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From the table to a console near you...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 19 / 20
Date: December 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I've always been a fan of table top rpg's, and I must say that this is one franchise that was able to make the transformation from the table to a console with ease. The game is fun, and beautiful to look at, with a variety of characters to play. Though somewhat repetitive, it has more action than you could ever get in any other zombie game (COUGHresidentevilCOUGH) and plays more like a movie than any game I have ever come across. The monsters seem to keep coming, and the levels don't drag, nor are they too short. Wayward is a pseudo-sequel, but if you didn't play the first one, you will still understand and enjoy this one.

Don't get me wrong, the original game was great, but there are a few things I like better about this one, some of them seem to be disliked by others who have reviewed this game, and I will discuss those first:

1.)Limited ammo: No, there is no longer unlimited ammo for your default weapon, but you start with max at every level, and enemies drop lots of it, so stop crying.

2.)I love the fact that you have a home base in this one, where you go back to after every level, so instead of having random glyps of info in rediculous places, you have a computer that you can check for info about your enemies, or for clues on things you've picked up along the way. In your base, you have a map of the city where you pick the level you wanna do, an entertainment area where you can see easter eggs you've unlocked during levels (music and movie clips mainly), and a trophy room that allows you to enter codes after you beat the game depending on the trophies you've earned.

3.)The combos that your charater can pull off are more effective, smoother, and much longer than in the first game, making melee attacks better to use, and just plain cooler to look at (making up for the limited ammo no doubt).

4.)A lot of the objectives in the game are optional, and unlock different things like alternate costumes. Also, you can go back to the map and re-enter parts of the city (levels) you have already cleared, and each time it becomes more difficult, and secret objectives become available.

The petpieves that I have with this game (and they are very small) are with the people who make it. It annoys me that Wayward's predecessor is on every other system except PS2. Other than that, Wayward is only 2 player. A 4 player squad of Hunters would be much more enjoyable than just 2 because it would allow you to see all the characters at once, just like you would in a movie, or in real life (towns are attacked by undead hordes all the time in real life... right?)

All-in-All, its a great game, and now that its only 20 bucks you can afford to give it a chance. So if you like good graphics, zombies, or even hot asian chicks with guns o' plenty, kicking ass, while doing cart-wheels, go get it. If you don't... then somethings wrong with you.

The Hunters Return. . .

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 16 / 16
Date: September 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

"Hunter the Reckoning: Wayward" is a full-on sequel to the Xbox hit "Hunter the Reckoning," though you do not see a number 2 anywhere in the title. The storyline that developed on the Xbox game continues on this Playstation 2 follow-up, and probably won't make much sense to the uninitiated. On the other hand, those who are familiar with its predecessor will almost certainly wish that "Wayward" had a few more new tricks up its sleeve. Even so, both of the aforementioned camps should find something to enjoy despite the game's failings - particularly when it goes down in price.

"Wayward" reintroduces you to the original game's cast of hunters (the tank-like Avenger, the spiritual Judge, the sleek Martyr, and the well-rounded Defender), who are contacted by a Wayward hunter who requires their assistance in the town of Ashcroft. It seems that Ashcroft has once again become a hotbed for undead and demonic activity, and it's time for the hunters to finish what they started by cleansing the place once and for all. That means hacking, slashing, and shooting the living dead right out of every walking corpse and horrid specter in the vicinity. Half-way through the game, the Wayward becomes a fourth playable character, if you should opt to take on his mantle.

Though "Wayward" has its flaws, it is certainly a step forward in terms of design. The original game was difficult to the point of absurdity (it offered the player a limited number of continues in a very antiquated fashion), but while "Wayward" is certainly challenging, it is thankfully more merciful than its Xbox counterpart. If you are running low on continues, you can always revisit a previous location in the game and rescue more innocents (who respawn even if you've rescued them before). It's helpful as well that you can revisit levels to boost your experience, or find weapons and items you might have missed before. In other words, ammunition and health packs will be considerably easier to come by! This newfound freedom is a major improvement to the series, and probably makes "Wayward" a better game than its forebear. It definitely makes it less frustrating to play.

Unfortunately, "Wayward" lacks the storytelling chops of the original game (which provided a convoluted if somewhat compelling backdrop to all the action), and no longer presents the cinematics with the in-game engine - an engine, I hasten to add, that is more than capable of rendering believable movie segments, even on the less graphically intensive PS2 console. It is annoying to me that all four hunters are depicted during the cut-scenes even if you're only playing through the game with one of them. It is doubly annoying because you can't even run through the game with three friends. Only 2 players are supported, which is a shame - although it's better than nothing, since going solo is not half as much fun.

If you have never played a "Hunter" game before, you probably won't be too disappointed by the levels themselves. On the other hand, if you've been through the original game, prepare to be disappointed. Many of the exact levels have been recycled in "Wayward," albeit slightly altered (different enemies roam through them, maybe, or you move through the area in reverse fashion). You will also encounter many enemies that are all too familiar - though the bosses are brand new, at least. Other than that, there are perhaps three new beasties to destroy, and you will quickly grow tired of dispatching them over and over again during the later levels. Still, to be fair, this complaint is only valid if you've played the original, and that was made for another console.

