fantasy

Since the release of "Hunter: The Reckoning," the games in the series have become steadily more accessible in terms of play balance. "Wayward," released for the Playstation 2 just months before "Redeemer," offered a considerable improvement to the hack-slash-shoot formula of its predecessor - but also failed to offer anything that felt genuinely new to veterans of the series. It felt like a glorified expansion pack to the previous game, simply put. "Redeemer," on the other hand, comes off as a true sequel, and further refines the series' signature gameplay. Gone is the oppressive difficulty of the original entry, and gone is much of the sameness of "Wayward."

That's not to say that "Redeemer" doesn't become repetitive. It does. When a game relies so heavily on hacking, slashing, shooting, and little else, this can tend to occur. Even so, the formula maintains its shallow but addictive quality - particularly if you have a friend to run through the game alongside you (or a few, for the matter of that). There are many noticeable improvements to the core game that include ranged attack power ups (such as incendiary or poisonous bullets), level-ups that actually make an impact on your chosen character (your weapons become noticeably more potent, and your basic ranged weapon can hold more ammunition), NPCs that add a little something extra to the game's environments, and more health and "edge" enhancers that pop up in place of slain enemies. "Hunter: The Reckoning" was murderously difficult, and both "Wayward" and "Redeemer" have addressed this issue respectably.

Graphically, "Redeemer" takes the series much further. The environments are slick-looking and full of eye candy (like reflective surfaces), and the characters onscreen animate believably. Even when there are many enemies onscreen at a given time, there is very little slowdown. The sound effects get the job done without making a particular impression, and, unfortunately, the music is still sporadic, but the in-engine cutscenes are very well done and excellently voiced. Overall, "Redeemer" offers a winning presentation that trumps each of its forebears.

The story that runs behind the scenes here isn't anything too impressive, but the involvement of monsters that aren't entirely evil does add a wrinkle to the proceedings. The new character class (the Redeemer) plays a large role in the scheme of things, and is a fine addition to the other four. She is, perhaps, one of the most well-rounded characters in the game.

All in all, if you're a fan of the series, then there's no reason why you should be without "Redeemer." It takes everything that makes the series so strangely compelling and polishes it to a radiant shine. It lacks the insane difficulty of the original and the overwhelming sameness of "Wayward" and offers up a game that is quite enjoyable.

Final Score: B

I know the game is short - that is mentioned many times. You have to ask yourself one thing before buying it: Did you like Diablo's format? (Do the game, then do it harder with the same character?) If you did, then you'll actually enjoy this game. I will admit the amount of lives is completely ludicrous in one-player (this isn't so bad in 4-player, but it doesn't scale!), but the fact you can import/export your hunter (a major thing not mentioned) is a huge issue.

I had wished the X-Box had PC like abilities to get more levels, as that would make this game drastically more replayable. As is, unlocking all the monsters and the two spare hunters (Wayward and Carpenter, which isn't really a Hunter but appears as one) is completely worthwhile.

The most fun you can have with the monsters is saving them to the X-Box memory discs and getting togethor for some 4-way Hunter with friends either A) Packing your badass decked out Hunter and playing 'Iron Man' mode <Die, you die!>, which makes the game considerably more interesting, or B) Picking a selection of monsters and playing the game as a troupe of Fomori, BSD, and Sabbat.

Which brings me to the two gripes I had - I know this game had a WoD licenese, but apparently ONLY for the Hunter book specifically, as the characters go -out of their way- to avoid actually mentioning WoD terms such as Banes, Fomori, the Wyrm, etc. The closest I could find was one enemy named a Throwback, that was most obvioulsy a Fomori (From White Wolf's book Freak Legion), but the monster itsself had NOTHING in common with the source Fomori, which is esseintly someone that took too many "pump you up muscle" pills tainted by the Wyrm (evil for those who have no idea what I'm talking about), and turn into really, really strong dumb jocks that loathe women and have a few other odd powers. The Throwbacks from Redeemer's closest bonus is they have a football tackle - other than that, they are walking massive zombies that eat more damage than a tank and have armor and spikes coming out of their skin.

Which brings to my final gripe. For a game based almost entirely around Freak Legion / The Book of the Wyrm, it's drastically too mild. Genefex is obviously a Pentex subsitedary, but Pentex is never mentioned (which I can live with given it's nature.) But the Fomori models just aren't that disgusting or creepy - they feel too much like enemies from Quake, barring an encounter with Santa Clause and his vomit-spewing Teddy Bears.. that one really did capture the mood. The concept art showed most of the monsters (once you unlocked it) as skinnier, more human, and more decayed looking.. and unfortunatly the modelers felt the need to "Pump them up."

I'm not a very big WoD fan when it comes to Vampires, Werewolves, etc.. probably because I'm not the goth target base.. and the Wyrm really appeals to a very different audience). This game really had a potetional to put in some of the most disturbing enemies of all time and it really softened them up way too much. The book on which they were based gives them powers like "Savage Genetallia" and "Stomach Pumper" which when combined with the Worms taint can allow you to projectile vomit man-eating worms. There's a lot of psychological horror involved, too, crossing with the total splatter-movie effect, at least in the books. The game, however, is strictly PG and keeps to monsters you've probably seen a million times in other games.. even the bizzare demented ones never quite reach the level of grotesqe that they should.

Last but not least, I'll mention the story.. the mood is there, with the basic Garou (Werewolf) vs Pentex story and the Hunters get thrown in the middle. The ridiculas parts are A) There are no run ins with police, B) NPCs are beyond unrealistic acting at all <Hunters are the only ones that can see most monsters for what they are.. so after you blow away what appears to everyone as five random people on the street, noone cares at all. Likewise, when Ghouls attack people in a dance club and you cut their heads off in front of everyone, noone mildly panics unless you cut their heads off -before- the attack, then they freak out> and this makes the storyline seem laughable. Topping that off is the Redeemer, who makes Blood Rayne's outfit look much less stupid. Given the look of the rest of the characters, every time she's jiggling in a cutscene, I wanted to sigh. Esp. since she doesn't actually redeem anything, and only stops the Hunters from being total idiots. I won't mention the Werewolf you meet later on that's too stupid to just shift to human form ever, when it would allow him to just waltz out of a bad situation. In addition to all this, it's never explained WHY the foot soldiers and the First Teams (Here known as "Security") are fighting at all; in the beginning these things seem to be on the Werewolves side, then, on Genefex's side, and eventually everyone wins up killing them. Why would Genefex's own forces be assaulting Genefex, defending Genefex, and everything inbetween? I have no idea.

...So while the basic concept of the plot, while simple, is solid and fun for those who know what's going on.. the actual story is very minimally handled. This doesn't detract from the "check your brain at the door" gameplay, however, and it doesn't do anything too ludicrous with the source material (other than Edges being drastically more powerful), don't go looking for an RPG or oppertunity to actually "play" a Hunter. This is Diablo meets Gauntlet with mini-guns... if that appeals to you, this game is just the ticket.

PS: Carpenter, the first boss you face, is the hardest in the game. I've yet to figure out how to beat him without multiple deaths. The very last boss can be easily dispatched without dying once - so other than Carpenter I highly recommend you place this with friends, and go iron man. It's quite possible and indefinitely enhances the game.

This is one of the best games i have ever played. It is sweet you gain levels during the game and get new swords , guns, and edges. Plus get all the cards and unlock cool people like monsters wayward and carpenter. If i didn' t have this game i would buy it!!!!!!