The Hunter Primal

[GoldenRivet]

Picked up a game the other day called the hunter primal on steam...



What is it?: it is a multiplayer game where you play the role of a "settler" who is dropped off on a planet called "primal eden". this planet is a pretty nice place, lush forests, sprawling grasslands, nice sunsets and what not. the only problem is it's infested with... dinosaurs - T-Rex, Velociraptor, Utah Raptor, Triceratops and Quetzelcotlus to be exact. why are they on this planet? the game doesn't get into that though it does seem strange to me that Earth Dinosaurs would occupy an alien planet - err whatever, honestly its probably to avoid being sued by the Jurassic park crowd. But, as a "settler" which i have deduced is a polite term for "death row convict" it is your job to walk around in the jungle wearing a bright yellow convict jump suit, hunt down and eradicate the dangerous species so the rest of your humanoid friends can come on down and enjoy their newly colonized planet without the fear of becoming dino poop, succeed and you gain your freedom... fail, and your immediate family is sent to primal eden to finish the hunt. its a raw deal really. its basically dirty dozen only instead of killing nazis to get a clean slate you're killing dinosaurs and sadly there is no Lee Marvin or Jim Brown to help you kick ass and take names



Is it fun?: in a word, yes. the dinosaurs are convincing and hearing T-Rex angrily stomp toward the small crevice in a giant pre-historic tree where you are hiding is quite terrifying really, worse so when he finds you and decides you are dinner. Its also attention getting and adrenaline pumping when you are out of ammo, or simply trying to get from point a to point b and suddenly you hear the call of a pack of utah raptors on the hunt. the community of players overall is a good one, most of them go out of their way to "team work" with you. the "planet" of primal eden is really represented by a massive island that would take weeks of gameplay to fully explore even without the dinosaurs hunting you down.



what sucks about it?: weapons... there are a ton of em... and they are pretty good. But wait... that doesnt suck, what gives? well there is a catch .... you are dropped off on this dino-planet with - get this - a machete. thats it. no seriously, good luck. because when you are creeping through the jungle and stumble across a family of Utah-raptors it quickly becomes evident that they are far more suited for fighting and surviving in the woods than you are as evidenced by their killing you in short order. and lets face it, if you had your choice of weapon in real life against a raptor, or triceritops... oh hell... even an adolescent crocodile - it probably wouldn't be a prison crafted machete.

a machete?: yes, but technically its not really even a machete, it is a hacking weapon that you improvised apparently out of random machine parts from your landing pod. the real weapons, like the 12G shotgun, sniper rifle, .700 pistol etc are scattered across the landscape at anyone of about 20-25 abandoned "settlements" - long abandoned encampments where previous settlers lived and died and left all of their stuff behind in lock boxes. good news... sometimes those lock boxes will contain a nice rifle and 10-20 rounds of ammo. Bad news... sometimes you just walk 3 km to the nearest camp (which are not located on your map) and you open up one of these boxes to find... a hat and some sunglasses. that in and of itself is enormously frustrating. because the designers have attempted to make the game more difficult by fixing it so you dont start out with the best gun and just lay waste to the dinosaurs at will.

so you just walk around and try to find guns? yes and no. when you kill a dinosaur, you harvest your trophy and get "G"s for it... which are the unit of currency. with Gs you can buy a weapon before you spawn. but dont get too excited. you are ranked as a player and you start as a level 1 settler, level 2 weapon onward is locked until you level up. so the reality of it is that you can buy a makeshift bow and a few basic hand made arrows that probably serve to piss off the dinosaur more than cause it serious trauma. but if you kill enough Dinosaurs you level up thereby unlocking the pistol, then shotgun, then semi-auto shotgun, then sniper rifle etc



the points, level system and buying of weapons is intensely frustrating and is by far the worst aspect of the game second only to the stamina meter which for those of you unfamiliar is a measure used by FPS game designers to prevent you from running constantly, you have to rest. but there is the sense of accomplishment when you and another player approach a dino and coordinate an attack and take it down through teamwork.


would i recommend it?: well ill answer that question with a few questions 1) do you like dinosaurs, land of the lost, Jurassic park type stuff? 2) do you like survival games/exploration games? 3) do you like multiplayer games? well, if you answered yes to those questions. odds are you would like the game The Hunter Primal. Its currently running about $20 on steam, and at that price it has cost me exactly 70 cents an hour to play it over the past few days.