If you didn't know much about Hunted: The Demon's Forge and just went on appearances you'd probably figure it for an outdated RPG. But that misleading assumption is quickly replaced by the realization that this is a hack 'n' slash game, layered with adventure puzzles, third-person shooter mechanics, and only the slightest of RPG elements. It's because of the supplementary genre components that Hunted: The Demon's Forge feels fresh and interesting. Unfortunately, it fails to connect on some very fundamental levels, holding it back from ever being really great.
Hunted: The Demon's Forge is a third-person action game, set in a dark fantasy world, which follows two mercenaries, E'lara and Caddoc, as they reluctantly uncover the secrets of the Demon's Forge. That's more or less the description the game gives you in the manual but it's not really what comes through on the screen. When you're introduced to Caddoc, a gruff looking swordsman, and E'lara, a scantily clad marksman, you're given only the barest of details. By the time you've gained control you're off running through a forest, with Caddoc lamenting his fear of spiders, but you have no idea where you're going or what the relationship of these two is.
It's not until you're much later in the game that it's explained that these two are mercenaries with no stake in the events, save for the hope of a little extra coin. The delayed info and the reluctance to the action are both handled poorly, it takes awhile to overcome and some players won't want to wait that long. Keeping you in the dark about events at the outset prevents you from investing in these characters and caring about the story. It's not until the third chapter, of only six, that you finally come to learn where this journey is headed and, predictably, everything becomes much more thrilling. E'lara and Caddoc have a funny and natural friendship, it's actually really easy to like them. It's too bad the developer, inXile Entertainment, takes too long to show the endearing and heroic side of our heroes.
The relationship portion is important in a much bigger way than just story and characterization. Hunted: The Demon's Forge is a co-op game that excels when played as such, but only gets by okay if you're alone. Playing once as Caddoc and once as E'lara I found the two to be both fun to play as characters but lopsided as partners. As E'lara I never once had to revive Caddoc or worry about him getting swarmed by enemies. As Caddoc I found myself having to protect and revive the AI much more, while certain battles became harder. One fight in particular requires Caddoc to use his brute strength to topple some towers, but I kept getting interrupted every time I tried. For whatever reason E'lara seems to have more of a problem clearing enemies than Caddoc does. Of course, it's a moot point if you play online with someone.
If you are lone wolfing it the game gives you chances to switch up characters at certain points throughout the levels. It's a less than ideal way to switch. I'd have much preferred being able to swap on the fly as I saw fit, especially since you can't know whether a melee or ranged based character will be best in the upcoming sections your first time through the game. Even if that wasn't an option, having commands would have made things better and more enjoyable. The characters have some specific powers that are best implemented together but with no way to tell the AI what to do you're left at their mercy.
What surprised me the most about Hunter: The Demon's Forge was just how fun the gameplay is. It doesn't always look the best, it's not very deep and the aforementioned AI problems hold it back some, but even still I loved chopping through skeletons and picking off monsters from across battle fields. I'm almost always a melee first player but in this case I found myself wanting to use E'lara's deadly archery skills. This, more than any other element in the game, draws a big comparison to the third-person shooter Gears of War. You can move around the battlefield by Roadie Running, jump into cover and lean out to fire at enemies. While both characters can perform long and short range attacks, each of them has their strength. E'lara can hold two bows and a sword while Caddoc can carry two melee weapons (sword, axe, and club) and a crossbow. His ranged attack isn't much fun so I stuck to the sword and shield most of the time, utilizing his fury attacks which are devastating to enemies. But nothing quite compares to E'lara and her ability to snipe enemies quickly and efficiently. Do you remember the first time you watched Legolas in the first Lord of the Rings film? That's what playing E'lara feels like.
But like I said, it's not all great. Each character has three weapon powers that are specific to each of them while they both share the same three types of magic spells. Those spells are important, acting as powerful buffers for yourself and your partner that can help you clear hoards of enemies far quicker than normal. The game divvies these powers out as you progress and eventually you get to a point where you can link them, making both characters incredibly strong for a short duration. Though the AI is good about buffing you regularly, it's not always when you want or need them to, making this feature more frustrating than it should be. Again, it's another area where playing online with a friends is far more enjoyable.
