Hunter: The Reckoning
Platform: XBox


Alright. Sure, this is an older game, and there is already Hunter 2 out for XBox, but I finally got some free time on my hands lately and decided to pick this game back up and play it. I started it a few years ago, but never got around to finishing it. Anyway..


Story

Well, the story, as I saw it was a little odd. It starts out with some guy named Arkady, on death row. During the execution, something terrible went wrong, and four of the witnesses became "Imbued", which means they became Hunters. Hunters can see people in their true form. "True form", meaning that there are monsters, zombies, and vampires walking around the world unscaved, killing innocents. Now, unless you are a Hunter, no one can distinguish between them. However they happened to have become Imbued is beyond me, and how there are all these monsters walking around is a little hazy as well. At that point during the execution, they start killing the guards, etc. that turned into monsters. They were able to supress the monsters to the extent of blockading the prison doors, thus keeping all them trapped in the prison.

About a year later, they got out and started terrorizing the world. It was at this time the 4 reunited and began their quest to erradicate this scum from the ground up. So the story begins.


Gameplay

If you have the desire to kill zombies, you came to the right place. If you have the desire to kill vampires, you came to the right place. If you have the desire to shoot off at least a million rounds and play with multiple devasting weapons, ranging from Swords, Axes, Cross Bows, Couger Magnum's, 3 different Machine Guns, 2 different Shot Guns, Flamethrowers, Chain Saws, and Rocket Launchers, again, you came to the right place.

With similarities of an RPG, on the basis that Experience points are gained with every kill, and Stats like Strength, Accuracy, Conviction, and Speed raising throughout the game, this is one action game that delivers. Aside from the normal run of the mill weapons to use, each character has their own special "Glyphs" to use. Each Glyph has a different use, and depending on the type of character you chose to play with, comes the different advantages and disadvantages. It's up to you to decide which will work best for you.


Graphics

The graphics are actually quite good. Aside from a few times during the gameplay when the view is little screwed up, this game doesn't have many graphical flaws.

The cinematics aren't very impressive, but honestly, while you're playing, you really don't even want to stop and watch them, as they just slow your badass killing spree down.

The bosses look pretty awesome, and believe you me, there are plenty of them to go around.


Multiplayer

One of the better options in the game. The only problem with the multiplayer is that they don't use split screen. Someone not having played a game like this might think this is good, and to an extent it is, but there are some serious drawbacks to this. The biggest being the limited movement of the characters. Since everyone is squeezed on one screen, and because the monsters can get quite overwhelming in number, each character can only move as big as the screen width allows, which isn't exactly large. There is a huge need for communication when dealing with killing and allotting weapon pickup out, but overall, it is 100% entertainment!


Sound

The sound department is just fine. Nothing spectacular, but the gun shots, monsters screams, and character grunts aren't exactly shabby. One of the more interesting sound parts of the game come when there are more monsters on the screen than can be counted. An adrenalin pumping soundtrack fires up, making the massacre and chaos all the better and more invigorating.


Complaints

Not many complaints, I'm happy to say. I had heard that the length of the game was extremely short prior to playing, but that wasn't the case, IMO. It was exactly Final Fantasy-esque in game length of 100+ hours on average, but a good 15-20 hours will be needed to play this game from start to finish.

Again, the multiplayer is a bit squeezed, but fun nonetheless.

Finally, there isn't much of a replay factor in this game, unless you have the drive to actually beat in single player then try out multiplayer. You might think you will want to beat the game with each character, but in all honesty, you probably won't have the conviction to do so. At least I didn't..

Overall

I wasn't expecting much from this game at the start, since I already tried it out before and couldn't "make time" to finish it, but this was fun as all hell. There weren't many tricky parts, or extremely overbearing bosses to kill, but this game was more than just a demolition prank gone wrong. I usually need at least a little substance in a game to get involved and really want to play, but this honestly hooked me in within the first 15 minutes.

I can't wait to play the sequal and make another review about it.

Gameplay: 9.0
Graphics: 9.0
Sound: 8.5
Replay: 7.5
Score: 8.7