The action has retained its strangely addictive quality, and is very much in the "Gauntlet" tradition (minus all those power-ups). If you've played any of the "Gauntlet" games you know that it can be mindlessly compelling for one player, but becomes far more engaging when you're playing alongside a friend. Again, this is entirely true in "Wayward." If you have friends who enjoy games like this, I recommend this game considerably more heartily than if you're a solo player looking for a solo ride. Even so, I'm not saying there's nothing to enjoy while going it alone in "Wayward," but it loses some of its appeal.

I also regret the fact that "Wayward" forces you to repeat many of the same levels you've already played through. For instance, your objective in a level might be to rescue another hunter. When you have done that and completed the level, you may be required to return to that level and collect silver so that you can kill a werewolf. The level you are repeating offers up the same monsters and the same scenery, and a whole lot of repetition. Besides, "Wayward" sends you on one too many scavenger hunts. The search for missing data CDs in the Ashcroft cemetery is particularly grating. Fortunately, these kinds of missions are not as frequent as they could have been.

All in all, "Wayward" is a good game, but severely flawed. It takes the series a few steps in the right direction while simultaneously dragging it backwards as well. I do know the series will continue (a third sequel for the Xbox arrives in stores just weeks after the series' PS2 debut), and I do think that it has the potential to achieve greatness... but it has yet to reach the potential, and is instead content with an addictive, challenging, but ultimately shallow experience. If you like mindless action garbed in a veneer of horror, "Wayward" is right for you. If you like mindless action garbed in a veneer of horror and have a friend who likes the same, "Wayward" is even more right for you. Otherwise, I suggest letting the price go down a little, since "Wayward" comes off as a glorified expansion to its Xbox cousin, and provides only so much meat for your gaming dollar. Forget all the unlockable extras - it's still a little emaciated. Here's hoping the next game in the series takes a larger leap forward.

Final Score: C+

Better and Worse than the Xbox Original

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 13
Date: September 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

My husband and I rented this game over the weekend. Here's my thoughts, especially compared to the original.

To start off, the storyline. It's two years after you defeated the evil spirits at Ashcroft, and your foursome catches word that there's nastiness going on again at the old stomping grounds. Two hunters have been captured and Esteban, Samantha, Kassandra, and Deuce go to investigate. Of course, there's another conspiracy afoot that your rag-tag group needs to bust open, with lots of undead to kill in the process.

Some of the pros:

You get several other characters to play in this PS2 game. Halfway through you unlock one of the Hunters you go to save, Joshua. This guy is fun to play, he's almost as strong as Deuce but has more speed and a better default ranged weapon. His crowbar melee weapon is also fun for hack and slash. After you defeat the game once, you unlock Devan, the other captured hunter as a playable character. Beat the game in Nightmare Mode, and you get Carpenter (!) to play. Fans of the Xbox game should especially like this.

More edges. Some of them really improve the game (I loved running into the middle of an attacking group with Joshua and using Spiral), but some of them are pretty lame. Kassandra has an edge called Blast, which is supposed to shoot a concentrated ray of light at enemies, but it never seemed to hurt them.

In this game, you have a headquarters and a map of each game section. This allows you to go back to previous boards and gain more experience points or save more innocents (save 2 innocents and you get another continue in the game). Don't get all the secrets on the board, though, or it'll become unavailable to play again.

Voice acting is great. The voices fit the characters perfectly. Graphics are killer, especially in the cutscenes. Music is good and creepy without being obtrusive. All very similar to the Xbox version.

Lots of easter eggs and secrets for new music, alternate costumes, models, etc. Also, you unlock cheats (i.e. unlimited health/conviction, max edge power) as you go through the levels, and can use them once you beat the game.

Cons:

The big one, it's only two player max! I shouldn't complain, since it's hard enough to find two player cooperative mission games, but having 4 players tear it up at the same time in the original was too much fun. On the flip side of that, as the original was almost impossible to beat single-player, it would definitely be possible with this game.

The hunter's default ranged weapon no longer has unlimited ammo. As killing certain bad guys gives you health or conviction, you can also get ammo now. Still, this took some getting used to, as I liked to play Kassandra and, with her speed run around and shoot everyone while my husband used Deuce to slash away. However, Vivendi seemed to know this and there aren't the mass amounts of enemies to fight in this version. There's still plenty to keep your hands full, though.

You can only choose one special weapon at the start of the board. For instance, say in a board you picked up a shotgun, a machine gun, and a flamethrower. When you go to the next board, you can only pick one of those three to take with you! During each board, you can pick up other guns that are laying around and use them, but in the original, you kept all the weapons you picked up from board to board. The only time you couldn't use them was when you ran out of ammo! This is the only feature I found to be outright annoying.

There are fewer bosses than in the original. These bosses are cool, though, with a witch and another hunter gone bad really mixing it up. But nothing beats the possessed teddy bear from the first game.

