Hunter: The Reckoning

"Extremely good X-Box game!!!"

Hunter: The Reckoning. When hearing the title, you think it will be a very long game that has something to do with hunting…until you look at the box. You are actually hunting some sort of evil spirit/zombie/strange monsters. You won't be disappointed by this new twist on a Resident Evil style game. Watch out Buffy! These four bad-asses might just take your job!

Overall-9
This is a very good game both graphically and gameplay wise. Although sometimes the fixed camera angles can get annoying (i.e. trying to run forward on a reverse screen and shoot zombies coming at you all at once.) This is definitely a great X-Box game.

Gameplay-8
The gameplay is very good. Remember the games were you could strife but still only shoot the direction you were facing? Not with this game. In this game, the left analog stick controls movement, and the right analog stick controls your torso, which controls where you fire. This opens up great new possibilities (i.e. backpeddle shooting, running sideways and shooting). Weapon switching is fairly easy as well.

Graphics-10
The graphics are awesome. Shoot a zombie- blood falls. You get hit- blood falls. Even for the faint of heart that turn the blood off, this game still has awesome graphics. The in game sequences aren’t movie-like: they use the actual characters that you see the entire game, which is not a bad thing.

Sound-9
Sound is great in this game. You can hear every last step and every weapon has a different sound. During story sequences, the character talks faster than the words appear on screen, and the body movements aren’t exactly synchronized perfectly either, but there will always be flaws in games.

Story-9
I give it points for originality. Granted, the fixed-camera angle, third-person horror survival shooter has been around for a while, this one has a new twist. There are four different characters, although they have almost the exact same storyline. They are four different humans with four different destinies. This kills the replay value of the game.

Rent or Buy- Rent First
You really should rent the game first. If any of your friends bought it, go try it before buying it. Overall, it is not bad, but a devoted weekend will find the game completed with a little time to spare. Multiplayer is great, but remember: to use multiplayer you need more than one person.

Credits-
Me: Writing this
My dad: Buying me my X-Box
God: Making me
Microsoft: Making such a fine piece of hardware

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/22/02, Updated 06/22/02