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After Friday the 13th, developer Illfonic is once again releasing an asymmetric multiplayer title with Predator: Hunting Grounds. This time four soldiers armed to the teeth compete against a Predator. Both sides only have a maximum of 15 minutes to complete their respective missions, with nervous fights between cult aliens and marine marines being the absolute highlight of the matches.
We want to take a closer look at why this concept, which sounds great on paper, only works to a limited extent in practice.
The predator is a challenge to play
But one after another: It should be a dream for fans of the iconic action movie series to get back into the scaly skin of Yautja’s dangerous killer, because that feels better than in previous games. At first it’s a sublime sensation to flit gently over the branches in the third-person view, ambush your unsuspecting prey, and then shut it down. But before the hunt can begin, the details need to be cleared up, like your Predator’s class.
There are a total of three pieces (hunters, scouts, berserkers) that differ in terms of mobility, health, and equipment capacity. Explorers who specialize in ranged combat and giant madness must first be unlocked. Experience points that increase player level are awarded for successfully completed matches. When a certain level is reached, you will receive rewards such as predator classes, weapons, equipment and benefits. The latter are advantages that increase speed or use energy more slowly.
The suit’s energy reserves deplete fairly quickly when overused, so the Predator’s camouflage or infrared view is temporarily unavailable. However, it has no effect on weapons. The Combistick stands out from the arsenal, a stick that is ideal for fighting small groups, but can also be thrown like a spear.
However, this weapon is only available to experienced Yautja warriors. Other than that, nasty toys shouldn’t be missing, of course, like the net launcher or an audio bait, which were taken straight from the movies. If all else fails, the Predator can explode with a bomb and thus catch some soldiers.
Obstacle trophy hunting
The Predator can be equipped as desired, but due to this variation it has a fairly high learning curve. As a result, it takes a while to become the perfect alien hunter for worship. However, if the Predator launches into battle, the illusion of playing an overwhelming monster is quickly brought down: During our test, the Predator held out very little and fell quickly. Skirmishes between Predator and Marines were supposed to be the highlight of a fight, but during our test, the hunter was only able to knock out the entire fire team in exceptional cases.
Of course, this is a tricky balancing act that Illfonic developers have to master here, but based on our previous experience, they would have to help the Predator with upgrades to make it more resistant to attacks by the fire team or to increase its damage. . . Conversely, for the fire team, this means that Marines rarely feel the satisfaction of successfully challenging an almost unstoppable force of nature.
If he bleeds, we can kill him
Marines have a total of four classes, which differ in terms of mobility, health, and inventory capacity. Ideally, a good team should not only consist of stormtroopers, but also have scouts, scouts, and followers. Each class carries two weapons, only the number of items and benefits that can be equipped varies. The arsenal is extensive with 20 weapons, although it is quite generic with pistols, rifles, and shotguns. The kit includes other gender standards with various grenades, first aid bags, and ammunition bags.
In the best way to shoot in the first person, the fire team opens up on one of the three jungle maps that are uniform enough to always achieve three mission objectives. Only when this is done can they get out of the green hell with a helicopter. Marines mainly stand in the way of masses of underexposed AI clone troopers, who can only be dangerous to the fire team due to their excess. In direct comparison, the Predator poses the much greater threat.
Unsurprisingly, the key to successfully completing a mission lies in teamwork, because lone fighters have almost no chance of survival. If one or two Marines stray too far from their comrades, they are easy prey for the Predator, because even though the Predator is quite weak in the chest, the soldiers only become dangerous for three or four of them.
In order to escape the jungle alive, the fire team must always cover up, keep an eye on the surroundings, and act in concert, because like in the cult film by Schwarzenegger: “If he bleeds, we can kill him.”
Technically unworthy of a Predator, but with excellent sound.
Battles between Predator and Marines aren’t a feast for the eyes either because of the average graphics. During our test, uneven recharge textures and background flickering occurred repeatedly. Also, the refresh rate decreased noticeably, sometimes for brief moments. This never made Hunting Grounds unplayable, but it was annoying, especially in hectic times. The only thing that stands out are the models of the Predators, who bring the alien hunters to life with terrifying beauty.
However, there is nothing to complain about in the game that is sound. The soldiers make concise, shoddy comments that are simply packed with testosterone, and in combination with the well-known musical pieces from the movies, the mood of the Predators is really active. Meanwhile, the auditory highlight is jungle sounds, especially those from the Predator itself, because as soon as they sound in a game for the first time, a fire team player feels permanently under surveillance and searches almost paranoidly for every inch from the treetops to find the alien.
Finally, a few brief words about our experience with servers: Due to the large number of people, wait times of two to three minutes (fire team) or more than five minutes (Predator) were not uncommon at first, so that there were unwanted forced breaks between parties. In the final phase of our test, the fire team’s wait times of around 30 seconds were at least within an acceptable range. Like Predator, long wait times of at least five minutes are still expected, so Illfonic should play here again.