The controls take a lot of getting used to for new players, but those who played the original will find everything to be the same. Also, you still can't control the camera position. It'd be nice if Vivendi would improve this feature.

In short, it's a fun game to rent and play, especially if there's a friend around to join in the pandemonium. It makes me anxious for the October release of Hunter: Redeemer.

Pretty cool game;but needs tweaking

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: September 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

First off,I don't own an Xbox,so I haven't played the original to compare this title to.But in this game the four from the original return to rid the same city of undeads and mutants.I figured this would be something along the lines of "pick a character and slash through the levels until you beat the game."
But actually you can play as all four,taking turns and building up levels and magic.Very nice suprise.

Now I rented this game yesterday,and although it does have some really cool aspects to it,I was a little bit annoyed because of
certain details that took away from the fun.The controls can be pretty awkward,here's an example:to side-attack you have to hold the right analog stick to fire in a certain direction,and use the left analog stick to strafe in a certain direction.This can get really complicated trying to figure out what stick you have to push where when a group of zombies pops out in a random direction.Why didn't the developers just add a semi-automatic lock-on feature?This would have made the game alot less
frustrating.

The players' attacks can also get out of control when using a melee attack.There are many times when the character keeps attacking in a single direction when you need them to stop.This leads to leaving yourself wide open for attacks from enemies in other directions.This was how I got hurt in the game about 90% of the time.

The last negative issue I have with this game is the camera. Although you are given the option to zoom in or zoom out;
really neither is that great of a choice.If you zoom out,you miss alot of detail/graphics as everything is so distant.On the other hand if you zoom in,you can't tell where the enemies are until they're right up on you.You also do NOT have the option to swivel the camera.Say you are running forward,the camera will sometimes face towards you,and not display what's coming ahead.

With the bad aside,I praise The Hunter:Wayward game for adding lots of nice "easter egg" bonuses for completing optional missions.The other good thing about this is that if you don't complete optional missons,you can keep going back until you do.
This translates into building up alot of skill and experience over and over with diffrent hunters.(Try the church level)

Voice acting was pretty good as was the music,and I thought all of the characters were cool esp. raver girl!I guess in the end,I
give this game a mixed bag of feelings with 3 and a half stars.
Rent first,then buy.

A mixed opinion

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 8
Date: January 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'm a major fan of Hunter: The reckoning, I own a large number of books for it... I'm quite well knowledged in its other counterparts as well... Vampire and Werewolf.
When I played this game I had the urge to bang my head on the desk as I screamed 'Why!' It turned Hunter, an amazing game, into a side-scrolling beat-em-up game!
It crosses the White Wolf games over one another into things that would NOT happen in the World of Darkness (WOD is the signature world everything happens in in White Wolf books)
It took out all of the humanity issues of hunter, such as the fact OTHER PEOPLE do not see what Hunter's do. If you stake a vampire in public, a human will see you staking a normal person in the heart with a piece of wood... This includes cops, and the military. They dont just go gung ho through the streets as they did in this game. It also butchered the creeds, turning them into stats instead of opinions, and methods of the hunt. Hunter is not about superpowers and running though the streets with a melee weapon (Something VERY FEW hunters would train in, especially the Katana, Kama, axe and broadsword.) lobbing off limbs... Its about REAL PEOPLE faced with hunting the dead, and hiding from the cops for doing the right thing... Then theres the large ammount of bickering between the creeds on hunting methods... I also dislike God_45 being a playable character, he's less mysterious then... If you have the Hunter Corebook, see page 164.

As for gameplay, I... Enjoyed it, despite the abuse to the World of Darkness. It has wonderful graphics, and is quite fun with another person. I Also suggest you look into the Hunter books...

Good game, lots of action

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: December 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Good games, lots of fun, more action than you can shake a stick at, and if you like zombies, and dark fantaxsy stuff like that, then this game will never get old.

Hunter Wayward is hot!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: September 08, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game looks hot. I have visited the site and have taken a peek at the screen shots and I was blown away. The screen shots were so vivid and bold...very cool. Another thing that i enjoyed on the site are the Game play movies; those were definitely awesome because you really get to see how the characters move and all the cool graphics involved.
(...)

This 3rd Person Shooter game Rocks!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: September 09, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game has just came out today and i finally got my hands on it. I was so anxious to find out who the new character is and guess what ladies it is a girl..whoohooo. This game is filled with action and adventure..defintiely a Hack and slash!!! http://www.hunterthereckoning.com/wayward

Cool Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: August 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

So far i am really loving this game. I visited the site and thought the trailer was awesome. A lot of people are complaining that the trailer has no sound, but the whole storyline, graphics, and images are the dope parts!!! I am even more excited cause it is a sequel game ot the almighty original Hunter The Reckoning...All i can say is that i am excited :)

Hunter Wayward is Awesome!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: August 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Hunter Wayward is way cool!!! Visited the gaming site and was blown away. I really like the character line-up, it is almost as the characters actually really do exist...heheh My favorite character so far is Kassandra Cheyoung. She looks like a tough chick who can kick some ***!!!!

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