A group of mercenaries stalk the jungle on a shady government mission. They fancy themselves hunters... but they have just become the hunted. High up in the thick Central American trees lies the Predator, it's only objective: to leave no human alive. This is Predator: Hunting Grounds.
If that all sounds a bit "cheesy '80s movie," it's because it is. The newly released asymmetrical multiplayer game from Illfonic Studios is based on the classic 1987 action movie Predator. Though the long-lived franchise saw a reboot/sequel recently with Shane Black's The Predator, it hasn't seen a console game release since 2010. Illfonic was the perfect studio to revive the series; their Friday the 13th: The Game was an underrated gem that was equal parts thrilling and scary.
Unfortunately, Predator: Hunting Grounds doesn't quite strike the same balance as its predecessor. It has the ingredients of an interesting game, but the lack of polish that was tolerable in Friday the 13th is more evident here and the first-person shooter elements make the Predator feel vastly under-powered. When Jason appeared outside a cabin in Camp Crystal Lake, players would scramble and scream through their mics; here, conversation is less common and the outcome is distinctly more predictable.
As mentioned, Predator: Hunting Grounds is an asymmetrical multiplayer game, meaning that the objective and abilities of one side are vastly different than the other. Usually one side (in this case, the human fireteam) finds itself under-powered but strong in numbers, while the other (the Predator) has nearly god-like armaments but is running solo. Think the aforementioned Friday the 13th, Dead by Daylight, and Resident Evil Resistance. You'll notice a trend: the games often play within the conventions of horror.
So perhaps that is Predator: Hunting Grounds' initial flaw. There's nothing scary about the Predator, even with his camouflage and wrist-blades and neat unlockable gear. Not when he's facing four human-controlled soldiers and a dozen or so AI guerrilla fighters. Players on the soldier side are given a random mission - eliminating a target for instance - and dropped into battle. They must complete the objective and escape via helicopter before the Predator can kill all of them. If even just one escapes alive, they win.
Playing as a soldier isn't dissimilar from a knock-off Call of Duty with generic gunplay and gameplay mechanics. You'll start with only a basic loadout unlocked, but as you progress through the game online and earn XP, you'll get new weapons, attachments, and perks. There are assault rifles, snipers, shotguns; combinations of primary and secondary weapons familiar to anyone who's played a first-person shooter and lots to be unlocked through progression for all of it. The perks include faster movement speed, more damage to the Predator, and better tracking, among others. While the customizability of the character loadout is enjoyable and helps tailor the game to different play-styles, it doesn't combat the fact that the shooting itself is underwhelming and the visuals, dated and uninspired. Worse, there are loot boxes for shaders and cosmetics which feel so outdated and unrewarding.
Soldiers are ordered to complete an objective, but the enemy AI units are so easily conquered - and sometimes, flat out broken - that they feel like a distraction to the game's core premise: fighting the Predator. And as their fellow human-player silently moves in for the kill, players will feel more compelled to search for them than anything else. A helpful ping system allows players to mark enemies and objectives to each other - great for a game where communication is key - but like other games of its ilk, it's often underutilized by the player base. (Yes, one of the pings allows you to yell "Get to the choppa!").
Queuing as a soldier is more fun with friends, and even more so if you have another friend playing as the Predator. Illfonic kept one of Friday the 13th's most wonderful creations: the ability for the predator to hear its prey's conversation within a certain range. It can lead to a lot of awkward and hilarious situations.
That can't really be said for the rest of the Predator's gameplay, though hilarious probably isn't what Illfonic was going for. The armed-to-the-mandible alien killer hunts down the soldiers using thermal vision. This highlights not just the other players, but also the CPU bots that patrol the map. They'll have to avoid them while discovering the location of their targets and taking them out. Of course, it's a lot easier said than done.
The Predator can't just run wrist-blades-at-the-ready at the platoon of soldiers or easily shoot them all with the iconic shoulder-mounted plasma caster. They must take a more stealthy approach. Camouflage and leaping through the trees are the Predator's main modes of traversal and the movement is fun and fast: it's the time when the Predator feels more powerful. Once they land and initiate combat, it's another story. Even with various weapons (and many more of these are unlocked with progression, just like for the soldiers), the Predator isn't an unstoppable killing machine. In fact, the Predator can be taken down relatively quickly if the soldiers focus fire, and even if they escape to the trees, the Predator's iconic green glowing blood can be tracked and the shimmer of their cloak can be spotted.
Predator: Hunting Grounds tries to make the soldiers juggle multiple objectives, but they win automatically if the Predator dies. So there's no real incentive to focus on anything other than killing the Predator once they make themselves known. Even with the Predator's self-destruct bomb that can go off after they die if not hacked successfully by removing the downed Predator's helmet - it is still relatively easy for the soldiers to win. There are ways to cheese the entire game however while playing as the Predator, just by hiding near the evac point to try to kill all the soldiers there. Even if they down you, self destructing will prevent them from boarding the "choppa" and you'll win; this reviewer did this completely by accident.
The game is new so it's hard to say if Predator: Hunting Grounds will see the same success or quick fate as other asymmetric multiplayer titles like short-lived Evolve. So far, the game has been plagued by bugs, balance issues, bad AI, and worst of all, awful matchmaking times - so much so that the developer's live streams and social media presence has been hounded by unimpressed players. the game has some of the charm and the popular IP to gain an audience, but lacks the unpredictability, quality, and thrills of other titles in its genre. If you've been waiting 10 years for a Predator game and don't mind the premium price point, this might be one for the trophy case but do your research first.
Predator: Hunting Grounds is available now on PlayStation 4 and PC (Epic Games Store) for $59.99. Screen Rant was provided a digital PS4 copy for the purpose of this review.
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