<360> Hunted

[Stark]

I saw Vendetta playing Hunted the other day (not surprising since we'll both play anything with swords and coops), and since the game has reviewed really badly due to <nerds> I thought I'd share some thoughts.

The game is essentially Gears of Chop; it uses UE3, it's coop-focused, and you walk down corridors chopping instead of chainsawing. This is probably why <nerds> don't like it; fantasy games are expected to have quests and the like, XP points, etc.

I remember Chards telling me about the emphasis on coop some time ago, and its remarkable how successful they are. The two characters are quite different, complimentary, and have a great many things they can do 'together' in combat to be more effective. Playing each character even gives you different ingame dialog and narration, as it changes the plot focus to that character. There is a robust system of remote interaction to solve 2p puzzles in 1p (ie, 'go stand over there' and 'light that on fire' etc) and in 1p the other character can still be up-skilled and you can change character at checkpoints. Combining spells, attacks, and the capabilities of each character is a constant element of play, which is quite different from other coop games I've played. Freezing enemies solid, lifting them with TK and shattering them with a giant explosion is great fun, in 1p or 2p - the partner AI is pretty solid at spotting combat opportunities for these skill synergies.

The plot is fairly successful, and even pushes players the 'right' way instead of the 'wrong' way; by placing the obviously evil mutagen of super strength in areas with the most challenging onslaughts, there is an effective feeling that someone is going to use it to get through under the pressure of dozens of badguys.

The game also has all the bits expected of modern games; ingame unlocks, cover, light-based action, and a codex of ultimate fluff. It also has a robust dungeon editor (which thankfully comes with a randomise option) that allows you to create a string of rooms with custom enemies, rules, limiations, and such and publish it online.

For a corridor stroller it has a remarkable amount of content and is a pretty decent length, my first playthrough taking more than 12 hours. Anyone who likes coop and swords should certainly give this a go, but don't start out on hard like I did.

[Vendetta]

Yeah, I've been playing through it co-op and enjoying it quite a bit. It started off a bit weak until we'd unlocked some abilities and had some options to play with, and it's seriously unafraid to bend you over and do things to you from time to time, but overall better than most of the reviews are making out.

[Stark]

The very start of the game is very hard; I didn't realise how hard until I tried it in coop. I had to drop from hard to normal after chapter 3, because the final sleg fight was so amazingly frustrating, because survival hinged on whether or not you got enough mana drops to quickly kill the mutant goblins.

In single, your partner has about 20x as many hitpoints as usual; I had no idea how weak the woman is until I tried my second playthrough, but if she's your partner she can tank two minotaurs for more than a minute.

I really liked the res mechanic; in particular the way your guy will drop one of theirs if their partner has none. It's a bit silly they don't just drink it themselves, but it makes for many exciting moments.

If you drink the imulsion those fights are trivially easy, so finishing the game without using it is actually an 'achievement'. :V

[Vendetta]

Yeah, in co-op you're both pretty fragile, especially early on, those bloody spider things gave us no end of trouble the first few times after the tutorial, because there's always another one behind you and they seem to take off masses of health.

It's gotten easier as it's gone on, mostly because we got used to the character abilities and how to work the synergies between them (and also when I figured out that actually trying to aim ranged weapons is a mug's game and you should hold down the trigger and let auto aim do the rest, especially when you've drank your bowl of Evil Juice. Most games where you get a minigun feel weaksauce compared to the elf chick in this with a fast bow and a bowl full of evil).

Also, I'm not sure what it is but there's been multiple times in this game where one of us has made a wisecrack about something in the game and then one of the characters has basically said the same thing. Sometimes they're even actually funny, in a bitter and sarcastic kinda way.

[Stark]

It took me a while to work out that pointing at a guy and pulling left trigger snapped your aimpoint to the badguy too; so you can aim generally at a guy, pull and shoot without actually fine-aiming, which is a recipe for missing a whole lot.

Sherry watched me play a bit of my first go, and she had just laughed at the two-player one-way doors ('how do goblins get around their own base') and the characters said 'how do people who are alone get anywhere'. :V

The semen 'effects' seem a bit strange; as you go on the character that uses it tends to get paler, has borg grey lines all over them, etc, but these effects disappear and reappear seemingly at random. By the end of the game (if you use it every time) the woman was even complaining about needing more and being disoriented when it wears off.

The game manual (which was awful) should really have said 'buy lift as soon as possible or you are fucking doomed'. I liked the vulnerabilities, but on normal they seem too strong; you can kill the big demon guys in half a dozen blasts of magic, which is a bit anticlimactic.

[CaptHawkeye]

The journalists absolutely ragged on it but it's not like anyone cares what they think. It's this year's Alpha Protocol?

Also Lego Star Wars Clone Wars, also worth a try?

[Stark]

LEGO SW 4 is, by far, the best LEGO game I've played. It even has Battlefield mode. :V

I laughed at the complaints in reivews. 'Loose controls' = I don't know the buttons, 'poor graphics' = pretty much the same as other adventure games, 'crap one way doors' = I was too stupid to pay attention when my characters said I missed something, 'no story' = I never worked out how to press play in the codex.

It's nowhere near the level of review lying as Alpha Protocol, but it's one of the best coop-designed games around. I hear 'I EXPECTED IT TO BE LIKE DRAGON AGE' is a legitimate reason to hate a game these days.

[weemadando]

It's nowhere near the level of review lying as Alpha Protocol, but it's one of the best coop-designed games around. I hear 'I EXPECTED IT TO BE LIKE DRAGON AGE' is a legitimate reason to hate a game these days.

Shall we formalise a name for this syndrome?

Metro syndrome? "It's from the commies and is grim. SHOULD BE MORE LIKE STLAKRE. Needs moar open world."

[Stark]

In all seriousness I saw someone say, in regard to Metro 2, 'I hope they get rid of those annoying air filters'.

The gamer market is basically retarded.

[weemadando]

Yeah, I heard people talking about Metro 2 on a podcast (shock horror) and they were going on and on about how things like the gas masks w/filters were "janky" and "unnecessary" and they hoped they got rid of them.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

And it's always the same people who go:

It's just another Call of Duty game, there's nothing new here.

[Chardok]

Yo...hey - what did I say about the coops? Remember: when we talk I'm usually drunk.

[Stark]

No idea specifically. I remember you talking about the coops focus, and you probably said 'Brian Fargo'. Oh and 'Lucy Lawless'.

[Chardok]

Okay, you're full of it. Any mention of Lucy Lawless is inevitably followed immediately by a mention of Colin Hay. That said, I probably said something like "I'm sick of competitive MP - where's all my coop games?!" I'll definitely give Hunted a look-see

[Stark]

I think they did that thing where they made Male Character look like the voice actor (who I last saw on Casualty at my mums place, lol). Amusingly it works much better than it did in La Noyrah because the camera isn't up his nose. I don't even remember what Lucy Lawless looks like, but unless she's a pasty white slut I guess they didn't do it for her.