If all you ever wanted to do was hunt as (or be hunted by) the title terror of John McTiernan's 1987 sci-fi/action classic Predator, then run, don't walk, to pick up Predator: Hunting Grounds today. The new asymmetrical multiplayer from Illfonic and Sony Interactive Entertainment aims to follow in the footsteps of games like Friday the 13th: The Game (also hailing in part from Illfonic) by giving fans of the Predator franchise a chance to step into the story themselves and act out their own epic tales of survival. So whether you and your buds want to team up as the human Fireteam to carry out mercenary missions or you want to go solo and hunt your friends as the universe's most elite alien hunter, Predator: Hunting Grounds has something for you!
But is the new game worth the $40 price tag? Having played the free trial version about a month ago, I would have said, "Nope", especially if the fully released version didn't polish the occasionally rough graphics up a bit or patch up the often hilarious but infrequently frustrating bugs. There's also just not enough content here. It's why I held off on pre-ordering the title or picking it up outright when it launched last Friday. So it was that I found myself with a free review copy in order to check out the full version, and friends, not much has changed. That's both good news for fans of the game's basic premise that was glimpsed in the trial and a bummer for folks who were expecting more.
On the positive side, Predator: Hunting Grounds is more fun than it is frustrating. The games are relatively quick to load into--queue times are down to about a minute for the Fireteam, and around 5 minutes to play as the Predator, by preference; both are vast improvements over launch weekend delays--and quite speedy to play through. Mission variety is pretty much nonexistent unless you really get into the story details of each campaign. Basically, you and your Fireteam get dropped into the jungle, head to a waypoint, activate or gather a Macguffin, defend it from AI enemies, and rinse and repeat this sequence until you're able to evac via helicopter. Oh, but complicating things is the Predator, an alien being known to government and paramilitary organizations, making the creature every bit as valuable as it is deadly. So while the gameplay, level design, and objectives never really change all that much, Predator: Hunting Grounds succeeds with its Fun Factor based on its solid premise alone.
One way Illfonic keeps things fresh is by giving fans a reason to grind. In a word: leveled progression. It's not just your Fireteam member or Predator who levels up by gaining experience, which grants new bonus-buffing perks, abilities, skill sets, and gear, it's also your weaponry. Using the many and varied weapons--pistols, assault rifles, sniper rifles, shotguns, and special heavy weapons--builds proficiency, allowing you to tweak magazine size, barrel-type, and a variety of optical scopes, to name a few. On the Predator side of things, you'll get access to increasingly deadly alien tech, like the shoulder-mounted Plasma Caster, Combistick, Smart Disc, Wrist Blades, and more. In other words, there's a reason to keep playing even if the in-game objectives never change.
Another reason to keep playing is simply to get better at the game. Better gear will take you far, but as players start to understand the differences in Fireteam and Predator classes, how combinations of Perks can best be utilized, and the importance of communication, teamwork, and even patience (looking at you, overly aggressive Predator players...), the game could develop some really tense, strategic, and clutch 1v4 campaigns once it gets into high-level play. A proficient Predator player can absolutely terrorize the Fireteam, ripping their victory (and their spines and skulls) away at the last moment after toying with them throughout their jungle adventure. Or, a skilled and cooperative Fireteam can take even an accomplished Predator down, deactivating its self-destruct mechanism, and claiming a fat bonus reward for turning its alien tech over to the highest bidder. I'm sure Dutch & Co. would have preferred that option rather than getting to da choppa! (Speaking of which, Dillon definitely could have used these gameplay and survival tips.)
Predator: Hunting Grounds is far from perfect though. An overly ambitious visual shader system gives the characters and the ever-moving screen a crawling quality as the graphics processor tries to keep up with demand. The same can be said for in-game environments themselves; they're solid enough but aren't super visually impressive. They're serviceable. And the occasional bug is more of a gag than a game-breaker. Occasional AI soldiers will pop up well after their mini map indicator tells you they're right in front of you, or they'll freeze in place upright (and sometimes spinning while shooting arterial blood streams...) even after death. Every once in a while, the Predator will get stuck and start spinning in place, which is a great advantage for the Fireteam. Then there's the overly long "loot box" animation and the occasional template text box that reads "Rad Item Name Goes Here", but hey, it's always good for a laugh. The only game-breaker I've had so far came from trying to share out a video clip at the end of a round, causing the game to crash, though my progress was counted ... I think? (FYI all of my playtime experience was done on the PS4 Pro with a pretty robust connection on my end.)
Perhaps the most frustrating "bug" is the decision to bind the Interact and Reload actions to the same button (you can change this in the controller mapping). I've watched countless teammates try to hook onto the helicopter for evac after a successful mission, only to reload their weapon, and then, if they're unfortunate enough to be standing in a mud puddle, bend down to cover themselves in mud, all while being shot up by AI or carved up by Predators. (I've definitely come close to controller-throwing frustration levels for this very same reason.) Despite all of this, I keep pushing play to pump up my Fireteam stats and hope for a chance to improve my rather terrible Baby Predator skills.
Predator: Hunting Grounds could definitely use more content--level design, mission variety, NPCs or playable characters from the extended Predator universe--and who knows, maybe that's coming. The game also needs continuing patchwork, which the team is presumably working on as we speak. Still, $40 feels a little steep for what's currently a dip-in-and-get-out game that's best played with buds. But stick around to see if there's more life left in Predator: Hunting Grounds after the first kills start to spoil.
Rating: 6/10