Predator: Hunting Grounds Hands-On Impressions

IllFonic is best known for developing Friday: The 13th: The Game. Now the studio is working on another competitive multiplayer title based on the featured Predator series. Revealed recently, Predators: Hunting Grounds will allow gamers to take control of either the Predator or the humans being hunted. We had the chance to play the pre-alpha demo at New York Comic-Con and came out impressed.

The demo featured 1 map where a group of soldiers are attempting to escape the jungle while a Predator hunts them down. The fireteam consistanted of 4 players with 4 pre-built classes ranging from your standard assault to the shotgun close-quarters. The Predator comes with its iconic cloaking device, shoulder Plasmacaster cannon, wrist blades, and self-destructive device.

The goal of the Fireteam is to complete a series of objectives and call for an evacuation chopper. The human players can also survive for 15 minutes or kill the Predator to win. Taking on the objectives involve fighting through hostile human NPCs and completing various tasks, each in different camps. All while the Predator hunts down the Fireteam.

The Predator's primary goal is the execute the entire team by any means. The Predator is powerful and can easily kill a single-player with ease. But cannot automatically heal regenerate health, must manually heal, and if enough damage is taken can trigger its bomb. The Predator is very agile and can easily hop between trees and can kill a single player without issue. Making teamwork vital.

Since this was pre-alpha gameplay the visuals were pretty poor and the controls not as tight but the gameplay was strong. The constant fear that the Predator could leap from anywhere or take the surprise the team was constant. You can counter the large hunter by spotting it, preventing the creature from regaining its incognito status for 15 seconds.

The Fireteam, like the Predator, have finite resources and can scavenge items from the environment. Sometimes leading to certain players breaking from the pack. The Fireteam can revive fallen allies with a reinforcement call but only once. While the Predator has limited healing available to it.

Predator: Hunting Grounds has a lot of promise. The issue I had with the demo is how it'll continue to keep players interested when it launches. As in Friday: The 13th: The Game biggest issue came from maintaining interest. Playing as Jason or avoiding the deadly murderer was fun for a few times but quickly lost its appeal. However, unlike Jason's universe, the developers can take reference from the larger world and include different variations of Predators and use various worlds featured in the comics and movies. For now, Predator Hunting Grounds could become a fun competitive title as either the Predator or the people its hunting.

Adam Siddiqui,
Senior Editor, NoobFeed
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