Welcome to our review of the newest multiplayer shooter, out now!
Predator: Hunting Grounds is an immersive asymmetrical multiplayer* shooter set in the remote jungles of the world, where the Predator stalks the most challenging prey. Play as a member of an elite 4-person Fireteam and complete paramilitary operations before the Predator finds you. Or, play as the Predator to hunt the most worthy prey, choosing from your vast array of deadly alien tech to collect your trophies, one by one.
Enter a world that looks and feels completely authentic to the lore of the Predator universe. The lush jungle comes alive with the sights and sounds of military bravado moving toward their objective. While up in the trees, a flash of light and an ominous clicking sound belay that the team is about to face deadly opposition. From the epic Predator theme song to the signature light-bending cloaking and thermal Predator vision, fans of the Predator-verse will revel in both familiar and new canon.
As a Fireteam member, wield a state-of-the-art arsenal, from pistols to assault rifles, shotguns, grenades, and heavy weapons. As the Predator, hunt with deadly alien tech including the shoulder-mounted Plasma Caster, Combistick, Smart Disc, Wrist Blades, and more. I actually preferred the Fireteam mode but had my fair share of issues playing it.
Drop into several conflict zones in South America, treacherous, thick with ranging trees and sprawling undergrowth. Guerilla soldiers are well-camouflaged between guarding shanty hide-outs at the water’s edge. Whether a Fireteam moves as a unit or takes a strategic split approach to reach each objective, the rich setting offers a diverse environment to perfect your approach. For the Predator, the trees are perfect for using otherworldy skills, crawling up tree trunks and stealthing through branches to stalk prey with frightening speed.
Gameplay required to unlock some Fireteam and Predator weapons.
Predator: Hunting Grounds is a game that depends mostly on how skilled your teammates really are. That is my conclusion after 10+ online games. I experienced pretty much every sentiment possible from pure rage when I got downed and those “team” members of mine just let me die instead of reviving me. I experienced pure joy, the first time I had great teammates, I got downed, they healed me. The predator had a team member in his sights and I was the one able to get him out alive. The way you are supposed to be playing games like these.
It is like playing Fortnite as a squad and all four of you do your own thing. The inevitable truth, in that case, people will gang up on you, in the case of Predator, the NPCs will do just that. While they are not the brightest, they do feel like they pressure you, but once you figure out how to quickly take them out, this game becomes a little easier. Not that it is hard, far from even, it is just one of those games that are just average really.
While this game is nicely made, the Predator parkour mode, for example, is awesome and pretty easy to get used to. It just falls short of an amazing range and that is the general idea of the game. It just relies too much on the team effort on one side and the imagination on the other. I am not complaining so please do not get me wrong. There are tons of great things to do, the more you play for example, the better your loadout becomes, which in turn makes it easier to survive.
The one thing I did not really like is the fact that the matchmaking took a minute easily every single time. I know this is the beginning still and these issues will get ironed out but, it did annoy me. I would have been more positive if matchmaking worked better. Maybe this is just a temporary hiccup, but it did leave a somewhat sour aftertaste. I was at one point really fired up to get another win in and possibly an upgrade to one of my weapons, it took around 90 seconds and it killed my momentum and I left the game right after that fight.
Another minor issue, when you are stuck, you are often stuck hard. At one point, in our game, we had managed to kill the Predator, so someone decided to deal the finishing blow, which will result in the Predator self-destructing, I got stuck on my way out of the blast zone. I could not really jump out of my predicament, I could not move forward either. A small backtrack later, things went boom and so did my life.
In conclusion, this is mostly an early impression as we all know. Sadly I am unsure whether this game can fight it out with some of the bigger titles out there for a big userbase and then grow into a top tier game. For now, my score is a 7,5. I may end up editing my review in the future if/when major updates drop.
