Be prepared, very prepared, Zombies are spawning throughout the town of Ashcroft and only you the Hunter can save the town and the town’s folk now. Hunter the Reckoning is a game, which captured my attention since the original trailer that was released by High Voltage (developers) the only question that remained was “could they deliver a Resident Evil beater to the Xbox”.
Hunter: The Reckoning is based on White Wolf's pen and paper game, the game is set in a small prison town, where the prison itself has become the centre of evil and corruption. Some time ago, a group of Vampires embraced the Warden and took over the prison as their personal feeding grounds. They have spent years subjecting the inmates to unspeakable experiments and tortures. The inmates that died within the prison walls rose again as vengeful and destructive wraiths, uncaring of whom or what they destroyed. They were eventually subdued by powers greater than them, and they slept, waiting for the chance to break their bonds.

Gameplay:
Hunter the Reckoning is a game reliant on action, and an atmosphere not unlike Resident Evil, very few moments are you allowed for you to grab a moments thought or gasp for air, the constant flow of the un-dead will keep you busy throughout.

Hunter is primarily an action game, a constant stream of Zombie Vampire types keep you busy from the offset. Hunter does feature a full combat system with your character capable of using either melee, ranged or magic attacks along with a selection of projectile weapons found throughout the game including a machine gun, a shotgun, flame thrower, chain saw etc Hunters can also move and attack in different directions, although this is a feature within the game the controls are not one of this titles strongest points.

Hacking and Slashing is fun, especially when you can chop off various limbs such as heads and arms which scatter like confetti as you slash through your through the onslaught of zombie types, this all too soon all to constant and repetitive, there actually seems little more to do than kill some zombies, free some innocents and move on to kill some more zombies save some more innocents, the game is very linear and lacks any of the puzzle or exploration elements which made the Resident Evil series such a success. The player controls their character from a third person view, using a medium, distance isometric perspective camera which is all too often a problem when backed up into a corner, especially in multi-player mode where the camera is very restrictive of the movement for each of the players as you all share the same screen and with very little area viewable area at any one time in moments of chaos and need the camera is not very helpful.

Each of the playable Hunters have there own unique weapons, strengths and abilities. Each of the four available Hunters are able to run, jump and have access to a wide array of weaponry, both modern and archaic. The levels are all set in a gothic looking and generally decaying environments which set the atmosphere perfectly for what might and does lay ahead. The levels do offer various goals, Hunters may need to save innocent towns folk, run for there lives or escort civilians whilst hacking and slashing the un-dead in an attempt to save the town.

The controls are an element of Hunter that I was most disappointed with, how a game on the Xbox can use what can only be described as an 8 point movement system (up, left, back, right, up-left, up-right down-left and down-right) when the console and controller are capable of 360° fully analog movement is amazing, The game controls reminded me of Golden Axe from way back in the Sega Mega Drive days, 8 directions of movement and simple button bashing attacks, simply is not what is expected on next generation consoles such as the Xbox.

Graphics:
Graphically is without doubt the strongest aspect Hunter the Reckoning, there are plenty of polygons per character, both the Hunters and the Hunted are of suitably high polygon counts and make the game a title fitting to the Xbox, the games levels are both detailed and generally well designed, with areas such as a subway, the town, sewers, graveyards, church’s etc all equally as impressive and detailed.

The game is generally very dark, intentionally so and will keep the survival horror/scrolling beat-em-up/action atmosphere pulsating through your rumble pack, since Hunter was developed exclusive to Xbox you do notice that the graphics throughout have benefited from this with everything suitably sharp although very dark and featuring some very nice lighting and particle effects.

Longevity:
With the multi-player aspect of Hunter the Reckoning featured in the game, it does offer something in terms of longevity, as with Halo you are able to not only battle trough in the bloody battle with the un-dead alone, but you are also able to play in a cooperative type mode where you and up to 3 friends are able to take on the Vampires simultaneously.

Replaying the game with each of the 4 playable characters does also offer a different sense of achievement and requires a different approach and skills to achieve ultimate success, this also adds to the replay value of this title.

Round Up:
Well overall Hunter the Reckoning is not close to beating any of the Resident Evil series of games, the game lacks any real challenges and has no puzzles or exploration to speak of, it’s all very linear and will not be too taxing to most gamers, other than the constant flood of Zombie like creatures that constantly attack and rise from the ground keeping you busy there is not a great deal to keep you occupied. The game does have some redeeming features, which include the 1 – 4 multi-player option, which although the camera does cause un-necessary problems is an excellent addition to the game. Overall the game lacks originality and becomes repetitive all too quickly and offers nothing new, a case of been there done that but a few years ago. “A great idea but not executed to it’s full potential” The game is well worth a look just for the hack and slash mayhem, but you might be left wondering what might have been….....

Pros:

• Slaying Un-dead.
  
• Looks Pretty Awesome.
  
• 1 – 4 Player.
  
• Intense Action throughout.
  
• Hack em and slash em baby.
  
  

  Cons:
  

  • Controls.
    
  • Becomes repetitive.
    
  • No X Factor.
    
  • It’s not Resident Evil.
    
  • Been there done that.