Embarrassing.
I wanted to love Hunted, I really did. It's right up my alley. Swords, demons, inappropriate female armor, Lucy Lawless - hell, I preordered it and took a day off from work. The back of the box said "co-op perfected." Oh man.
So you're Caddoc or E'lara, demons are invading, and it's time to A) kill them and B) earn some bucks. The two mercenaries have an easy, slightly competitive friendship that is, frankly, a lot of fun to watch. Caddoc, the bald human mercenary, is a careful tactician in character (even though in combat he uses rage powers, so there's that) played off of E'lara's bloodthirstiness and greed. It's an interesting role reversal. They sound good and play off each other pretty well. Lucy Lawless voices a scantily-clad magical princess, which is always a bonus. And now I'm out of nice things to say about this game.
I can understand "drab" in games. It's worn, war-torn, and generally unpleasant. But combining drab with dark just hurts. And not dark like 'dim the mood lights we're fighting in a dungeon.' Dark like 'I'm maxing out the gamma on my tv to see what I'm doing.'
Playing co-op in this game is an absolute headache and chore. Playing split-screen creates a giant bar on either side of your TV, reducing the usable area by 1/3. Although this preserves aspect ratio, it shrinks the action to miniscule sizes.
Online is even worse, at least on the PS3. It uses Gamespy technology for its networking. This rage-inducing protocol makes voicechat absolutely unusable. Stuttering, echoes, clipped off words, poor pickup... And that's if it works, which is only half the time. The rest of the time, nothing. Dead silence.
I was embarrassed with this game. If the voicechat was functional, if the game didn't require me to make adjustments to my TV's settings, it may have been better. What an absolute waste.
