The newest game from Illfonic after Friday The 13th is Predator: Hunting Grounds, another 1v4 survivors vs killer multiplayer game in the same vein as Friday The 13th and Dead By Daylight. Does it match up to those two or is it a dishonorable hunt? To delve into this, I’m going to split this review into two sections for the two gameplay modes.
Fireteam Is Fun…But Too Strong
To get the negatives out of the way, I’m just going to be upfront about this: the Fireteam is too overpowered. It’s like Illfonic did the reverse from Friday The 13th where Jason was nearly impossible to kill in that game whereas if a Fireteam member is high leveled with something like the minigun or even an upgraded assault rifle? They can take down a Yautja Hunter in seconds which…is a little annoying. Sure, when you kill a Predator, it can feel satisfying but when you kill it so fast that the match only lasts a minute at the most? That makes it less fun.
Gameplay wise for Fireteam, I don’t have very many flaws: the animations are smooth, the gun gameplay is satisfying, I love the large variety of missions that come with being Fireteam and the attempt to get players to focus on your objectives while the Predator stalks you. Sometimes the interaction button will opt for reloading your weapon which can be annoying in a critical situation but other than that, playing as Fireteam is solid.
The Wait For Predator Is Not Worth It At Times
Due to the overpowered nature of the Fireteam, the super long wait times for matchmaking as a Predator feels unworthy because of the many matches where I would spawn, cloak, find my human prey only to be gunned down almost instantly. I couldn’t even outrun their gaze which kind of defeats the purpose of being a Predator when I’m slower and weaker than the human soldiers.
However, when you don’t have overpowered humans gunning you down, stalking from the trees, using the alien weaponry, traversing the jungle, killing the Fireteam all feels super smooth and fun to control. The leaping and running through the treetops is actually the most fun aspect about the game that I wish there was more to do with it and that leads me to my biggest flaw with playing as a Predator.
There’s only one objective: kill the humans. Now I know, that’s pretty much the only goal for the Predator in the movie but if you’re able to give the Fireteam so many varying mission objectives, I feel like you could have down the same for the Predator.
Gorgeous Visuals, Though Repetitive With Maps
The Predator is perfectly animated and created with a good customization system to create your perfect hunter. I would like to see more armor options and masks in the future but I like what we got so far! As for Fireteam, the models look great but the customization for them is VERY limited. I’d like to see more options there with maybe skins for famous characters from the movies like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny Glover, or even Adrian Brody.
Speaking of limited, I love the design of the maps as they perfectly immerse you into a setting similar to the first movie…but I would be lying if I said that I wish we had more variety. It helps that there are a variety of missions but I personally would love to see a city map similar to Predator 2 or an alien jungle map to hark back to Predators (2010), etc. Just to freshen things up here and there.
Overall Thoughts
It’s not perfect but despite its flaws, I do have a lot of fun with the game. There does need to be better balance between Predator and Fireteam, maybe less damage from Fireteam and more health for the Predator because right now, it’s more fun playing as Fireteam which shouldn’t be the case. They also need to find a way to fix the waiting times for Predator matches.
Luckily, most multiplayer games start off completely different than they are a year later so I have hope that the game will get updated and patched to become more fun and balanced with some extra content. I’m going to give the game a 7/10. I recommend you get it at discounted price or at full price of $40 if you’re just that excited to play it.
Melody's Marvels 