The Avatar
13-04-2006, 02:07 AM
Developed by: High Voltage (http://www.high-voltage.com/) -be warned, chunky flash site.
Reference Site: Nintendo Games Page (http://www.nintendo.com/gamemini?gameid=m-Game-0000-1458&)
Genre: Action Shooter
Memory Blocks: 1
Players: 1 to 4
Release Date: Nov 20, 2002
This game was never released in Australia, and you will need a loading disc (such as FreeLoader) to play this game on your GameCube(Oh, you will also have to buy the bastard from eBay or some other such site). It sounds like a lot of hassle for a game, but if your into shooters and have a bunch of friends then this game is worth the hassle.
You can play one of four different characters in this game. Each character has certain strengths and skills, but each also works very well by themselves. The premise of the game is simple, hordes of zombies and lot's of bullets! Don't be fooled into thinking that you will only be facing 1 to 2 zombies at anytime like most of the other titles out there. No, in Hunter, you will face 30 to 50 enemies at a time. Unless, you're like me and love to run into the thick of it, then you may be facing around 100 to 200. Sweet Zombie Lord Jesus!
The game is very linear, you progress through the levels till you get to a boss, deafeat him and move on to harder levels. The gameplay can get a bit repetetive, unless you are a fan of gore and zombie/vampire games, in which case, this game is certainly a must for you. To finish this game, you will probably have to actually kill 20 to 30 thousand Zombies.
GRAPHICS Score:92%
This graphics are very nice. Enemies are very detailed as are the main characters. You can shoot arms and legs off enemies and it will effect they way they walk and attack. Blood will stay on the ground for only a short period of time though. It's easy to understand why this is the case when the game must render so many objects at certain times. Finding ways to cut down on the rendered object count is a must or gameplay will start to slow down. However, at no point did I encounter any slowing down of the frame rate, which is just freaking fantastic!
The level design and layouts are neat and effective. The gameplay areas are always large and wide enough to ensure that players have a good view of their surroundings. This game has absolutely no quibbles with camera controls. The environment did seem to be a bit empty at some points, for example, very wide streets with a few wrecked cars here and there. But, it was made up for with the huge amounts of enemies that appear and attack you. They manage to fill the landscape out very nicely indeed.
SOUND/MUSIC Score:77%
The music in this game can be a bit buggy at times. It will change to hard rock music sometimes when in battle, sometimes halfway through a battle and sometimes not at all. It's very strange as even the spooky music that is suposed to play when your not fighting can disappear all together for no reason. This sometimes works effectively, strange to say, because the silence can build tension just as well as music can, if used right. And, the randomness of this effect seems to work bloody well. Or maybe it's just me and my secret fear of silence. Well, that is, it WAS a secret fear!
Sound effects are great in this game. The shotgun blasts make some solid cracking noises and the zombies make many moaning sounds (as should be standard. I mean, it would just be weird if zombies started making noises like they had the hiccups. Why the hell would a zombie have the hiccups?!!). It will definently keep you amused. They die well, and in many numbers.
MULTIPLAYER Score:97%
Multiplayer mayhem can be found here! It can get crazy with the amount of people playing being relative to the amount and difficulty of monsters being spawned. You will have to work as a team to finish this game, and that can be a very hard and fustrating thing to do. Everyone shares a common screen which is an excellent way of keeping the team together and in the same location, however, it can be a bit of a pain to dodge enemies when you're at the edge of the screen.
Unfortunately there is no deathmatch mode where you can pit your skills up against each other. It's all co-op, unless you decide to turn on friendly fire and blast it out that way. But, don't be fooled, the co-op mode will be very worthwhile due to the difficulty factor involved in getting your stupid friends to follow your directions. Honestly, sometimes I don't even know why I bother with the idiots that come round wanting to play cube with me!!
(RE)PLAYABILITY Score:86%
Any time you have three or more friends at your place and you're looking for something to kill time, then this game will keep your friends and you very happy (kind of, as long as the idiots you call friends know how to follow simple directions). One of the worst aspects of multiplayer gaming on the GameCube is the split screen. When you have four tiny screens on the TV, you can get a headache easily, your friends can complain, and you can see what others are doing on their screens. This game eliminates that by sharing the screen, and when playing with four people, it makes a big difference.
Even when you're by yourself, this game is good to have around mainly due to it's simplicity. Point and shoot, it doesn't get much simpler then that. So this game is great for some quick stress relief when masturbation just won't cut the mustard anymore (*cough* so to speak *cough*). Not that I would know anything about THAT. I pray to Jesus when I think dirty thoughts, and as you can well imagine, I pray often. ;)
However, the re-playability score loses some points here because there are no multiple endings and the mission format cannot be changed. This means that characters who die first time around, will die every other time around, no matter what you do, so the storyline doesn't change or vary in the slightest. It would have been great if there was a way to create an ultimate or excellent ending for finishing it really well. Maybe we could get some beer, drugs and hookers to celerbrate! Actually forget the beer, because I dont drink. And, come to think of it, forget the drugs.
