Believe it or not, Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in some iconic action movies. From Terminator to True Lies to Total Recall to The Running Man to Commando. If you were a fan of those (mostly) corny sci-fi, shoot-them-up filsm, then you’ll probably enjoy the game based on one of his more famous franchises: Predator.
Released April 24, 2020, Predator: Hunting Grounds may cause powerful nostalgia, because you probably watched the original Predator series of movies. Alien warriors from a series of films? That’s fertile soil for game developers no doubt. The jungle, the alien predator, a whole bunch of extraterrestrial gadgets such as optical camouflage, old good shoulder guns, wild screams, and disturbing music – this is the ready-made recipe for the first person shooter with a dash of an alien invasion.
On purpose or not, many of the heroes of old video games seem to be licked from the Predator. The evil space alien from the 80s was simply created to impress schoolchildren from the same temporary space with their badassness. But now it’s not the 80s, and today the schoolchildren are more demanding in terms of content. Especially if the graphics in the game are at the level of 2006.
Predator: Hunting Grounds seems too outdated old-style (it’s like playing slot machine instead of modern online games). This game would have looked cool in 2011, but not now. And this is strange because the Illfonic already has experience in adapting cult stories and heroes to asymmetric multiplayer games. After all, the studio has already done pretty good game with Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th: The Game.
Playing as a Predator
Predator: Hunting Grounds have several good ideas here and there. The only game mode is asymmetric multiplayer, in which the player can choose the role of the Predator or choose one of the foot soldiers as a playable character. But the best thing will be to play with friends because the developer has preserved one of the coolest features – the ability of the Predator to hear the conversation of its prey in a certain range. A useful ping system allows heroes to mark enemies and targets for each other. And this is great for a game in which communication is key.
The alien’s gameplay is almost perfect. The developers took into account the key points and mechanics that ardent fans of the film remember. For example, there is the ability to become invisible, a shoulder gun, and even a thermal imager. And most importantly – everything is according to the canon. The predator moves fairly quickly, masterfully jumps through the trees, and thanks to an impressive arsenal of weapons, it can conduct long-range and close melee-combat. The benefits of the Predator include faster movement speed, greater damage, and improved tracking system.
A brief review of the Predator: Hunting Grounds
In general, Predator: Hunting Grounds had you playing as a soldier and is no different than playing a game like Call of Duty which is a characteristic shootout and other mechanics.
As you progress through the game you can receive new weapons and privileges. There are assault rifles, sniper rifles, and shotguns. Combinations of weapons will be familiar to anyone who has ever played a first-person shooter. The visual effects are out of date, and even the old, good shooting is not inspiring.
During the “no way out” standoff, the Predator can activate the self-destruction system and laugh like in a movie. The infantrymen should try to quickly deactivate the system (run-up to the body of a Predator and play some sort of a mini-game). Or you can run away from the area (but it’s nearly impossible).
Playing as a Commando
The soldiers receive a random task, for example, eliminating the target, and then fall into battle. They must fulfill the assignment and escape by helicopter before the Predator can kill them all. If at least one survives – the whole team wins.
Playing for commandos is a disastrous idea. They are weak. But if they unite in a team, then the Predator practically does not have any chances: despite very cool weapons, he, unfortunately, has to cope alone. The moral seems to be clear: a close-knit team is invincible, but what will prevent the antagonist from catching all the infantry separately? That is why the game feels an imbalance of forces.
In Predator: Hunting Grounds, there’s nothing to worry about during the game play. It’s not a horror game. A weak shooting and mediocre technical part is problematic save for the most ardent fans of the film.
Pros:
- References to the original film;
- The alien Predator itself.
Cons:
- Graphics;
- Weak shooting;
- Monotonous missions;
- Few characters.
Overall Rating for the game: 6.0 out of 10
The End Word
Predator: Hunting Grounds is weak and not interesting for the most part. It requires a better design, more diverse missions, and the price tag of $40 is a shame, that’s a lot for such a bad product. Alas, for the same price you can get a much better game, for example, Read Dead Redemption 2. But, despite the glaring gaps and numerous bugs, the game concept still deserves life and prosperity.
Game Information and system requirements
- Developer: Illfonic
- Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Genre: online action
- Platforms: PC, Playstation 4
- Age rating: 17+
Minimum system requirements: Win 10 64, Core i5-6400 2.7 GHz or 8-core FX-8320, 8 GB of RAM, GeForce GTX 960, or Radeon R9 280X, 18 GB of the hard drive.
Recommended: Core i7-5930K 3.5 GHz or Ryzen 5 1600X, 16 GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1660 or Radeon R9 Fury X, 18 GB on the hard drive.
