GameRx: Hunter Hunted

When “platformers” come up in discussion, we often assume a certain degree of levity in atmosphere. While this isn’t entirely fair, it’s a reasonable assumption judging by the biggest, most successful early titles — Mario, Kirby, Sonic, Megaman, et al. With the runaway success of these franchises, many console developers followed suit with their own light-hearted platformers to reach the same demographic. However, there was no such limitation on the generally older audience of PC gaming, resulting in some dark takes on the platformer format. If you’re looking for something to break free from the cheery grind of mainstream 90’s platforming, Hunter Hunted may be just the game you’re looking for. Released on Halloween of 1996 by the tragically defunct Sierra, this platformer for Win95 is incidentally the prequel to the Starsiege: Tribes franchise.

In the then-distant year of 2015, Earth has been attacked by a race of aliens known only as “the Masters.” Humanity has been largely destroyed in the ensuing war, and surviving humans are enslaved, enduring life-or-death challenges for the amusement of their new overlords. The human protagonist, Jake Hunter, is attempting to make a getaway while repairing the remains of an old car with post-apocalyptic scrap as he struggles to survive the Masters’ gauntlet. Simultaneously, a similar fate befalls the tauren inhabitants planet Kullrathe as the masters herd the survivors into concentration camps. Put into similarly dire straits, the Kullrathian protagonist, Garethe Den, has similar plans of escape. Who will you be — the hunter, or the hunted?

In each level, your goal is to complete all objectives and get to the exit. The controls are fairly standard platformer fare; arrow keys control direction, space is attack, and so on, playing much like Contra and similar titles with a “hiding” mechanic similar to that of Blizzard’s Blackthorne (1994). It’s quite playable by keyboard, but works rather well with a joypad. The game can also be played in split-screen for two players  (using two devices or one keyboard) or over a LAN connection for both competitive and cooperative play

The 140 maps are all rendered on a series of parallel planes. Each plane is a level of two-dimension platforming connected to the other planes via doors, teleporters, and what-have-you. The character moves in these two dimensional areas as you would expect. Levels generally come in two flavors. In “Hunter” levels, your objective is generally destructive, focusing on destruction as you move to the exit by providing plenty of weapons and ammunition. In contrast, the “Hunted” levels force you to survive a given scenario on limited resources, rewarding stealth and swiftness over power.

As to be expected, both man and beast have different styles of gameplay. Jake largely relies on guns, rockets, and other such items to attack, but has definite weakness in agility and strength. Garethe relies on feral weapons such as clubs, knives, and good ol’ fisticuffs. However, his physique grants him superior speed, strength, and stamina compared to Jake. The strengths and weaknesses of both sides are pretty well balanced, so it really comes down to a matter of preference rather than power-gaming.

The aesthetics of Hunter Hunted deliver an array of variations of urban post-apocalyptic decay, hovering somewhere between Mad Max and Blade Runner. Some levels take place in rather generic bunkers and dungeons, but many take you through other parts of the urban post-apoc scene, including atrophied apartments, crumbling cathedrals, and moldering malls. Game elements are easily identified, and the levels have some nice detailing that, combined with some simple sound effects, adds to the perceived depth of the two-dimensional planes. Enemy creatures start out as the relatively “dumb” hover-mines, which float toward you when you’re within their detection radius and detonating on contact. Moving up through the levels, you face everything from ghosts and daemons to turrets and battle droids in addition to the most dangerous game.

It’s a bit of an odd assortment of artistic choices, gameplay, and light narrative that really makes a great game for short sessions with an engaging combination of puzzle and action. The game itself is simple enough to learn quickly for competitive or cooperative play, making it a great choice for a pick-up game to play with a friend. It doesn’t take up any noticeable space on your hard drive, so you should be able to get this to run well on even the crummiest laptop. Overall, Hunter Hunted is perfect little “time waster” of a game, but one can hardly call an enjoyable time a waste.

Doc Watson is an editor for The RedShirt Crew and founder of The GameRx Clinic. He’s considered a cosplay of Jake Hunter, but has decided that it’s far too much work to get in shape to have no one recognize who you’re supposed to be. If you have questions or input, leave a comment of send him a tweet @DocWatsonMD

Two Free Games You Should Totes Download

So today I’m going to take a break from tabletop RPGs and talk about free games. Why? Because there’s no shit like free shit.

As much as I would like to be some sort of ear-to-the-ground font of indie game information, I’m not. I’m just a guy who’s heard of a few things. So here are two wildly different freeware games, downloadable over the internet, that stand out in my mind and in my life.

The first one is Katawa Shoujo. It’s a visual novel built on the Ren’Py engine. It’s not finished yet, but the first act is available for download, and well worth the time. The premise of the story is relatively simple: after discovering that he suffers from an incurable and disabling heart condition, the protagonist, Hisao Nakai, moves to attend a specialized school built to cater to the needs of students with life-affecting disabilities. The school is co-ed. You do the math. It’s a fun game; it’s pretty, relaxing, and melancholy. The girls are interesting characters. The art is good. It’s short. Check it out, you might like it.

The second one is Spelunky. It’s about as different from Katawa Shoujo as night is from day. It’s a side-scrolling platformer. You guide a nameless tomb raider through 16 randomly generated and increasingly deadly levels in an attempt to discover the lost City of Gold. The whole thing is set in one gigantic cave. It’s hella fun, and pretty tricky to boot. I have logged over two thousand deaths and never made it past Level 7. That said, I suck ass at this game; one of the guys from PC Gamer did it in 600 tries (if memory serves). I cannot recommend this game highly enough: I play it multiple times daily, and despite its difficulty it is endlessly rewarding and utterly addictive.

So yeah. These are two excellent and wildly different games and they are COMPLETELY FREE GO GO GO

Tom out.