![]() "The standard formula of this style of game blending light platforming with gunning enemies is maintained and executed to great effect as is, though Huntdown does throw in some wrinkles of its own – such as the ability to use the environment to your advantage (you can take cover in alcoves and recesses, for example, or behind crates or oil barrels – though you really shouldn’t)." This isn’t a huge problem with a game that is mechanically satisfying – I mean it does detract from the action on screen, as well as the setting and atmosphere, but if the game plays well, that’s really all that counts. Unfortunately, however, how good the music is often does nothing but highlight how unremarkable the other half of the game’s presentation is. Thankfully, the music at least does not disappoint – the soundtrack is absolutely spectacular, and you wouldn’t be blamed for leaving the game on in the background just to let the music play. The graphics, while extremely well done for what they are (generic doesn’t mean bad, after all, it just means it doesn’t stand out), and while having some interesting nuances to them, are similarly so familiar that at a glance, it’s easy enough to confuse the game with any number of other titles cut from the same cloth. Unfortunately, it either doesn’t do these often enough, or well enough – the satirical take on the action movies of the era is amusing, yes, but it’s not new, nor is it as funny as much of this game’s peers. ![]() To its credit, Huntdown does attempt to put its own spin on both, with a tongue in cheek parodying of action movie and game tropes with the story, and some really clever and interesting visual elements to its design that lend the setting a lot of depth at times. " Huntdown provides a remarkably fun and exhilarating experience, living up to the heyday of the style of game it is trying to emulate, while delivering a top notch, satisfying game on its own merits that even relative newcomers to the genre will enjoy." The setting, cyberpunk dystopia, and the graphics, at least at first glance, like any other 1980s action games. ![]() ![]() While the delightfully creative and smart Huntdown is hardly anywhere close to as creatively bankrupt as Ready Player One, its premise and its aesthetic both do, unfortunately, reek of a similar lack of originality. The best kinds of media paying homage to other media is the kind that brings its own perspective to the table – this is why Stranger Things, for instance, is appreciated, while Ready Player One is not. The game roots itself in 1980s culture, but unfortunately, it fails to carve out an aesthetic or identity of its own. I remarked upon how generic the name of the game is just now, and unfortunately, that criticism doesn’t end there. While quite a few of these revivals and spiritual successors have failed to hit the mark, the rather generically named Huntdown provides a remarkably fun and exhilarating experience, living up to the heyday of the style of game it is trying to emulate, while delivering a top notch, satisfying game on its own merits that even relative newcomers to the genre will enjoy. Games of this ilk used to be huge back in the day, whether on the arcade scene or on home consoles – Contra, Battletoads, Streets of Rage, Double Dragon, Final Fight, among others, the genre used to thrive in the early annals of gaming history.īut while large scale AAA gaming may have, to its detriment, moved on from providing those kinds of games today, there has been a resurgence of this style of game in the last few years, thanks to the efforts of independent, and smaller scale developers. One of the things that has been lost in the landscape of modern AAA gaming is the classic local co-op brawler and gunner experience.
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