Retro Review - Hunter: the Reckoning Redeemer
Updated
Editor’s note: I originally authored and published the below post on a now defunct site called “The Cool Ship,” where it ran on January 2, 2012. Enjoy this reprised content!
Santa isn’t the jolly old elf you’ve always thought he was. I just played Hunter: the Reckoning Redeemer and found out his true intentions and discovered the source of his magical power over children. Santa is a zombie.
Summary
You heard me right. Santa is a 15-foot tall infestation who carries a bag full of flesh eating teddy bears and sports a beard made of undead nightmares. But don’t worry, you get to kill him.
You play this zombie hack ‘n slash action title as one of five hunters, special people imbued with the power to see evil and violently cut it to pieces. It all happens in the city of Ashcroft, host to many undead creatures and ludicrous experiments. Whether you play alone or with up to three of your friends, the formula is the same: recklessly swing your melee weapon or unload unlimited ammo on hordes of zombies that threaten to kill you and the innocents around you.
I know it’s a very repetitive game, but I think there’s a lot to distract you from the drudgery you face. For instance, your melee, ranged, and magic (called conviction) skills can be leveled up as you use them, and higher levels unlock more powerful weapons or magic spells to unleash on the masses. The levels are basically a series of bottlenecks with little to no change in the scenery, but there are a few interesting enemies to fight along the way.
I mean honestly, how many games have you played that show Santa Claus for for who he really is, and they let you bludgeon him with an axe?
The nostalgic perspective
I have to be honest, I remember the first Hunter game more than this one simply because it was absolutely impossible to beat. I played it alone and with friends but I could never beat the game until I exploited a bug that granted my character super powers. The sequel, Redeemer, is far easier and therefore either more or less fun, depending on how you look at it.
My memories of this game alternate between enjoyment through the coop action and frustration from the really poor camera design. If you play with two or more people, the camera never zooms out to let two players run in two different directions. This effectively limits your strategy as you can’t have two characters both using melee weapons unless the zombies are completely surrounding you. It can lead to some arguments between players over who should run in what direction.
Something I love about this game is how memorable the boss fights were. I obviously made a point of the fight with evil Santa, but there are werewolves and zombie derivations galore to fight and they almost always introduce a difficult challenge. If you aren’t losing a few lives during boss fights, you don’t have the difficulty high enough.
The now perspective
It’s that time of year again when Santa comes out to terrorize the children, so I loaded my Hunter disc in the old Xbox and took the hurt to the evil elf. My character choice was Defender, the former police officer with a six shooter and a sword to dispense her morally unambiguous justice on evil creatures. My brother joined me with Avenger, the axe carrying violence machine who doesn’t really care about morality. We slaughtered a lot of zombies.
Before there was a Left 4 Dead series, there was Hunter the Reckoning. I love the zombie slaying in this game in a way that I can never feel for any of the currently available brain smashing games. The combination of magic spells with two different weapon types and a simple leveling system yields a fun experience for me and whoever decides to join me.
There are drawbacks, like the recycled story and frustrating camera angles, but none of it takes enough fun away from the game to stop me from playing. This is just one of those games that I’ll always know I can come back to if I need some fun coop action with my friends.
Final conclusion
Although at times it can be too ridiculous for words, Hunter: the Reckoning Redeemer is a solid title for fun coop action. The introduction of Kaylie as a playable character is borderline silly, but I wasn’t trying to take the game seriously anyway so I’ll forgive it. If you feel a need to cut zombies down to size, you can break out your Xbox and start lopping off heads with this game.
By the way, I took care of evil Santa so you have me to thank for saving Christmas. Feel free to do so in the comments below.