So i figured out what I'm gonna do with this blog. I think I'll review some of the games in my backlog and do updates of games that are newer. Kind of like a first impression or ql but instead I'll continue to update it. Anyway, onto my FIRST REVIEW!!

So i was digging through my backlog looking for something to play and noticed that for some odd reason i had a copy of Hunted: The Demon's Forge. Honestly, I have no idea when i bought this but i popped it in and noticed that i had apparently gotten about halfway through it. Quite surprising considering i can't even remember buying it let alone playing it, but i figured i had a couple of hours and i could blow through it. Looking back, i wish i had played from the beginning since it took me a while to figure out what was going on story wise. The basic story is your a mercenary (either E'lara or Caddoc) and you stumble into this mysterious lady named Saraphine when you go looking for an ancient relic and she promises you riches if you help her save her people or something like that. Its not very compelling and found it really hard to pay attention to the story until the end. There's a twist that comes at the end that would have been interesting if the story up that point would have been interesting any way. They tried to add this element of exploration by hiding deathstones which explain the lore but it was still kind of boring. It kind of reminded of the way Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning laid out its lore with the lorestones but I just find that method of giving lore kind of boring. I prefer the way the souls games do it where the lore is essentially there right at your fingertips if you wanna learn about it but isn't necessary to enjoy the game. The way Hunted: The Demon's Forge presents it, it feels like something i need to do b/c you get rewards for it instead of it behind something i genuinely wanted to know about. I think only cool thing they had was that when you go into the dungeons, there are little puzzles that if you solve them, will give you some cool rewards.

The gameplay was a little hit or miss for me. You have the choice of two playstyles, a melee tanking type style and a long range archer type playstyle. I just HATED the melee. It felt a little unresponsive and I had trouble blocking everything even though I was blocking the dudes in front me. The hit detection seemed a little off as well. Sometimes i would miss my attack because the enemy would be in the middle of his attack animation and for some reason i would miss him. So i basically stuck to the archer which is fine since I tend to like playing that way anyway. It kind of felt like playing gears the way the you would take and move to cover. There are two things that this game does that I really don't like. One, there are too many turret sequences. I must had to do a turret sequence at least 6 times in the 6 chapters and that doesn't include the optional turrets in the game. I don't see any need for more one these turret sequences. The other thing it does that is highly annoying is that it throws you into a room and throws tons and tons of guys at you. MY GOD I HATE THIS. Why do devs feel the need to do this? Its not fun, its just annoying. This adds to the problem of this game feeling really uneven gameplay wise. At certain times, the game is really easy and at others, its ridiculously difficult. And to make it worse, is this game you actually get punished for it by getting a bad ending if you drink sleg which is basically an invincibility potion during this horrible designed section of the game. Its really really annoying and stupid mechanic. Other than that, I liked that magic you get use but i do wish there was a better way to level it up. I know was designed around co op but i think there needs to be some practicality in how its implemented. Saying i can only level up at certain predetermined time just feels a bit too restricting but its not an overly big deal.

Graphics/Art Style

Now I'm not a graphics whore usually, but the graphics are really bad in this game. First, its really dark. I had to turn the gamma settings all the way up to be able to see anything somewhat clearly but you couldn't see anything once you went into a dungeon which also would have been fine if they would have given you some kind of reliable light source like a lamp or a torch but instead they give you E'lara's arrow which does nothing to help you see. Your basically running around in these dungeons blind which means you'll miss out on loot. NOT COOL. Second, a lot of the environments looked washed out and bland. Even the forest areas had a sort of brown tint to them. The character models don't look that great either. They look rather generic and boring. The art style is really bad imo. It barely looks like a dark fantasy setting. It looks like a medieval setting with elves and orcs thrown in.

So now I know why this game was buried under a stack of other games. This game just really isn't that good but I have this need to finish all the games I purchased so I slogged through it(and it only took me a couple of hours). I don't feel too bad about the purchase though b/c I'm sure i bought it for $15-$20. But I probably would've been pissed way the hell off if I bought this for $60. I'd say if you can find a copy for like $5-$10, it would be ok to buy and play through the co op with a friend but its a no go for single player.

So i figured out what I'm gonna do with this blog. I think I'll review some of the games in my backlog and do updates of games that are newer. Kind of like a first impression or ql but instead I'll continue to update it. Anyway, onto my FIRST REVIEW!!

