HUNTDOWN

+ art design (if you like the 80s cyberpunk style) + music (if you like the 80s cyberpunk style) + simple, but carefully thought out mechanics + great controls + very challenging, but not unfair difficulty - 60 fps! Explanation why the 60 fps restriction is bad: This is a side-scrolling game and restricting such a game to 60 fps (16ms per Frame) causes eye tracking motion blur, which leads to an annoyingly unsharp image, when your character is moving, due to the sample-and-hold technology of LCD displays. Even on a 1ms fast display the image is unsharp during motion, as each frame is shown for 16ms at 60 fps. If any type of game benefits from 144 Hz (or more) displays, then it is side-scrolling games. 5 stars once this is fixed.

It's quite easy to pick up and play but still challenging to master. Things were occasionally very difficult but never unfair (although it was pretty close at times!), and it was consistently fun. Each time I got stuck and had to take a break I could still progress when I came back to it. -There are only 3 playable characters but they have distinct vibes and different default weapons that feel decently unique enough to alter the way you play. -The voice acting is great, and the graphics and sounds are done well. It really does capture an old school vibe. There are a lot of old pop culture references but I don't think they overwhelm or distract. -I appreciate a bit of ultraviolence as much as anyone, but the game does make you kill dogs :( there are sections where attack dogs come after you and you need to take them down. There are very few of these sections, but regrettably they are there. -There is no "save" option, but the levels have regular checkpoints and you start again at whatever the most recent one is if you die. There are enough that you never have to go back too far. -The boss fights are all about figuring out movement and attack patterns and seizing openings accordingly. They are hard, but if you die the game just starts you at the beginning of the fight again. So you don't have to replay the whole level unless you fully exit the game and come back. Overall the game is simple good times for the most part and feels worth the price and time

Graphics, gun play, voice acting, atmosphere, over the top characters -this could have been a top notch game. The thing that ruins it is the difficulty spike on some bosses. Bad Boy Bob, the third one, is the first I died on. Repeatedly. And that's no fun. If I wanted to spend my nights playing the same shitty scene 50 times, I'd buy Dark Souls. This is supposed to be Arcade fun. We failed at this boss in COOP, quit the game. Some years later I played solo, failed at the same boss again, and am probably quitting for good now. I don't know if this is the only incredibly hard and unfun boss, or if the difficulty goes further up with each one. But this is the end of the road for me. What a pity. What a waste.

Somehow I hoped it to be more addictive and satisfying. Watch a gameplay videos first maybe.

Starts out well enough; but quickly goes from "challenging in a fun way" to "challenging and frustrating in an annoying way". It's a fine line for sure. But I very quickly just gave up 🤷