The film productions of the 1980s or even the 1990s have been on the rise for some time in the video game world. We remember the recent release of the FPS Terminator: Resistance or Friday The 13th, an asymmetrical multiplayer game by Illfonic featuring the famous Jason Voorhees. This is great since today we are tackling another production with the asymmetrical gameplay of the dads of Friday The 13th, it is obviously Predator: Hunting Grounds, a multiplayer game pitting four commandos against the terrible Predator.
Predator: Hunting Grounds – Our opinion in three minutes
Test condition:
For this test, we only had access to the PlayStation 4 version of the game. It is therefore impossible for us to make a worthy comparison of this name between the two platforms, PC and PlayStation 4.
After a short excursion in Mortal Kombat X or in Ghost Recon: Wildlands, the extraterrestrial hunter who likes to skin commandos by the dozen early in the lush jungles, decides to have his own production. An event that we had not seen since 2010 on home consoles or 2012 on mobiles. And for its big comeback, the Predator has decided to play the asymmetrical multiplayer card. An increasingly popular game system that we find elsewhere in Resident Evil 3 Remake or in DOOM Eternal, but which has rarely managed to convince. Predator: Does Hunting Grounds please fans of FPS or is it satisfied to satisfy lovers of this saga born in 1987? Answer in a few lines!
"My enemy's enemy is my friend …"
This new production of Illfonic offers two devilishly opposite gameplay. Players can therefore be part of a team of four commandos or embody the famous character of John McTiernan. In the first case therefore, the budding soldiers must play in cooperation in order to fulfill various objectives like murdering computer-controlled targets, burning illegal shipments, collecting confidential documents, or even taking scientific data. Unfortunately for them, they are constantly in conflict with the soldiers occupying the premises and are mainly chased by an additional enemy.
When you play the Predator, the objectives are very different. Indeed, your goal is very simple: you just have to collect a maximum of trophies! For this, you must attack the four players embodying the commandos and kill them savagely by leaving with their skulls. Equipped with advanced technology, the Predator has all the equipment to carry out its mission, starting with this thermal vision therefore, making it possible to track down its prey more easily. This alien can also become invisible thanks to its state-of-the-art camouflage or even climb trees to discreetly pursue its victims or even flee them … Yes! Despite the many possibilities offered to the Predator to harm its four over-trained prey, the Predator is above all a being that can bleed, and as you probably know, "if it can bleed, you can kill it".
Predator: Hunting Grounds – We hunt Commando!
This is the first big problem with this new production. Although it can amuse the first hours especially when you play the Predator, the lack of balance quickly detracts from the experience. Unlike Jason Voorhees, a practically invincible character instilling fear by his mere presence, the Illfonic Predator never worries his opponents. Predator: Hunting Grounds clearly offers the advantage to survivors, giving the impression that it is the commandos that hunt the monster and not the reverse. Even if there was an imbalance in the gameplay, it would have been more relevant if it were the Predator which was very difficult to defeat.
What role for the A.I. ? :
Contrary to what one might have thought, adversaries controlled by the computer bring nothing to production, except to slow down a little bit the progress of the commando team or to attract the Predator. If the latter hears gunfire, it means that commandos are not far away.
"You’re one ugly motherfucker"
Unfortunately, this is not the only flaw in this asymmetrical game. The first thing that jumps out at least, at least on PlayStation 4 – remember, we did not touch the PC version of the title – is the graphic quality of the software. We can say it … the game is ugly and suffers from a pronounced aliasing. The textures sparkle, the lighting of the various light spots are almost opaque and the artistic direction is not fabulous. If it were only that, it would be fine – the title does not benefit from the same budget as a triple A – but it is not the case. Production is also very poorly optimized. The game does not run at 60, nor at 30 fps for that matter, which can sometimes cause nausea, especially in FPS view, when playing a commando.
Other problems arise in the game, starting with temperamental matchmaking. Even if the developers insist that this will be fixed in the coming days, for the moment, it is difficult to find games instantly, especially if we are looking to play the Predator. Bugs also interfere sometimes preventing our monster from attacking or even forcing us to restart the game. Camera problems also persist when we invite our favorite monster to take refuge in a small house. A word of advice, if you want to survive as a Predator, never attack your prey in a tight spot.
Predator: Hunting Grounds – We are trying to survive as best we can
Fan service galore
In the end, like Friday The 13th: The Video Game which reproduces the iconic executions of Jason Voorhees or even the emblematic places of the saga, Predator: Hunting Grounds is exclusively for fans of the saga and more particularly of the very first film. True tribute to the latter, the multiplayer game does not hesitate to multiply the winks by taking for example the music composed by Alan Silverstri, as well as some cult quotes like "You do not have a mouth of good luck". Yes, there is even a French dubbing!
The title also offers players a wide range of objects to customize their commando, but also their Predator. Even if we regret not finding the famous heads (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Danny Glover …) or at least their personality, finding the different helmets and builds of the different Predators of the film saga is a huge plus. It is even possible to embody the 1987 Predator … well, if you took the time to pre-order the game. The different personalization items can be unlocked by opening lootboxes or by buying them with the game currency: the veraniumium. Do not worry, this currency is obtained very quickly by finishing games for example, or by collecting it in game.
However, despite the skins to unlock, the ten weapons to use, the two gameplay with opposite objectives and the many character classes, which however, do not add much to the gameplay (the classes only allow you to run a little more quickly or to be a bit more resistant), the title gives the impression of going in circles. Predator: Hunting Grounds is stingy in content. It only offers players to compete on three different maps. Cards of reduced size and which unfortunately all look the same. Indeed, the game is content to reproduce the imagery of the first film and thus forgets to offer the Predator to fight in the city of Los Angeles, in a ship or even an extraterrestrial pyramid.
The notes
+Good points
- Hunt like a Predator
- Dozens of winks
- Many tools to customize our Predator and our heroes
- Good spatialization of sound
–Negative points
- Poor balance, the commandos clearly have the advantage
- Famine content
- Particularly ugly
- No tension
- I.A. soldiers bring nothing
- Matchmaking not yet developed
- Multiple bugs and poor optimization
Unsurprisingly, Predator: Hunting Grounds is above all a production aimed exclusively at fans of the cinematic saga. He is therefore satisfied with the union minimum to set up his one and only game mode opposing four commandos to the famous creature. This is all the more damaging since production brings with it a complete arsenal and more than welcome little ideas, such as coating your soldier with mud and extensive cooperation. But unfortunately, it is not enough to make quality fan service and bring some ideas here and there to offer players a production worthy of the name. Hopefully the game will improve, for example by offering more varied maps and optimizing the formula: balancing, fluidity of play. In the meantime, we prefer to relaunch part of Friday The 13th: The Video Game, which despite its many flaws, offered a better gaming experience.
Gamesvideo.com
April 27, 2020 at 2:55:56 pm
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