Sights & Sounds
- If you've ever wondered what the 16-bit bastard offspring of Robocop and Escape from New York would look like, it's probably Huntdown. Every screen of this game is home to some snazzy pixel art full of neon signs, urban decay, and lots of explosions
- The music follows the theming perfectly. Be prepared to hear what could easily be an 80s action movie soundtrack. Driving synth beats and percussion will ebb and flow in tempo until you reach the final credits. I was not expecting to hear a licensed song as the credits started to roll, especially not my favorite Twisted Sister track. Out on the Streets is awesome and you should probably go listen to it right now
- There's also voice acting, and it's very well performed. Sure, some of the bosses have that phoned-in "tough guy" voice, but at least the protagonists are voiced well. It was fun to mow down enemies with a minigun while my trenchcoated robot quipped action movie one-liners
- The presentation isn't perfect, however. Some of the animation is pretty awful. I thought it was a framerate issue, but even capping the framerate didn't resolve anything. There just aren't enough animation sprites in the game to make characters in motion look good. It was distracting enough that it did affect my enjoyment: it looked like I was playing a flipbook at times
Story & Vibes
- I'll explain the setup, but don't go skipping the intro movie (a mock movie trailer complete with the expected overly serious voiceover). In any case, this is a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk game. As is often the case in such dystopian settings, the world governments have collapsed, and the power vacuum has been filled by private corporations like a libertarian wet dream. Meanwhile, street gangs have taken over the cities and war openly in the streets
- That's where you (or, rather, one of 3 playable characters) come in. Instead of seeking corporate citizenship or gang membership, you're a bounty hunter who's been hired to clean up the streets--and make a pretty penny while doing it
- Keep an eye and ear out to 80s movies references. They're everywhere
- There's a lot of words you could use to describe the vibe of this game, but the most appropriate is "rad"
Playability & Replayability
- Looking back at my SNES days as a kid, I don't recall playing many 16 bit platform shooters outside of Mega Man, but Huntdown doesn't feel much like those games. Contra III and Judge Dredd are more similar. Metal Slug a little less so
- That is to say, you're going to be jumping through, between, and on top of a lot of crumbling buildings while swapping weapons to dodge and precipitate opposing hails of gunfire
- The platforming feels pretty tight, but there's nothing too difficult in that respect. Just keep an eye out for secret areas and destructible parts of the environment if you want to find powerful weapons and collectibles
- All the difficulty in Huntdown comes from the combat, and it is notably difficult in the same vein as the Contra games it draws influence from. Fortunately, your movement options include the ability to slide (handy for dodging bullets coming from offscreen as you charge ahead) and duck into cover (either in doorways or behind boxes). You'll need to keep tabs on your available cover options if you want to avoid damage
- Weapon variety was way better than I expected. Each of the three selectable characters had a unique sidearm and projectile to start, but you'll have way more fun with the melange of melee weapons, assault rifles, machine guns, shotguns, rocket launchers, lasers, remote mines, etc. that litter each stage. If you find yourself still wanting variety here, you're too hard to please
- Each of the five levels in each of the city's four gang-controlled areas is capped off by a boss fight. These felt varied enough mechanically and visually that no two felt overly similar in spite of there being 20 of them in total
- I can see myself playing this again down the road, partially because I didn't even touch arcade mode and partially because I'm disappointed in myself for having to lower the difficulty to Easy in the third area (The Overseer stage). Huntdown doesn't mess around
Overall Impressions & Performance
- With robust challenges, eye-catching pixel art, and genuinely fun run-and-gun gameplay, this is an easy game to recommend to anyone who has a soft spot for titles like Contra or Metal Slug. I just wish the animation hadn't been so distractingly choppy. Seriously, compare a clip of Huntdown to Metal Slug 3; the difference is substantial
- It ran without bugs or other technical issues just fine on the Steam Deck
Final Verdict
- 8/10. Buying a game simply because it looks cool turns out to be a great idea sometimes, apparently. Maybe wait for a sale if you're not going to delve into the arcade mode as the story is only 5-7 hours long depending on difficulty
