![]() Every now and then you'll face off against a boss enemy, and these titanic battles prove to be Jet Lancer's undisputed highlight not only are these massive foes impressive from a visual perspective, but they also require unique tactics and deft movement to defeat. Missions range from simple destruction to defending friendly targets or stealing data from transmission towers. When not in combat you can freely explore the 3D game world, moving your aircraft carrier around between locations (assuming you have the part required to get there, of course). ![]() You control an experimental fighter jet which looks a lot like the craft from Hudson's seminal Soldier Blade, striking from your mobile carrier which serves as a hub from which you can obtain mission briefings, upgrade elements of your jet and determine your unique loadout for each sortie. The influence of Japanese design can be felt keenly in the western-developed Jet Lancer, although its 360-degree levels mean that it also owes a debt to titles like Devolver Digital's WW2 aerial combat title Luftrausers. You have a group that’s suspiciously like “The Warriors”, a gang that’s hockey-themed and led by a religious zealot, a motorcycle and hot rod loving gang, and even a gang that borrows heavily from the cult classic film The Last Shogun of Brooklyn.There's no denying the incredible impact Japanese developers have made on the shoot 'em up genre, from the foundation laid down by Space Invaders right up to more recent examples, such as the superb Rolling Gunner. The game world is made of different cities, each controlled by a gang. I took away what was clearly his one thing.Īnd the gangs throws a lot of personalities at you. Suddenly, I felt bad for this obnoxious character. As he chased me around for the rest of the fight with his weird new stretchy limbs, he started crying about how he’ll never play the guitar again or couldn’t feel his tongue. When he pulled himself out he was a melty mess-like that poor soul in Robocop who got splashed by acid. Just as I started to get annoyed by it, he fell into the acid below by accident. During the fight, he chased me with his guitar and dropped a ton of obnoxious Elvis puns. One part in particular that really impressed me was a boss that was a hot rod enthusiast who was more than inspired by Elvis. Bosses will constantly talk to the point where you fully understand their personality, whether it’s an insane accountant taking a call and handling transactions DURING your fight or a giant criminal with a chain talking about physics as he sends people flying. You’ll even see an exclamation point coming off them so you know who’s talking. When you’re playing through the game, any character on screen might start commenting about what’s happening. It really helps nail home the tone of the game. So I was even more surprised to find out that my employer, all of the enemies, minibosses, bosses and - well, everyone - were voiced. I was actually pretty surprised when I found out the characters were voiced because usually “retro aesthetics” is an excuse to not do that. ![]() All are fully voiced and, honestly, whoever voiced them did very well.Īctually, all of the voice acting is quality. Rounding out these 90’s action film character types is Mow Man, a recon droid/robot who gives that Terminator-meets- Robocop-type feel. There’s also John Sawyer, the cyborg who “has been a man since he was a boy.” He’s a lot more negative and got more of an Escape from New York feel. You have Anna Conda, a human who hates absolutely everything and drops a ton of terrible cliches everywhere. But as the game does its best to make you relive the cheesy early 90’s apocalyptic action films, having these different archetypes help. It’s actually thrilling to play.įrom a gameplay standpoint, the different characters don’t differ much. It’s a side-scrolling shooter that plays like Contra or Metal Slug, with the exception of that obnoxious thing both games did where they constantly spawn baddies.īut there’s something about Huntdown that cannot be conveyed through screenshots or even a trailer. On paper, there isn’t much that seems remarkable about Huntdown. So when I sat down to get a feel for Huntdown and then ended up staying up until three in the morning because I was hooked and wanted to see what came next, I was very surprised. I’m also not a shooter guy and I don’t get into games with a lot of violence. I’m not knocking them, I just had an Atari when it was new and I run blindly towards the future with an inability to look back. When I was given the opportunity to review Huntdown, I wasn’t sure what to expect. ![]() Platforms: PlayStation 4 (version reviewed), Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC By Eric Halliday 3 years ago Huntdown is an incredible return to the glory days of cheesy ’90s action films, effectively nailing the stereotypes of all the great movies.
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