Hunted: The Demon's Forge Review

Hunted: The Demon's Forge Review

The dark ages have become corrupted. Heinous creatures have emerged from underground. Townsfolk are disappearing. Upon the promise of their fortune in gold, two mercenaries have taken on the daunting task of finding out where the innocents have been taken and to stop the madness. Their journey will take them on a dark and twisted path where they will encounter vicious creatures, death and sacrifice. This path will lead them deep within the world of Kala Moor...and to the secrets of The Demon's Forge.

• Publisher:Bethesda Softworks
• Genre:Action, Adventure
• Developer:inXile entertainment
• Release Date:Jun 3, 2011
• # of Players:1 player, 2 online
• ESRB:M - Mature (Blood and Gore, Violence)
• Platforms:
• 360
• PS3
• PC

Review

Hunted has been pushed as a co-op game first and foremost, but it’s okay either way. I played about half of it with a buddy, and while playing with friends always has the advantage of, you know, human companionship, the AI isn’t impossible to play with. In fact, whereas neither I, nor my friend, boosted each other initially, the computer I played with was frequently powering me up during battles.

Probably the most intriguing aspect of Hunted is the choice between characters. It’s basically two different games. One is a cover-based shooter with ranged weapons varying in strength and advantages. The other is a hack-and-slash slaughterfest with no use for cover. Caddoc, the strong (obviously male) character is a grizzled Vin Diesel clone with a mace for a brain and an obligatory English accent. He exists basically as an aggro-whore, usually right in the middle of the action smashing craniums and providing a distraction in order for E’lara to line up a shot.

E’lara (complete with unnecessary fantasy apostrophe) is an artist with a bow and much more fun to play with. When hiding in cover, her accuracy increases and features a snap-to auto aim that makes using a bow and arrow feel much smoother and more natural. When running around, blind firing will generally shoot an auto-aimed arrow at an enemy depending on if you’re facing them. Combined with a fast bow, this adds an almost movie quality of a sexy elf launching countless arrows without hesitation into the faces of various creatures. While this may make using a bow sound easy, it isn’t. You are constantly being mobbed by hordes of skeletons and unnamable creatures and finding time to shoot between dodging and rolling is a challenge.