Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Disappointing"

Games are for fun; and this game isn't that fun. As a single player game, it's bland. As a co-op game--as it's marketed--it becomes aggravating. There is a limited selection of games with campaign or local co-op, so Hunted was purchased on the promise of a fun co-op experience. I wish i had played a demo in co-op before purchasing.

Con's:
--The co-op campaign does not include the prelude chapter of the single player campaign, so some of the story between the characters is missing.
--Games are played primarily visually, and Hunted fails visually. The visuals mimic Gears of Wars' grittiness, but it just translates into dark muddiness. Environment textures on the night-time levels weren't diverse; they were just confusing. On a 48", we had to squint to make out the enemies or varying building textures on the brightest setting (yes, we were wearing our contacts).
--For an advertised hack-and-slash, the characters were weak and the combat was mundane, with little style or flourish.
--For an advertised action-RPG, there are no true level-ups; there is only essentially a shop that trades in crystals which are found in fragments throughout the levels. And there are only 3 levels of 6 abilities per character. The only "level-up" exists in that you are not allowed to purchase higher levels until you reach a certain rank.
--For an advertised co-op game, the gameplay dynamic between the two characters is weak. It's Assault class and CQC class, with actual gameplay between the two being almost congruent.

Pro's:
--The Crucible is a great concept for a horde mode level creator lite. You simply pick your progression of rooms on a grid, set conditions like enemy types, etc., and begin. Such a simple addition would be a lot of fun if applied to other games with horde modes.
--The voice acting is excellent; no pauses where the two separately recorded voices were stitched together, as with many other games. (The dialogue script itself is pretty cheesy though.)
--At the time of this writing, the game is pretty inexpensive used. (I traded it in for the same price that i bought it.)

Overall, it is a chore to become accustomed to the game and to last through it; you shouldn't pay to feel like you're working in a video game.