Hunter: The Reckoning

Today, the word "multiplayer" conjures up a distinctly different image than it did 10 years ago. Remember classic multiplayer games such as Final Fight, Gauntlet, X-Men, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? They were the old definition for an altogether different breed of games. Back then, teamwork was a rule rather than an option; every player had to share a single screen, and giving directions and working together were simple and immediate. The advent of online multiplayer has changed this, for better or for worse. Now you have your own screen (which means you don't have to follow your friends around like before), and communication is inhibited by the speed of your fingers on the keyboard. This may be evolution, but it can be equally pleasing when a game opts out of following the latest trends. That is, at least, what High Voltage Software's Hunter: The Reckoning is trying to do. Its focus on old-school single-screen four-player action is eerily similar to old-fashioned beat-'em-ups from years past. Now, add in the fact that Hunter will introduce RPG elements and a graphics engine that allows for a couple of dozen detailed characters on the screen at one time, and this would-be retread suddenly appears refreshing and somewhat unique. We sat down with High Voltage Software's lead artist, Matt Corso, to discuss these aspects and others we can expect to see in Hunter: The Reckoning when it's released next year.

First, let's get some of the detailed back story out of the way. The story revolves around an old prison next to a small town, which was once home to a group of powerful vampires. Many years back, these vampires seized control of the prison and used the condemned men inside it as both their nightly buffet dinners and human guinea pigs. After a series of wicked experiments conducted by the vampires, many of the prisoners became hideously mutated and turned into all sorts of powerful zombies and wraiths. Thanks to the vampires' meddling, not all of these zombies became your run-of-the-mill, bumbling cretins; many were further twisted and strengthened beyond ordinary means. As the game begins, these superzombies have been mysteriously let loose and are invading the nearby small town. As you'd expect from a horde of zombies, their "plan" seems to revolve around the killing and consumption of the small town's inhabitants. As it goes in stories like this, you and up to three friends must stand in their way. You're a hunter, a unique brand of warrior, imbued with magic known as "edges," increased strength, and other special abilities. Hunters are also unique because they can see when monsters try to walk among normal people (think the '80s B-horror classic: They Live). Obviously, these hunters are not your average humans.

Superficially, the story in Hunter looks like a straightforward riff from the horror classic Night of the Living Dead; however, High Voltage assures us this isn't entirely the case. The game is, in fact, based on White Wolf's World of Darkness pen-and-paper RPG series. High Voltage Software chose to base the game on a fully realized universe because it wanted to wrap its action-heavy gameplay in a deep (and ready-made) character-driven storyline. That means you can also expect a greater amount of depth and background in Hunter compared with your average zombie slayer. Corso gives an example of how High Voltage is using the deep plot to enhance gameplay: "Our cinema system will allow for some great dialogue between characters. Each character has a unique personality...every time you play the game with a different character, it will be a new experience."

High Voltage considers a game like Hunter, with its standard hack-and-slash gameplay, an ideal platform for introducing unique RPG elements. You have plenty of attacks and moves to choose from, and the fact that your characters' stats, magic, and abilities improve as the game goes on should deepen the adventure. The marriage of RPG and action elements, in many ways, sounds comparable to what was attempted in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Konami's PlayStation classic.

There are, of course, significant differences in Hunter. While you'll be given objectives to accomplish in each area, each level seems to advance a lot like an old-fashioned beat-'em-up (knock off 20 bad guys in one area, walk a dozen yards to a new area, repeat). Also, the inventory system isn't nearly as involved as the one in classic RPGs; Corso describes it as "limited to weapons and edges [in order] to focus on a more intuitive control scheme and faster action gameplay." But despite the game's scripted linearity, you can still expect Hunter to be surprisingly long. Corso estimates that there are at least 20 hours of gameplay. "We expect it to be longer," he reveals, "but we won't have a final count until the game is completed." In all, High Voltage promises 25 levels of varying size, each with the same general mission: accomplish your objectives, make a mountain of gutted zombies, and keep your hunters' heads and appendages intact.

Hunter's 25 environments take place in different areas around the town and prison. Despite the game's fictional universe, Corso asserts that aesthetically, the buildings, landscapes, and geography aren't far removed from our own; High Voltage's art team is focusing on depicting run-down, dank, and dirty architecture, grounded in real-world designs. Corso cites the zombies' prison as an example, noting that he and his team explored a "real working prison, just to get it right." He says that all of Hunter's levels will "look and feel a little different from the last one...there is a high level of quality and detail placed into each level." Potentially more interesting, though, is the fact that Corso has confirmed that Hunter's levels will be interactive: "Players can trash everything if they feel like it." This means that chairs, tables, shelves, and the like are all fully rendered--and all fully destructible.

