On the 24th April, Predator Hunting Grounds hit the PlayStation 4 and PC. A multiplayer game that
has you choose between a soldier or a Predator as you battle it out in selection of maps set in the
jungle. Surprisingly there wasn’t much hype for the game, with only a couple of trailers put out
online, players got the chance a few weeks back to play a beta of it which didn’t go down particular
well getting mixed reviews. There hasn’t been a dedicated Predator game on consoles since the PS2
and original XBOX with Predator concrete Jungle from 2005. Since then the Predator has made a
few appearances in mobile games and the usual cross over with the Alien Vs Predator series.
This new outing focuses on online play so no single player option is available. The game
is developed by the same people who handled the Friday the 13th game and hunting grounds follows
in its footsteps with similar gameplay. If you’re a marine you play in a group of 4
and you can choose from 3 maps, each map has random objectives which are given to
you by someone who is doing an impression of Michael Biehn, you have to downloading data,
finding incriminating files or blowing up equipment and at the same time you’re
being hunted by a predator which is controlled by another player. So 5 players in all with each map.
Playing as the predator you are in the 3rd person perspective making it easier to navigate your
way through the trees and hunting your prey in the dense jungle. With the game options
you can choose to start out as a predator but you will experience a longer wait to get into
a game so its definitely recommended playing a private match with your friends so everyone
get a their chance to play as the famous Alien. As the predator you can unlock and arm yourself
with his familiar weapons most of which you will recognise form predator 2 such as the spear,
smart disc and net to stop people from escaping. You can level up pretty quickly
but some items will be out of your reach unless you put a lot of time into the game.
Using the Predator is a lot of fun, especially when against your friends as you stalk them and
scare the crap out of them if say you attack them by surprise or fire your plasma cannon
from a distance to confuse them as they will all stand still looking intensely into the
trees to try and spot you. The Predator’s only missions is to kill the marines,
you can hunt down the AI soldiers to earn small amounts of XP, its all about how you
kill your prey to earn more points to unlock additional weapons. If you do lose you can
activate self-destruct giving the marines a short amount of time to escape from the blast zone.
Playing as part of the fire team which is available in First Person, though if you die
you can watch the rest of your team in 3rd person , you start out with a standard assault rifle,
pistol and grenades, and you can level up relatively quickly to unlock new guns
and add perks to your character. The FPS element does feel a little clunky however,
it doesn’t have the smooth and slick presentation of say Call of Duty but it does a serviceable job,
the AI you battle against at the camps to complete your missions are a bit dumb
but provide some variety from just battling or escaping from the predator. Just like the film
you can cover yourself with mud to avoid detection from the Predators heat vision,
which is quite handy but you will need to apply it often as the mud wears off.
The graphics are pretty decent but nothing looks jaw dropping on a PS4 pro,
it does look like a game that’s from the last generation of consoles, I’ve encountered a few
graphically glitches here and there, my friends who played it on the standard PS4 had a number of
issues during gameplay and it appears the game is very much suited for the Pro model and it doesn’t
appear to be optimised very well for the standard console, maybe a future patch will resolve these
issues. There are nice lighting effects throughout to create this warm and sunny environment and its
cool to spot the predator from a distance jumping between the trees in camouflage,
which really pulls you into the movie and with the score by Alan Silvestri being used,
it does a nice job of replicating the atmosphere and style of the 1987 classic.
One of the biggest problem of the developers previous title. Friday the 13th, playing as
the teenagers you were really handicapped by the rules of the game, so you were too weak and had so
much against you as you try to escape from Jason who is so overpowered, it became a frustrating
experience for many, you could start a game and Jason would teleport to random spots on the map
and possibly kill you in space of 2mins and you were out of the game so to speak and just had to
sit there and watch the rest of the game play out, which got dull pretty quickly. Thankfully
with Hunting grounds the Predator despite being stronger and having a power arsenal of weapons
at his disposal he can be defeated if you and your team work together. I’ve played a number
of online matches with random people and you will encounter those who just run off and do their own
thing and then everyone is dead. So team work is key to winning the game. So overall though the
gaming experience feels far more balanced than Friday the 13th but is not perfect.
It’s a shame the game doesn’t have a single player experience, as im sure there are many out there
with poor internet speeds and don’t really like playing in multiplayer matches. They will feel
left out especially if they’re big fans of the predator franchise. I do think the programmers
could easily implement a single player experience into the game from what they have available as
part of the multiplayer option. Unfortunately you only get 3 maps, at the moment, im sure they will
expand things over time with further updates. Granted the maps are big but there is little
on offer considering the price of the game. So they could combine those 3 maps and string them
together with a basic story to give those players who want a single player mode to enjoy offline.
You can earn xp and credits during the game to upgrade your weapons and general appearance
of your predator or marine, you can play as female predator if you like. Like most online
experiences, you get loot boxes called Field lockers which are earned with each match you play,
they mostly contain skins for your guns which are of no interest to me,
its very much like Star Wars Battlefront in that
regard. but there doesn’t appear to be in game purchases to spend real money,
only XP earned with in it so I don’t mind that. So you’re rewarded based on your performance.
The game is currently only available digitally on the PS4 in the UK, I’m not sure if its getting
physical release in other parts of the world, so in return for spending £35, I don’t really
think you get much in return for your money, in its current form with a limited selection
of maps to choose from it feels very light and a bit empty, I had fun playing it and I’m looking
forward to playing some more matches but there is a general disappointment amongst my friends and I,
there is a good game there at its core which just needs expanding and refining. The player needs to
be offered more in return as it feels like a missed opportunity to give us the ultimate
Predator experience. It would be great to see maps based around Predator 2 for example such as the
meat factory or the predators ship. Just something more than just a variation of another jungle map.
Its clear the programmers are fans of the franchise and there is a lot of things in
place to please gamers who love the movies, and it certainly hit the nostalgia spot in areas for me,
when you’re running away from the predator avoiding its laser targeting with the Alan
Silvestri predator score pumping over the speakers its hard not to be entertained by it. I can only
recommend this game to hardcore fans of the franchise who are willing to forgive some
of its issues as it does feel a bit unfinished in areas. I don’t think it’s the best predator
game out there as the AVP titles over the years have successful captured the films and offered
a good single player narrative to enjoy. Fingers crossed over the coming months they will expand
the game and offer more variety and maybe a single player experience so we can enjoy it offline.