CONTROLS Score:89%
The character controls can be a bit tricky to learn, but once mastered, you can do some great things with your character. The controls are much like the old game "Super Smash TV" where the left stick will control your movement, and the yellow C stick will cotrol the direction you face. This means that you can walk backwards while shooting, strafe, and even reverse directions of fire and movement instantly.
Weapon selection can be a bit of a pain as there are 3 different selection buttons for weapons. Why not just integrate them into one button that cycles through them all? Why, that would just be crazy, thats why!!
ATMOSPHERE Score:82%
The atmosphere the game generates is pretty awesome. With the glitch in the music working so well to its favour, the storyline really doesn't need to be all that crash hot to draw you in. Let's face it people, this is a hack and slash game. Not much story line development is needed to take on the hordes of zombies.
Still, that being said, the beginning cut scenes are pretty good. You have a rave party going on in an abandoned prision/ insane asylum that has been deserted since the horrible execution of a prisoner a year ago, where, funnily enough, something strange occured during the middle of the guy being zapped in the chair. What could possibly go wrong at the rave party?
Four people who attended the execution were changed by some magical force, and these four return to fight the evil that seemed to have lingered since the death of the prisoner. I won't give the rest away, but as you can guess, the town is in for a fair bit of trouble when the dead rise up and start walking around, looking for tastie snacks, which generally tend to be inside the skulls of the living. Seriously, what is with the whole brain eating thing? If I was a zombie, I would already be dead, and so, wouldn't have to worry about my diet, or callories or even having a heart attack. I would be making a b-line directly for the nearest sizzler for my chocolate icecream covered steak, with a side of bacon wrapped fries. Screw eating brains, thats for all those jive suckas!
Anyway, what was I saying, oh yes, atmosphere is good. Not really needed in a game like this, but its like that little cherry on top of your chocolate fudge sauce covered steak.
OVERALL Score:88%
This game heartily recieves my thumbs up for multiplayer fun. It's a great game to play when your mates are around and also works well when you are by yourself.
It may be a bit of a pain to get it if you live in Australia, because for some strange reason, it was never released here. Maybe Nintendo just though that people in Oz have no clue as to what zombies and vampires are about, so didn't bother. I really have no idea, but I do know that it is worth the effort of getting. Even if it's just for pretending that you're a super geek because you have games for the GameCube that aren't released here in Australia. I use that one all the time with the unsuspecting ladies I lure into my lair. Works quicker than Rohypnol it does.
Reference Site: Nintendo Games Page (http://www.nintendo.com/gamemini?gameid=m-Game-0000-1458&)
Genre: Action Shooter
Memory Blocks: 1
Players: 1 to 4
Release Date: Nov 20, 2002
This game was never released in Australia, and you will need a loading disc (such as FreeLoader) to play this game on your GameCube(Oh, you will also have to buy the bastard from eBay or some other such site). It sounds like a lot of hassle for a game, but if your into shooters and have a bunch of friends then this game is worth the hassle.
You can play one of four different characters in this game. Each character has certain strengths and skills, but each also works very well by themselves. The premise of the game is simple, hordes of zombies and lot's of bullets! Don't be fooled into thinking that you will only be facing 1 to 2 zombies at anytime like most of the other titles out there. No, in Hunter, you will face 30 to 50 enemies at a time. Unless, you're like me and love to run into the thick of it, then you may be facing around 100 to 200. Sweet Zombie Lord Jesus!
The game is very linear, you progress through the levels till you get to a boss, deafeat him and move on to harder levels. The gameplay can get a bit repetetive, unless you are a fan of gore and zombie/vampire games, in which case, this game is certainly a must for you. To finish this game, you will probably have to actually kill 20 to 30 thousand Zombies.
GRAPHICS Score:92%
This graphics are very nice. Enemies are very detailed as are the main characters. You can shoot arms and legs off enemies and it will effect they way they walk and attack. Blood will stay on the ground for only a short period of time though. It's easy to understand why this is the case when the game must render so many objects at certain times. Finding ways to cut down on the rendered object count is a must or gameplay will start to slow down. However, at no point did I encounter any slowing down of the frame rate, which is just freaking fantastic!
The level design and layouts are neat and effective. The gameplay areas are always large and wide enough to ensure that players have a good view of their surroundings. This game has absolutely no quibbles with camera controls. The environment did seem to be a bit empty at some points, for example, very wide streets with a few wrecked cars here and there. But, it was made up for with the huge amounts of enemies that appear and attack you. They manage to fill the landscape out very nicely indeed.
SOUND/MUSIC Score:77%
The music in this game can be a bit buggy at times. It will change to hard rock music sometimes when in battle, sometimes halfway through a battle and sometimes not at all. It's very strange as even the spooky music that is suposed to play when your not fighting can disappear all together for no reason. This sometimes works effectively, strange to say, because the silence can build tension just as well as music can, if used right. And, the randomness of this effect seems to work bloody well. Or maybe it's just me and my secret fear of silence. Well, that is, it WAS a secret fear!
