From the people who brought us Friday the 13th: The Game comes another asymmetrical multiplayer experience. This time based on 20th Century Studios' Predator franchise. It sees a squad of soldiers go head-to-head with one of sci-fi's most iconic creations and the results are surprisingly pretty great.
As a member of the "Fireteam" you and up to three other people are tasked with completing objectives across a lush jungle environment before exfiltrating on "the choppa" preferably with everyone intact. A task made more difficult by the AI assailants scattered across the map that, while generally not very intelligent, are still perceptive enough to draw you into a firefight that can attract the attention of the real threat to your success. This side of things plays like your traditional military FPS. You customize a loadout complete with perks and weapon attachments while using an instantly recognizable control scheme that will be familiar to anyone who's played a shooter since the 360/PS3 era. As a result, it's very accessible and the only thing you'll really have to learn is how to disable alarms and coat yourself in mud to avoid getting detected.
Meanwhile as the titular alien villain your job is to track down and eliminate the other players before they can escape. I've heard people say this half of the game is unbalanced, as in an atypical move for the genre the person doing the hunting is at a disadvantage. One-on-one your opponents will offer little resistance, but if the group is sticking together they can gun you down in seconds. It sounds brutal and unfair, but while I myself have yet to pick up a win as the Predator I've had quite a few matches where my team and I were the victims of a one-sided beatdown. You simply have to take a tactical approach and make intelligent usage of the advanced technology at your disposal to chip away at the Fireteam. You know, kind of like how the creature did in the actual movie? Honestly, I think people are just complaining because they're upset they can't run through everyone as a nigh-invincible killing machine like they could as Jason Voorhees.
I was shocked to find that many of the issues I typically have with these types of games weren't that much of a factor here. The setup seems to encourage positive cooperation so I haven't had any issues with other people mucking about or being a jerk, and an Apex Legends-esque ping system allows you communicate information with your companions without ever having to utter a word. The amount of actual content will still be questionable for some, but personally the light elements of random generation have kept things from getting stale for me after countless matches now despite some key areas having the same objectives every time. It's even the first asymmetrical title I've seen that offers another mode, although it isn't much to write home about. "Clash" sees two Fireteams duking it out over rotating capture points. It basically plays out like a poor man's Hardpoint from Call of Duty where someone occasionally gets to be the Predator. Microtransactions are also not a nuisance as the cosmetics can be attained through generously doled out loot boxes or by purchasing them individually with "Veritanium" which can be found scattered across the maps. All is not perfect as, while gorgeous at first glance, looking too closely will reveal plastic textures and there are some infrequent matchmaking woes, but this is head and shoulders above the majority of its competition regardless.
The real appeal though may just be its faithfulness to the source material. Authentic sound effects and visuals help it to recapture the feeling of that original film. I hope the devs continue to update this the way they did their previous title with content from the other movies because there is plenty of room to grow. Yet, in its current state it is nonetheless addictive and when it comes to this particular style of multiplayer is second only to the mighty Among Us.
8/10
As a member of the "Fireteam" you and up to three other people are tasked with completing objectives across a lush jungle environment before exfiltrating on "the choppa" preferably with everyone intact. A task made more difficult by the AI assailants scattered across the map that, while generally not very intelligent, are still perceptive enough to draw you into a firefight that can attract the attention of the real threat to your success. This side of things plays like your traditional military FPS. You customize a loadout complete with perks and weapon attachments while using an instantly recognizable control scheme that will be familiar to anyone who's played a shooter since the 360/PS3 era. As a result, it's very accessible and the only thing you'll really have to learn is how to disable alarms and coat yourself in mud to avoid getting detected.
Meanwhile as the titular alien villain your job is to track down and eliminate the other players before they can escape. I've heard people say this half of the game is unbalanced, as in an atypical move for the genre the person doing the hunting is at a disadvantage. One-on-one your opponents will offer little resistance, but if the group is sticking together they can gun you down in seconds. It sounds brutal and unfair, but while I myself have yet to pick up a win as the Predator I've had quite a few matches where my team and I were the victims of a one-sided beatdown. You simply have to take a tactical approach and make intelligent usage of the advanced technology at your disposal to chip away at the Fireteam. You know, kind of like how the creature did in the actual movie? Honestly, I think people are just complaining because they're upset they can't run through everyone as a nigh-invincible killing machine like they could as Jason Voorhees.
I was shocked to find that many of the issues I typically have with these types of games weren't that much of a factor here. The setup seems to encourage positive cooperation so I haven't had any issues with other people mucking about or being a jerk, and an Apex Legends-esque ping system allows you communicate information with your companions without ever having to utter a word. The amount of actual content will still be questionable for some, but personally the light elements of random generation have kept things from getting stale for me after countless matches now despite some key areas having the same objectives every time. It's even the first asymmetrical title I've seen that offers another mode, although it isn't much to write home about. "Clash" sees two Fireteams duking it out over rotating capture points. It basically plays out like a poor man's Hardpoint from Call of Duty where someone occasionally gets to be the Predator. Microtransactions are also not a nuisance as the cosmetics can be attained through generously doled out loot boxes or by purchasing them individually with "Veritanium" which can be found scattered across the maps. All is not perfect as, while gorgeous at first glance, looking too closely will reveal plastic textures and there are some infrequent matchmaking woes, but this is head and shoulders above the majority of its competition regardless.
The real appeal though may just be its faithfulness to the source material. Authentic sound effects and visuals help it to recapture the feeling of that original film. I hope the devs continue to update this the way they did their previous title with content from the other movies because there is plenty of room to grow. Yet, in its current state it is nonetheless addictive and when it comes to this particular style of multiplayer is second only to the mighty Among Us.
8/10