HUNTDOWN

HUNTDOWN understands exactly what made the 16-bit games great. It's a shooting sidescroller that goes straight into the action. You'll shoot, kick, and throw grenades at a lot of thugs in a beautifully crafted cyberpunk city. But this isn't a run-n-gun game that just throws a ton of enemies at you. A deliberate approach is needed many times, and you have to take all the cover you can (behind crates or pressing the up-arrow to hide behind a wall as in Blackthorne). The levels constantly provide a good challenge but they never seem unfairly difficult. The game is filled with boss encounters - a bit too much for my taste, but the fights are short and not too hard. Also, every boss is really original. Graphics are rendered in a low-res and 16-bit style, but still manage to have a lot of detail. Everything looks beautiful and the city is really alive. Things move everywhere, from the foreground to the background. I died so many times because I was so mesmerized by the art that I forgot to move my character! The 80's synth style music is quite good in setting the mood, but I feel it lacks a bit of melody and personality. It's more like a background sound, but at least it's not annoying. HUNTDOWN is one of the best action games EVER, including AAA and retro titles in the list. Get this game, you won't regret it.

This is an "80s retro" arcade platformer shooter. The gameplay is sharp, but the presentation (graphics AND sound) is top notch. This game is a must!

A visual masterpiece of true pixel art. Others should follow in its footsteps.

Visual: This game is a polished pixel-art run-and-gun game. The animations are very smooth, and it looks like every pixel was drawn with a great thought behind it to making a masterpiece artwork, which doesn't fall behind many other great games. Music & Sound effects: The music is well composed and goes side-by-side with the overall gameplay. It gives just the right mood to any moment and area that you reach. The sound effects are also very rich where every weapon has its own shooting sound, and the explosions are very satisfying. Since I like game soundtracks I also picked the separated DLC of it when I bought this game, though I would prefer if it was included with the game and not as a DLC. Yet, giving the price tag which was on sale when I bought it, it's not a big deal and quite cheap ($5.98 USD for both). Voice acting: The voice acting is excellent and reminds the good old superhero animated shows from the 90s. Gameplay: There's a Story mode and an Arcade mode and 4 difficulty levels to choose from. I only finished the first "The Hoodlum Dolls" part and it was very satisfiying. There're also 3 achievements that you can get on each level, which are killing a certain amount of enemies, retrivieving all gang stash cases, and to complete the level without dying. on the first levels it was easy, but then I let the non-dying one to pass as it became more difficult. The gameplay is very good and it's not just run, shoot and jump. Here's a list of what you can do, which adds a lot to the gameplay: - Drop from platforms - Pick / drop a weapon; there are many guns and close-combat ones. - Secondary weapons such as bumerang and grenades. - Swap between weapons. - Dock behind objects and take cover in gaps - Dash to evade dangers and dash down on enemies. - Push kick enemies. - Slide. Bottom line: it's a highly recommended game.

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. 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.