PS3 Informer

Initial Impressions of Hunted: The Demon's Forge

This is a first impression review of Hunted: The Demon's Forge. This will be an ongoing series, reviewing the game over the period of a week or two.

If there are two things that my wife and I share a passion for, it is co-operative video games and the fantasy genre, the melding of which has resulted in Bethesda's newest release, Hunted: The Demon's Forge. Developed by inXile, whom you may know from their work on the New Bard's Tale, as well as numerous iOs games. Hunted:TDF is a third person action shooter set in a dark fantasy world. Touted for it's extensive "Co-Opportunities", it is a title I have been anxiously awaiting.

When you initially start the game, you can choose between Adventure or Crucible, which is the games built in level editor. Choosing Adventure will launch the games introduction movie, and then put you in control of Caddoc, one of the games two main protagonists. What's interesting about this is that the tutorial is a prologue to the game, and also a solo only affair. The tutorial is relatively brief, and allows you a bit of time with Caddoc and E'lara to give you a chance to decide which of the two you prefer. As soon as you complete the Prologue you are asked if you'd like to continue playing single player, or quit back to the main menu to play co-op.

As soon as the games starts you will notice the visibly dated graphics and character models that leave a lot to be desired. This isn't to say that the game looks terrible, but it certainly does not look as good as one has come to expect with this generation of graphics. The controls are also not as tight as one would expect, being similar to many shooters (particularly Gears of War) but not quite feeling as polished as those. The story of Hunted seems intriguing, though at this point we are only at the midway point of the first act (of six) so it may or may not be as interesting as I am anticipating.

Hunted manages to do a few things right, the biggest of these the combat. Each of the two characters has a distinct strength, with Caddoc being melee, and E'lara being ranged. My wife and I found ourselves easily falling into a rhythm in combat, each drawing on our character's role in combat. With a bit of communication, we managed to succeed even on the harder difficulty.

Caddoc is the tank in the duo. He can block enemy swords, bows and other attacks with his shield, though each shield has a limited amount of abuse it can take before falling apart. When that happens, it is crucial to find a replacement immediately, or your health will rapidly drop. Caddoc does have a crossbow, but a much slower fire/reload rate and a lower ammo capacity make it less appealing to go that route with him.

E'Lara is a master of the bow, firing much quicker, doing more damage via ranged, and having more than double the arrow capacity of Caddoc. In close combat she is not as much of a threat as Caddoc, taking more hits and not dishing out damage with as much gusto.

Rounding out the characters' basic combat abilities are several spells and character abilities you unlock with collected crystals. These abilities allow you a small degree of customization on your chosen character, giving you the freedom to build a strategy that works for you.

All in all, my first impressions of Hunted: The Demon's Forge are moderately good. The graphics and controls could be better, but for those looking for a entertaining, co-operative action game, you could do a lot worse.