Huntdown

Not only is Huntdown one of the best games I have played this year, it’s one of the best retro-inspired pieces of entertainment released. Think of how Shovel Knight captured the feeling of a Nintendo adventure game or how Super Meat Boy invigorated grueling action platformers. Not only does Huntdown excel at its ability to invoke a time, place, and feeling, it is damn fun. Few games manage to bleed creativity with such purpose across every corner of its programming, but Huntdown is truly a winner and a perfect time capsule.

Huntdown is, quite simply, one of the best side-scrolling shooters I’ve ever played. Incredible retro pixel art, generous local co-op, a stonking frame rate and an addictive game play loop that had me coming back for more; Huntdown is the total package.

Besides a few small smudges, what awaits you is a raw adventure full of b-movie jokes and flying bullets. "As long as there are bounty hunters, there will be a hunt."

Enjoyable, brash and well designed. Huntdown is a fun action game full of charm and swagger. It has short, enjoyable levels and very well designed bosses. It's streamlined, old-school and not bloated in any way whatsoever. I thoroughly enjoyed my playthrough and may return at some point to mop up a few things I missed.

Huntdown is an ode to the gloriously violent and ridiculous action movies of the 80s, revelling in cheesy one-liners, larger than life characters, and wanton bloodshed. It's challenging but largely fair, with some thrilling boss encounters that require a variety of tactics to bring to justice. The thumping soundtrack and beautiful 16-bit aesthetic are just the icing on the cake, like a perfectly delivered "Stick around!" after Arnie pins an enemy to the wall with an expertly thrown blade.

Huntdown is a nihilistic, loud, explosive, even obnoxious arcade shooter. But behind its acid comic style and vulgar tone lies a superb, meticulously crafted action experience, packed with creative and addictive carnage, at a breakneck pace, for an agreeable price. Heed the warning: Do Not Sleep on Huntdown. It's an absolute blast.

While Huntdown's cloying one-liners and disconcerting framing can occasionally come across as grating, its captivating gunplay successfully mixes the chaos of classic run and gun games with the methodical cadence of modern cover shooters. Dashing through murderous strikes while you slide under incoming bullets creates a sense of cool that the game's writing fails to deliver, inching it a little bit closer to the heights of its many points of inspiration. It may be somewhat short and fairly straightforward, but Huntdown's gameplay largely succeeds at emulating the type of testosterone-fueled bedlam perfected by its silver screen counterparts.

Huntdown is trying to achieve 80's/early 90's video game fun whilst being an homage to the culture of those times and still allowing for modern conveniences. It succeeds in every way. Checkpoints are frequent, meaning there's little frustration but still a decent amount of skill required to progress. The only thing you need to do is complete a level completely to have progress saved. Perfect for dip in and out gameplay. The gameplay itself is great - it's oldskool with an extra layer of sophistication due to the modern era, especially the bosses. The humour is always present and fulfills the 80's style it promises, as does the gorgeous pixel graphics and soundtrack. The bosses are much more interesting than anything I experienced back in the day and are a joy to overcome. Get a bit drunk, remember the 80's, stick a controller in your hands and just enjoy the fun of it all. I had lots of great time playing this and I heartily recommend it to anyone who loved the games of yesteryear.

A nice little retro shooter which has great pixel art and a good synth soundtrack. The dystopian look is undoubtedly inspired by Escape from NY and The Warriors. It is a bit repetitive though in terms of gameplay and level design. Some people won't notice if they go in for all the flashy design, but some will probably feel a certain staleness after a few levles.I was hoping we would get some variety in the vein of a bike chase, manning a tank or a sewer level. But I get that there are restrictions in terms of budget that comes with every indie game. Nonetheless I was surprised that the bosses had that variety I was looking for. The boss fights are pretty good in my opinion, they are intuitive and fair. Only on the last ones you'll need more than good reflexes, you have to die a couple of times in order to memorize their pattern.Overall the game is a very entertaining nostalgia trip although very short. Can recommend it for people who are into this thing, everyone else who expects great gameplay with a high replayability factor might have to reconsider.

Huntdown ist ein Spiel, das ich gerne lieben würde - aber ich kann es nicht. Der Grafikstil ist erstklassiger 16-Bit-Retro-Style, die "Flucht aus L.A."-Dystopie-Sci-Fi-Atmosphäre beweget sich auf allerhöchstenm Niveau. Musik & Sound, auch Akustikeffekte sowie Sprachsamples passen perfekt. Kurzum: Das Spiel überzeugt mit einer wunderbaren Präsentation und präziser Steuerung. Aber der Grund für mein zunehmendes Unbehagen und die sehr schnell aufgekomme Frustration ist der absolut überhöhte Schwierigkeitsgrad, der mir als Gelegenheits-Casual-Retro-Spieler selbst auf leichteste Stufe ein Fortschreiten verunmöglicht. Ich mußte bereits in Stage 2 abbrechen und selbst bis dahin viele Bossfights im zweistelligem Bereich angehen. Die Brutalo-Difficulty, die Variation der Boss-Angriffsmuster mit serielle Bullet-Hell-Tendenz, insgesamt die zum Teil hohe Trial-and-Error-Passage, geringe Lebensenergie, mehrphasige Bosskämpfe mit permanentem Add-Nachschub und unterschiedlicher Pattern-Learning-Zwang usw. führen zu einem hohen Maß an Frustration. Daher komme ich zu dem Schluss, dass sich das Spiel tatsächlich nur an Hardcore Jump'n'Shoot-Spieler richtet. Diese bilden mit Sicherheit auch einen Großteil der Rezensionen schreibenden Fan-Community ab und für diese ist Huntdown zweifellos ein Fest. Für Gelegenheitsspieler aber ist Huntdown leider viel zu schwer. Meine Wertung: 54% (Abbruchs-Wertung)

It was an okay game. I got bored after a while. It's pretty repetitive, you cannot upgrade your character, there are only so many bullets you get. Somewhat similar to contra except that there's of enemies dodging bullets. Bosses were somewhat similar - they run around very fast and keep damaging. Very high health. Overall, I just got bored of going through every level taking out enemies and then a boss. Repeat.

there's 3 characters, they all play the same, same hp, same type of abilities, all enemies hit like trucks and gameplay is downright unfair, you basically have to play, memorize enemy patterns, repeat and find a way around them, finish the level, repeat again until you get all the level bonus. Characters dont have any upgrades or special abilities and even the most basic enemy has more hp and damage than you, the only good thing going for you is that AI is dumb and repeats the same patters, but until you learn them it's die and die again. doesn't feel at all you're playing like a badazz bounty hunter at all, they should have called the game letdown instead of huntdown