So how will it play? Notably, Hunter uses a unique control scheme that lets you aim in one direction with an analog stick and move with another. The concept has been tried before (the old arcade game Vindicators comes to mind, as well as the more recent Capcom blaster, Cannon Spike), but the Xbox's twin sticks make this kind of control more intuitive and enjoyable. For example, strafing side to side or facing forward while you're in dashing retreat is accomplished without the use of any buttons. These kinds of moves are important too, because Hunter will throw a tremendous number of enemies at you at one time, so you'll have to keep moving if you want to avoid being overwhelmed by sheer numbers. To explain, most beat-'em-ups toss you steady waves of a half-dozen enemies; however, fights in Hunter are much larger and may involve as many as 30 characters--without slowdown--at once.

With so many enemies to deal with, you can expect your hunters to wield a healthy assortment of weapons, magic, and abilities to keep the endless throngs at bay. There are at least 10 weapons in the game, and while few specifics have been revealed so far, we've seen some of the basics--such as a shotgun, pistol, and sword. In addition, each character has its unique array of edges and its own selection of special abilities, which you learn and hone throughout the game. Figuring out how to best use your magic and abilities isn't always simple; some creatures are more vulnerable to certain attacks than others.

As Corso explains it, Hunter sounds like the kind of game best enjoyed with three other players by your side. Teamwork is the focus, not the afterthought, which also adds a new dimension to the been-there, done-that beat-'em-up gameplay. Corso emphasizes that working together is what Hunter is all about: "Players can work together to move their hunters in any strategic formation that they want...the hunters can also use edges that can affect other hunters' stats or [they can] protect each other." In this sense, Hunter sounds a lot like a four-player session of Phantasy Star Online (though you can't go off on your own private expedition in Hunter). We haven't seen many character specifics yet; however, High Voltage is adamant that each is distinct from the other, and success depends upon using each character's unique magic, attacks, and abilities to complement the rest of your team. When we asked about other multiplayer modes in Hunter, we were disappointed to learn that deathmatch modes won't make it into the final product. Additionally, to keep the game's cooperative feel intact, High Voltage isn't including any option for online play, either. Corso explains the decision: "We want to focus on giving you a great game, and all of our multiplayer elements are self-contained into one storyline and one Xbox." He adds that player response will determine "if we are going to add these features to a future version."

Twitch games in general have had a rough go at it in their transition to a 3D environment. If it's not control that feels rough and unpolished, then it's a camera that's cumbersome to control--one that obscures enemies, the main character, or, in worst-case scenarios, both. Corso recognizes that even the best game foundation can be undone by an uncooperative camera and offers assurances that High Voltage's programmers are doing their best to integrate a dynamic camera system that will "allow [the team] to show the player the best view of the action and the environment." An independent camera system will be especially important when all four players are on the screen (since giving everyone control of the camera would make the views difficult and haphazard at best). High Voltage isn't satisfied with delegating camera control to just one player, either--that's why the team has developed a system that, as it's currently conceived, would remove all but the most simple control from the player entirely. "The goal of our game camera," Corso explains, "is to keep the player focused on the game and not on fighting the camera."

From what's been seen so far, Hunter's visuals establish the sort of fearful atmosphere and horrific, visceral thrills you'd expect from a zombie-slaying thriller. The game engine already renders a couple of dozen characters simultaneously with ease, and the effects become especially dramatic when a hunter becomes surrounded by flesh-eating nasties: Blood flows like wine, shotgun blasts fill the air, and limbs are torn asunder--all at a smooth 60 frames per second. As in most Xbox games we've seen, textures are amazingly crisp and detailed when you can see them (some of the levels are pretty dark). Character models are impressive too; both the zombies and the hunters have thousands of polygons each, and all cast realistic shadows based on in-game light sources. Surprisingly, there's no noticeable loss of detail when more characters jump on the screen, and detail levels remain unchanged regardless of the camera's level of zoom.

For all the praise surrounding Hunter's ability to render dozens and dozens of detailed characters at once, there were complaints about the E3 build. The primary concern was that the character motions seemed uneven (for example, you'd turn in a jittery and exaggerated manner). That rough look, Corso admits, was due to the game's early state, and since E3, most of these noticeable visual hiccups have been resolved. Animations, he says, "are mostly motion captured...we're using motion capture for both gameplay animations and in-game cinemas. Our animations look very smooth." Hunter runs on High Voltage's AtlasTech engine, which will render both normal gameplay and the in-game cinemas. When asked if there's still room for improvement, Corso jokes, "We still have lots of cool little technical touches to add before we're finished. Interplay is going to have to pry our fingers from our keyboards to get us to stop polishing this game for the release."

Based on outward appearances, Hunter: The Reckoning could be mistaken for a Zombie Revenge clone. Of course, that conclusion would be neglecting High Voltage Software's attempt at an in-depth storyline, its notions of legitimate cooperative play, and its interjection of role-playing elements--the sum of which should make Hunter's basic gameplay deeper and more enjoyable than your straightforward brawler.

Hunter: The Reckoning is being developed by High Voltage Software and Digital Mayhem and published by Interplay. Currently, it's scheduled for an exclusive release on the Xbox in the first quarter of next year.