So i was digging through my backlog looking for something to play and noticed that for some odd reason i had a copy of Hunted: The Demon's Forge. Honestly, I have no idea when i bought this but i popped it in and noticed that i had apparently gotten about halfway through it. Quite surprising considering i can't even remember buying it let alone playing it, but i figured i had a couple of hours and i could blow through it. Looking back, i wish i had played from the beginning since it took me a while to figure out what was going on story wise. The basic story is your a mercenary (either E'lara or Caddoc) and you stumble into this mysterious lady named Saraphine when you go looking for an ancient relic and she promises you riches if you help her save her people or something like that. Its not very compelling and found it really hard to pay attention to the story until the end. There's a twist that comes at the end that would have been interesting if the story up that point would have been interesting any way. They tried to add this element of exploration by hiding deathstones which explain the lore but it was still kind of boring. It kind of reminded of the way Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning laid out its lore with the lorestones but I just find that method of giving lore kind of boring. I prefer the way the souls games do it where the lore is essentially there right at your fingertips if you wanna learn about it but isn't necessary to enjoy the game. The way Hunted: The Demon's Forge presents it, it feels like something i need to do b/c you get rewards for it instead of it behind something i genuinely wanted to know about. I think only cool thing they had was that when you go into the dungeons, there are little puzzles that if you solve them, will give you some cool rewards.

The gameplay was a little hit or miss for me. You have the choice of two playstyles, a melee tanking type style and a long range archer type playstyle. I just HATED the melee. It felt a little unresponsive and I had trouble blocking everything even though I was blocking the dudes in front me. The hit detection seemed a little off as well. Sometimes i would miss my attack because the enemy would be in the middle of his attack animation and for some reason i would miss him. So i basically stuck to the archer which is fine since I tend to like playing that way anyway. It kind of felt like playing gears the way the you would take and move to cover. There are two things that this game does that I really don't like. One, there are too many turret sequences. I must had to do a turret sequence at least 6 times in the 6 chapters and that doesn't include the optional turrets in the game. I don't see any need for more one these turret sequences. The other thing it does that is highly annoying is that it throws you into a room and throws tons and tons of guys at you. MY GOD I HATE THIS. Why do devs feel the need to do this? Its not fun, its just annoying. This adds to the problem of this game feeling really uneven gameplay wise. At certain times, the game is really easy and at others, its ridiculously difficult. And to make it worse, is this game you actually get punished for it by getting a bad ending if you drink sleg which is basically an invincibility potion during this horrible designed section of the game. Its really really annoying and stupid mechanic. Other than that, I liked that magic you get use but i do wish there was a better way to level it up. I know was designed around co op but i think there needs to be some practicality in how its implemented. Saying i can only level up at certain predetermined time just feels a bit too restricting but its not an overly big deal.

Graphics/Art Style

Now I'm not a graphics whore usually, but the graphics are really bad in this game. First, its really dark. I had to turn the gamma settings all the way up to be able to see anything somewhat clearly but you couldn't see anything once you went into a dungeon which also would have been fine if they would have given you some kind of reliable light source like a lamp or a torch but instead they give you E'lara's arrow which does nothing to help you see. Your basically running around in these dungeons blind which means you'll miss out on loot. NOT COOL. Second, a lot of the environments looked washed out and bland. Even the forest areas had a sort of brown tint to them. The character models don't look that great either. They look rather generic and boring. The art style is really bad imo. It barely looks like a dark fantasy setting. It looks like a medieval setting with elves and orcs thrown in.

So now I know why this game was buried under a stack of other games. This game just really isn't that good but I have this need to finish all the games I purchased so I slogged through it(and it only took me a couple of hours). I don't feel too bad about the purchase though b/c I'm sure i bought it for $15-$20. But I probably would've been pissed way the hell off if I bought this for $60. I'd say if you can find a copy for like $5-$10, it would be ok to buy and play through the co op with a friend but its a no go for single player.

@gogosox82: I absolutely loved this game, and I played through it single player. It definitely had it's issues but for some reason I just really enjoyed my team for it. Wish it was able to get a sequel!

I'm glad you liked it so much. I think I liked about it was the relationship between Elara and Caddoc. They just seemed liked good friends that had each others backs instead of doing some lame ass love story between them. This worked out much better given the context of the game but everything else i could do without personally.

I enjoyed this too. It defo has some problems but i actually completed it. I just used the bow the whole way though, getting a headshot was so satisfying everytime