- If you've ever wondered what the 16-bit bastard offspring of Robocop and Escape from New York would look like, it's probably Huntdown. Every screen of this game is home to some snazzy pixel art full of neon signs, urban decay, and lots of explosions
- The music follows the theming perfectly. Be prepared to hear what could easily be an 80s action movie soundtrack. Driving synth beats and percussion will ebb and flow in tempo until you reach the final credits. I was not expecting to hear a licensed song as the credits started to roll, especially not my favorite Twisted Sister track. Out on the Streets is awesome and you should probably go listen to it right now
- There's also voice acting, and it's very well performed. Sure, some of the bosses have that phoned-in "tough guy" voice, but at least the protagonists are voiced well. It was fun to mow down enemies with a minigun while my trenchcoated robot quipped action movie one-liners
- The presentation isn't perfect, however. Some of the animation is pretty awful. I thought it was a framerate issue, but even capping the framerate didn't resolve anything. There just aren't enough animation sprites in the game to make characters in motion look good. It was distracting enough that it did affect my enjoyment: it looked like I was playing a flipbook at times
Story & Vibes
- I'll explain the setup, but don't go skipping the intro movie (a mock movie trailer complete with the expected overly serious voiceover). In any case, this is a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk game. As is often the case in such dystopian settings, the world governments have collapsed, and the power vacuum has been filled by private corporations like a libertarian wet dream. Meanwhile, street gangs have taken over the cities and war openly in the streets
- That's where you (or, rather, one of 3 playable characters) come in. Instead of seeking corporate citizenship or gang membership, you're a bounty hunter who's been hired to clean up the streets--and make a pretty penny while doing it
- Keep an eye and ear out to 80s movies references. They're everywhere
- There's a lot of words you could use to describe the vibe of this game, but the most appropriate is "rad"
Playability & Replayability
- Looking back at my SNES days as a kid, I don't recall playing many 16 bit platform shooters outside of Mega Man, but Huntdown doesn't feel much like those games. Contra III and Judge Dredd are more similar. Metal Slug a little less so
- That is to say, you're going to be jumping through, between, and on top of a lot of crumbling buildings while swapping weapons to dodge and precipitate opposing hails of gunfire
- The platforming feels pretty tight, but there's nothing too difficult in that respect. Just keep an eye out for secret areas and destructible parts of the environment if you want to find powerful weapons and collectibles
- All the difficulty in Huntdown comes from the combat, and it is notably difficult in the same vein as the Contra games it draws influence from. Fortunately, your movement options include the ability to slide (handy for dodging bullets coming from offscreen as you charge ahead) and duck into cover (either in doorways or behind boxes). You'll need to keep tabs on your available cover options if you want to avoid damage
- Weapon variety was way better than I expected. Each of the three selectable characters had a unique sidearm and projectile to start, but you'll have way more fun with the melange of melee weapons, assault rifles, machine guns, shotguns, rocket launchers, lasers, remote mines, etc. that litter each stage. If you find yourself still wanting variety here, you're too hard to please
- Each of the five levels in each of the city's four gang-controlled areas is capped off by a boss fight. These felt varied enough mechanically and visually that no two felt overly similar in spite of there being 20 of them in total
- I can see myself playing this again down the road, partially because I didn't even touch arcade mode and partially because I'm disappointed in myself for having to lower the difficulty to Easy in the third area (The Overseer stage). Huntdown doesn't mess around
Overall Impressions & Performance
- With robust challenges, eye-catching pixel art, and genuinely fun run-and-gun gameplay, this is an easy game to recommend to anyone who has a soft spot for titles like Contra or Metal Slug. I just wish the animation hadn't been so distractingly choppy. Seriously, compare a clip of Huntdown to Metal Slug 3; the difference is substantial
- It ran without bugs or other technical issues just fine on the Steam Deck
Final Verdict
- 8/10. Buying a game simply because it looks cool turns out to be a great idea sometimes, apparently. Maybe wait for a sale if you're not going to delve into the arcade mode as the story is only 5-7 hours long depending on difficulty