The character specific weapon abilities can be a lot of fun, too. They let you do things like freeze enemies, break shields or lift up everyone in a surrounding area and slam them down to the ground. All powers can be upgraded by collecting crystals throughout the game, but because you can only equip four abilities at once it's really only necessary to choose which four and upgrade those only. You end up never having to make any sort of choice about the powers, so whatever RPG elements there might have been are essentially muted. There's no inventory system either so if you're expecting to hunt loot, don't bother. You'll find regular and temporary epic weapons along the way, and equip as you go. The system works, but only on a base level.
Hunted: The Demon's Forge finds itself in a strange no man's land of visual execution. You see a lot on the screen and you traverse a beautiful fantasy world full of imagination, but a lot of the texture work and animations are quite spotty. During action characters look alright but the odd hiccup causes them jump a frame. In cutscenes, however, E'lara and Caddoc don't look good at all. Awkward animations and bad lip-syncing are hard to ignore. Though the attire is mostly part and parcel with the genre, all of the female characters are highly sexualized and dressed in bondage gear, undermining their otherwise strong headed and humorous nature. The environments aren't always pleasing, though you do cross enough variety to make up for it. It just seems anytime Hunted goes indoors everything turns a predictable shade of brown or gray. When left outside things look fine, but this game is a step behind in the graphics department in almost every way.
It's a shame because E'lara is a strong character and provides the intense macho stubbornness you'd typically expect from the big, brawny man. But it's Caddoc that takes the brunt of the comedic jabs, and he does so sportingly. Though some repetitive dialogue will grate on your nerves, both of them come across well voice. Many of the smaller characters you come across are done convincingly enough, they just don't have much of a place since you're not sure what's going on until a third into the game. The score in the game is underwhelming, failing to add to the intense nature of the fights or thread together any common themes.
When you're done with the games six chapters there's still a way to get a good action fix. The Crucible is a map editor that allows players to create maps with up to 25 rooms. While creating the rooms you can dictate a multitude of options, from enemy types to items around the map and even the amount of damage dealt or health regeneration rates. What you have at your disposal to put into the maps is dictated by the money you've earned throughout the game. The campaign will only net you around 20% of the items and you don't get to choose what to unlock with the money, inXile have tiered it out for you instead. It would have been really great if they let you buy what you wanted as you went through, or let you earn money quicker. I found it was easier to get cash in The Crucible than it was in the campaign. It's still a catch-22: stronger enemies net you the most cash but you need cash to unlock the stronger enemies. A couple tweaks to this mode and it would be really great - I'd also suggest the mod community might be able to come up with something really excellent for the PC version of the game.
Hunter: The Demon's Forge misses out on what could have been some monumental boss battles or action set pieces. It ends with a fun but simple finale. Throughout the game you keep seeing a massive Ogre (literally as tall as a city) and swarms of Dragons, but little comes of these events beyond some observational dialogue. And that's a perfect summation of everything right and wrong with Hunted: The Dragon's Forge: Awesome ideas are everywhere and there's lots to get excited by in the game, but it comes up short and fails to deliver on its potential.
At the beginning it's hard to love this game. It keeps details from you for too long, it suffers from a share of aesthetic problems and the single player experience is more limiting than it needs to be. But as you dig deeper you begin to realize that the action holds up surprisingly well, the characters are endearing and fun to be around and that the journey the two of them are on is well worth taking, and just. It's a lengthy fantasy action game that does third-person shooting better than a lot of third-person shooters, but early pacing issues and lack of depth temper some of the fun. Hunted: The Demon's Forge is a wonderful game bogged down by one too many average game tendencies. It's well worth a look, but it's important to know that much of what it appears to be on the surface is Hunted: The Demon's Forge's worst aspect.
No comments:
Post a Comment