Hunted
by Matt London
Hunted: The Demon’s Forge, by inXile Entertainment, published by Bethesda Softworks
ESRB rating: M, $59.99; formats available: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Format reviewed: PlayStation 3
While waiting for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, check out this sleeper title from Bethesda Softworks—Hunted: The Demon’s Forge. Take control of Caddoc the warrior and E’lara the elven ranger as they battle past hordes of spiders, skeletons, and other baddies.
Billed as fantasy combat for the Gears of War age, Hunted incorporates the popular battle mechanic of hiding behind cover. Each character comes equipped with both a sword and a bow, so players can pop up from behind cover and snipe enemies from afar, or leap over the barricades and get in close, hacking and slashing.
Players alternate between the two heroes while dungeon crawling. The character not actively under the player’s control still fights under the AI and the player can guide the two characters to solve puzzles together.
Hunted utilizes a magic and abilities system that will be familiar to players of the Dragon Age series. The cooperative puzzles will remind players of Resident Evil 4 and more recent 3D platforms. “You stand here on this pressure plate while I go over and push that statue.” That sort of thing.
Just as in classic first-person shooters, nearly every opponent drops a weapon that can be picked up and used if players deem them superior. That said, most found weapons are inferior. The game encourages players to solve puzzles and navigate mazes to acquire powerful magical weapons which have unique special abilities. Picking up an enemy’s gear becomes relevant with shields, which have a limited number of durability points and are always breaking. If you are careful about how you slay shield-toting enemies, you can replace your battered or shattered shield with theirs.
Despite these appealing features, Hunted falls short in a number of ways. Controls are often awkward and the game is very dark—visually. Many fantasy games these days feature copious gore and half-naked elves, but in Hunted players may actually have trouble seeing where they are going. Together, these problems make it almost impossible to navigate the game’s winding subterranean caverns. I was forced to use a help tool that guides players to their next destination far more often than I would have liked. Battles are repetitive, and in rescue missions I had a lot of trouble locating the people I was supposed to save and the people who were shooting at me.
The plot is hard to follow in the game’s early chapters, and the characters’ motivations are revealed so slowly it was hard to care about their adventures. The story begins in medias res, which is a clever literary technique rarely implemented in video games, but the lack of introduction is primarily to blame for the confusion about the plot and characters.
After several hours of gameplay, I realized my mistake. Enjoyment of Hunted hinges on having a friend to play it with. Rather than relying on the clunky AI, have a friend pick up Controller 2 and hack your way to victory as a team.
Although flawed, Hunted: The Demon’s Forge fuses elements of a variety of games into one complete package, and as an added bonus, features Lucy Lawless as the voice of a leading role. And if Xena is onboard, it can’t be half bad. 7 out of 10.
If you enjoyed reading this, please consider subscribing to Realms of Fantasy.
