the hunters the sound is so good.
Hunter the Reckoning is so good I wouldn't be surprised to see High Voltage and InterPlay whip up a part 2.

Gameplay

Hunter has got to be one of the best hack n' slash games ever. Each person has their own weapons. A slashing weapon and a shooting weapon. Also each person has their own powers to use. The powers or Edges called in the game have to do with each person's creed or purpose. Spencer is the Avenger. An Avenger just wants to kill every creature in sight. Avenging his mother. Samantha is the Defender. Defenders defend innocent people. She's police she defends innocent people, all part of the job. Kassandra is the Martyr. Martyr's will sacrifice their lives for the cause. As a young woman Kassandra always sacrificed herself to defend her friends. Cortez is the Judge. Judges do what is right in the eye of everyone. Each person starts with one edge and get up to three as they progress through the game.

Weapons-1.Slashing 2.Shooting 3.Power

Spencer-1.Axe 2.Shotgun 3.Cleave-His axe will burst into flames making it a stronger attack.

Samantha-1.Katana 2.Magnum 3.Rejuvenate-Her health will be restored.

Kassandra-1.Two Daggers 2.Two Pistols 3.Demand-Makes her faster and stronger for a limited time.

Cortez-1.Sword 2.Crossbow 3.Word of Power-A beam of light comes out from him and kills any creature in the light.

Also each person has their own attributes. Strength, accuracy, speed, stamina, and conviction. Conviction is like the health bar for your edges. Gameplay is similar to Gauntlet Legends with the same camera angles. Above all the players which can get real annoying. Sometimes you can't see some zombies that will jump out from behind trees and stuff like that. Also with multiplayer cooperative play there is a distance limit between players. So you can't just go to other side of the room unless everyone else does. This can get frustrating when trying to kill zombies and you can't reach them because you've reached the distance limit. Also you have pool lives. Which means all the players share lives. The distance limit and the pooled lives can get real annoying if you are playing with other people who suck at the game. One bad player could ruin it for everyone. Also you will pick up different weapons in the game. From machine guns to rocket launchers. Then you will get better types of guns as you go on. Also there are up to 23 levels who will do battle in and over 20 monsters to battle.
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Summary

Hunter - The Reckoning is a game based on the roleplaying pen and paper game of the same name by White Wolf. Hunter allows the player to choose one of four characters who must head off a zombie infestation while investigating what the real cause is for this major supernatural disturbance. The story involves four unique characters who were present at the execution of Arkady, a convicted murderer. During the execution, however, something goes terribly wrong and zombies begin to attack. The four are able to escape and seal off the prison. Unfortunately, one year later a rave occurs on the prison grounds and the four must return to finish what they started. Each of the four characters offer different attributes for different playing styles. The raver is quick and nimble, she tends to chip away at the enemies' life bars. The biker is slow, but incredibly powerful. The cop is fairly average in attack and speed. Finally, the priest offers some powerful "spells" that damage the undead he fights. Many comparisons have been drawn between Hunter and Gauntlet, however Hunter offers enough new twists to the genre to keep one entertained for quite a while.

Sound

The sound is pretty much right on. Swords hacking into zombie flesh, sound right. Although, I don't know how one could really critique that particular sound. Innocents scream, zombies groan, chain saws roar, flame throwers flame and they all sound like they're supposed to. The underground levels feature some nice echo/water effects and the weapon sounds are thoroughly meaty.

Music on the otherhand is pretty forgetable. Except for a couple tracks, one of which is final credits music, the music is generic heavy metal, which may fit the mood but gets tedious after an hour.

The sound and music are definitely serviceable, but nothing spectacular.

Gameplay

After selecting which character you wish to play, the game opens in a underground train depot. There a hint glyphs which indicate helpful tips and techniques to beating the game. Also, it gives the player a chance to get used to the controls as kind of a training ground. This is a nice touch that I found helpful because it allows one to jump right in without digging through the manual for "how to play the game." Gameplay generally consists of row after row of creatures attacking you. There are multiple stages and at various points in each stage one is allowed to save their progress. Creatures range from slow moving zombies, grotesque human-spiders that explode, ghosts, and even vampires. As you progress you notice small things like chairs and tables that can break or gas tankers that when shot enough explode hurting both the enemies and you, if you're not careful. As you gain experience, you'll notice certain skills improve depending on how often you use them. If you're constantly attacking with your sword, your melee skill goes up. Overall, the gameplay in single player mode is pretty fun, but definitely limited in that once you've beaten the game there isn't much replay value.

The real fun begins when you get one or more of your friends over to play cooperatively. With four players duking it out on screen the battles get frantic and fast (more players mean more monsters are thrown into the mix). More than once I found myself yelling at a friend to come near my character and get healed in the midst of combat or telling everyone to run. Its great fun that is only diminished by the fact that there is no split screen. So if one character is being attacked by a monster off screen and another is on the opposite side of the screen it becomes frustrating. Another time, one of my friends jumped over the railing while another player and I were still up top, we almost had to restart the level because we couldn't manuever the characters enough to get everyone back on the ground floor. Aside from that though, the camera angle works well and tends to follow the player(s) logically, unlike Resident Evil games which tend to switch at seemingly inopportune moments.
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Summary

Hunter The Reckoning is not a "thinking man's" game for the most part. While some strategy is involved, the game is basically a hack & slash fest. But oh what a great hack & slash fest this game is!

The storyline is suitably rediculous and fits well with plots from movies such as Evil Dead and Night Of The Living Dead. During an execution at a prison (in the middle of town no less), something goes terribly wrong as the electrified bad guy somehow unleashes all kinds of unholy spirits. Four witnesses to the execution are inbued with the power to see the evil in the world which includes vampires, wherewolves and zombies. All of the sudden, the well-mannered guard who threw the switch is a crooked-head zombie with a beef to pick with you. Like I said, typical cheese horror flick plot points abound and make little or no sense!

So moving on, these four "witnesses" drive the evil back and seal the prison....then just leave. Oooookkaaaayyy.......A year later, a bunch of kids are having a rave party in the parking lot of the prison and awaken those evil, pesky spirits again! While the game attempts to make you believe that NPCs (non-playable characters) think that the eating, impaling and general mutilation of the townsfolk is just acts of violence (after all-they just see normal people doing this nasty, evil stuff!), the whole premise is just too hokey and way over the top.

But looking past the story, you will find a deep, satisfying 1-4 player beat-em' up that is a ball to play. Extra goodies open up after beating the game and you will want to play through more than once, at least trying out two of the available four characters.

Sound

The sound effects are great. Squishy sounds, shotgun blasts, moans, roars and everything else you expect from a "survival horror" game abound.

Gameplay

Hunter is easy enough to control. Contrary to what some idiots have said in their "reviews" (ie-Xbox haters who try to knock down the score), you do have quite a bit of control over your weapons. I'm not going to go on and on about what button does what, but I will say that you have pretty precise control over where you fire your guns. The left stick moves your character and while weilding a shotgun, Uzi or other projectile weapon, pushing the right analog stick in the direction you want to shoot will provide the desired effect.

Four different characters, each with different weapons and abilites gives the game great replay value. While the single player game is fun, plugging in up to four players (all onscreen at once!) is where this game really shines.
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