Predator is not so scary – review of the game “Predator: Hunting Grounds”

I had the pleasure to express my opinion about Predator as a franchise in the Last Tawerna on the occasion of the Predator comic : Hunters. As much as I like the first two films, I am so disappointed with the sequels. In the case of games, the situation is a bit different – I only played two parts of Aliens vs Predator once and I had fun with it. Other titles, such as Predator: Concrete Jungle on PlayStation 2, missed me. Recent years, on the other hand, have been poor for the hunter. No high-profile titles, only the Ksenomorfem guest appearance in Mortal Kombat X . That’s why I pinned my hopes on Predator: Hunting Grounds from Illfonic. Their earlier work –Friday the 13th: The Game – I don’t know. The only thing I’ve heard about it is that it is a nice game and it is spoiled by a lot of bugs. So, have the authors learned from mistakes created an efficient product this time? No.

Predator vs Voodoo

Let us not, however, claim the facts. Predator: Hunting Groundsis another representative of the asymmetric multiplayer. On the one hand, you can fight a lonely fight, playing the role of the title alien. And here the goal is only one: to beat the opposing team of players. It’s best to pull out a few spines and collect the skulls, as the ritual requires. On the other side there is a Voodoo team – ultimately consisting of four people (although if there are no volunteers, you can also bother with three of them), which each time has a random set of missions to perform, to finally reach the helicopter – according to the iconic “get to tha ‘choppa”. All this takes place on three small levels. I played the open beta and I was very curious to know how much more content the creators are preparing. It turns out that nothing else. The maps are pretty well designed, but they all take place in similar jungle conditions, which makes them similar to each other. They were additionally filled with soldiers controlled by artificial intelligence. Although about the latter, I have considerable doubts, because more than once it happened that the opponents stood ten centimeters from me, without any reaction.

How to become Yautja

As already mentioned, my adventure with Hunting Grounds started with a beta. Back then, I was also playing with a team of buddies (Nasty Dumpling and Nox-dl – cheers!) And we were constantly blamed by the Predators. Winning as Voodoo was a real challenge for us. I don’t know what happened to the final version as Yautja is no longer a threat. I did not keep statistics, but “on my watch” I think that the space hunter won in a maximum of one out of five games. It is especially bad when the soldiers have a high level and weapons such as minigun and grenade launcher.

The Predator gameplay shows where the cause of this problem may be. Yes, the hunter’s mechanics are interestingly designed. The game takes place from the third person’s point of view, the character can move both on the ground and jump in the treetops. The other players can be found through thermal imaging and a motion sensor, but if they get stained in the mud, the only thing left is to look for them by ear. After all, the title – “hunting grounds” – obliges. It’s worse when there are enemies – the plasma cannon has low accuracy, and the stealth mode does not give you full invisibility when you are moving. As a result, the opposing team is quite easily able to locate the Predator and start his massacre. At higher levels, you can unlock stronger weapons (a spear and a bow, new in this universe), but it’s still hard. I must admit right away that as Yautja I was doing poorly. Only once did I beat the opposing team. Usually I had a problem with keeping jumping between branches and switching weapons quickly. Close combat ended with a massacre involving shotguns and grenade launchers. Of course, among the Predator players there are also sweepers, but as my observations show, there are few of them and this side should be strengthened. The patches so far have been aiming for this, but the goal has not yet been achieved. And Poor Hunter is also a bad game for the rest. Of course, among the Predator players there are also sweepers, but as my observations show, there are few of them and this side should be strengthened. The patches so far have worked towards this, but the goal has not yet been achieved. And Poor Hunter is also a bad game for the rest. Of course, among the Predator players there are also sweepers, but as my observations show, there are few of them and this side should be strengthened. The patches so far have been aiming for this, but the goal has not yet been achieved. And Poor Hunter is also a bad game for the rest.

You can also play with a space hunter, which is a kind of novelty. Until now, females of this breed have appeared very rarely in the predator’s expanded universe . The only cases I know from comics and it was solved there in an interesting way that they did not differ much from their male counterparts (eg Big Mama). Unfortunately, Illfonic did not show off their creativity here and gives the opportunity to play a thinner, shorter, endowed with breasts and wide hips (eh) hunter.

How to become a Voodoo

The mercenary team resembles a much more standard FPS not only because of the first person view. Like Dutch’s crew from the movie, players must complete specific missions. Sometimes it is the elimination of a local warlord, another time a capture of gold, sometimes samples of contaminated water are also tested (a nice pro-ecological inclusion). Of course, you can ignore all of this and try to kill the Predator before the time runs out. Worse, if the hunter is not in the game at all. And I have had such situations as well. I also happened to witness a situation in which an alien fell on the other side of the map, killed by AI – the game ordered the others to find him and shoot his mask off, even though we had not had any contact with him before. In such situations, the gameplay is irritating, and all the fixed elements of the game are very average. The mentioned low “intelligence” of the enemies poses no challenge. The opponents also materialize “out of thin air”, which resembles poor low-budget titles. There are more errors. Sometimes the mission objective does not appear at all and the team is unable to complete it, other times someone gets stuck in the textures. Apparently there are many bugs from the gameFriday the thirteenth could not be repaired to this day, which does not give much hope for another title from Illfonic.

Predator’s box

I like that the level of experience and unlocking new weapons and perks (and there are quite a lot of them and useful ones) take place for both sides at the same time. Therefore, a player with a Predator problem (like me) can level up for that character by playing as Voodoo. Leveling is relatively quick. In turn, “cosmetics” is obtained with the internal currency ( veritanium – the name unknown to me, I do not think it is something from AvP) or … unfortunate lootboxes. The crate is usually dropped every match and gives you three random items for both classes. Although there were also duplicates here, which reminded me of the terrible progression system from Injustice 2.It’s a pity, because you can customize many elements. For people, these are mainly face accessories (hats, glasses, scarves, etc.) and a camo pattern. More fun is with Predators, where there are different skin colors, many types of dreadlocks (here called “predas”), or – above all – great masks. I would like these designs to appear someday in the form of Neci figures.

You’re one ugly motherf…

Everything is decorated with original film music by Alan Silversti, which flies both on the menu and at the beginning of the match. I’ve always liked the predatory leitmotif, but its looping makes it gross in just two weeks. More variety would do well here. I also struggled for a long time with glitches with voice communication – the other players were barely audible. The visual layer on PS4 is also an issue. The lack of anti-aliasing makes everything teething and watching the jungle is not fun.

End

Illfonic feels very good about the topic. A Voodoo team match won may end with the famous handshake (“Dillon, you son of a bitch!”). The rifles “mow” the bushes, which makes the Predator more difficult to hide. Despite the defeat, the space hunter can lead to self-destruction, which kills players if they do not escape beyond the range. Franchise fans will find many, many more flavors here. It is a pity that such attention to detail is not visible in the technical aspect of the game. The last pain I will mention is the time it takes to join the game. You have to wait a few minutes for the Voodoo team to fill up. In the case of a space hunter, this time can be three or four times greater!

I’ve complained a lot here. And yet, I don’t consider my time with Predator: Hunting Grounds to be wasted. I have tried other asymmetrical multiplayers recently. In the title of Illfonic, you will not find the level of complexity of the game from Dead by Daylight or even Resident Evil: Resistance . And paradoxically: very good! I like the fact that you can sit down to Predator for a few short games (if matchmaking allows), without missing dozens of hidden mechanisms, progression systems, and cryptocurrencies. There is something in this game that allows me to enjoy despite my mistakes. I also hope to see the promised additional content (and more fixes) soon.