Sound effects are great in this game. The shotgun blasts make some solid cracking noises and the zombies make many moaning sounds (as should be standard. I mean, it would just be weird if zombies started making noises like they had the hiccups. Why the hell would a zombie have the hiccups?!!). It will definently keep you amused. They die well, and in many numbers.
MULTIPLAYER Score:97%
Multiplayer mayhem can be found here! It can get crazy with the amount of people playing being relative to the amount and difficulty of monsters being spawned. You will have to work as a team to finish this game, and that can be a very hard and fustrating thing to do. Everyone shares a common screen which is an excellent way of keeping the team together and in the same location, however, it can be a bit of a pain to dodge enemies when you're at the edge of the screen.
Unfortunately there is no deathmatch mode where you can pit your skills up against each other. It's all co-op, unless you decide to turn on friendly fire and blast it out that way. But, don't be fooled, the co-op mode will be very worthwhile due to the difficulty factor involved in getting your stupid friends to follow your directions. Honestly, sometimes I don't even know why I bother with the idiots that come round wanting to play cube with me!!
(RE)PLAYABILITY Score:86%
Any time you have three or more friends at your place and you're looking for something to kill time, then this game will keep your friends and you very happy (kind of, as long as the idiots you call friends know how to follow simple directions). One of the worst aspects of multiplayer gaming on the GameCube is the split screen. When you have four tiny screens on the TV, you can get a headache easily, your friends can complain, and you can see what others are doing on their screens. This game eliminates that by sharing the screen, and when playing with four people, it makes a big difference.
Even when you're by yourself, this game is good to have around mainly due to it's simplicity. Point and shoot, it doesn't get much simpler then that. So this game is great for some quick stress relief when masturbation just won't cut the mustard anymore (*cough* so to speak *cough*). Not that I would know anything about THAT. I pray to Jesus when I think dirty thoughts, and as you can well imagine, I pray often. ;)
However, the re-playability score loses some points here because there are no multiple endings and the mission format cannot be changed. This means that characters who die first time around, will die every other time around, no matter what you do, so the storyline doesn't change or vary in the slightest. It would have been great if there was a way to create an ultimate or excellent ending for finishing it really well. Maybe we could get some beer, drugs and hookers to celerbrate! Actually forget the beer, because I dont drink. And, come to think of it, forget the drugs.
CONTROLS Score:89%
The character controls can be a bit tricky to learn, but once mastered, you can do some great things with your character. The controls are much like the old game "Super Smash TV" where the left stick will control your movement, and the yellow C stick will cotrol the direction you face. This means that you can walk backwards while shooting, strafe, and even reverse directions of fire and movement instantly.
Weapon selection can be a bit of a pain as there are 3 different selection buttons for weapons. Why not just integrate them into one button that cycles through them all? Why, that would just be crazy, thats why!!
ATMOSPHERE Score:82%
The atmosphere the game generates is pretty awesome. With the glitch in the music working so well to its favour, the storyline really doesn't need to be all that crash hot to draw you in. Let's face it people, this is a hack and slash game. Not much story line development is needed to take on the hordes of zombies.
Still, that being said, the beginning cut scenes are pretty good. You have a rave party going on in an abandoned prision/ insane asylum that has been deserted since the horrible execution of a prisoner a year ago, where, funnily enough, something strange occured during the middle of the guy being zapped in the chair. What could possibly go wrong at the rave party?
Four people who attended the execution were changed by some magical force, and these four return to fight the evil that seemed to have lingered since the death of the prisoner. I won't give the rest away, but as you can guess, the town is in for a fair bit of trouble when the dead rise up and start walking around, looking for tastie snacks, which generally tend to be inside the skulls of the living. Seriously, what is with the whole brain eating thing? If I was a zombie, I would already be dead, and so, wouldn't have to worry about my diet, or callories or even having a heart attack. I would be making a b-line directly for the nearest sizzler for my chocolate icecream covered steak, with a side of bacon wrapped fries. Screw eating brains, thats for all those jive suckas!
Anyway, what was I saying, oh yes, atmosphere is good. Not really needed in a game like this, but its like that little cherry on top of your chocolate fudge sauce covered steak.
OVERALL Score:88%
This game heartily recieves my thumbs up for multiplayer fun. It's a great game to play when your mates are around and also works well when you are by yourself.
It may be a bit of a pain to get it if you live in Australia, because for some strange reason, it was never released here. Maybe Nintendo just though that people in Oz have no clue as to what zombies and vampires are about, so didn't bother. I really have no idea, but I do know that it is worth the effort of getting. Even if it's just for pretending that you're a super geek because you have games for the GameCube that aren't released here in Australia. I use that one all the time with the unsuspecting ladies I lure into my lair. Works quicker than Rohypnol it does.