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Graphically, Hatred is a pretty game, though the perspective makes everything smaller than first-person shooters for instance. Everything is quite nicely detailed. The walls of buildings fade into the background as you enter them, as does a level when you go up and down stairs. It’s worth watching out for this, as I was in a police station and thought I had cleared it, but missed the stairs to go up to the next floor. When I noticed the stairs, I found plenty more police all keen to bring my killing spree to an end! Keep an eye for bulletproof vests, as well as ammo in the police station, too.
The main colour of the game is black and various shades of grey. Only the lights from police sirens or the blood of your victims shows colour. This contrast has been used in games before, like Mad World on the Wii and it is used to good effect here. Maybe it’s also used to take away some of the realism that colour adds, I don’t know, but the lack of colour doesn’t detract from the game in anyway.
The next level saw me trying to escape the sewers. I had to constantly restart this level as I repeatedly tried to take out the police that are immediately pursuing me. It was only after a while, I figured running would be a better option at this point. Even then, I couldn’t escape without sustaining damage. Fortunately, in the sewer level there are plenty of homeless people to execute and replenish your health. There are also plenty of exploding items laying around that you would hope to be able to use to take out the pursuing cops. Again, though, due to the nature and sensitivity of the controls, igniting a barrel while under fire is easier said than done and you’re more likely to die trying than explode a barrel when you need to.
The audio in the game is pretty good. The cries for mercy, and the screams of fear from the innocent as you march around showing no remorse for your actions, are all fitting and don’t repeat so often to grate. Your nameless character’s rants as he progresses through the level can be amusing, even if they’re not meant to be. Calling someone the “C” word (DVDfever Dom: “Is it ‘crikey’?” Jon: “No, it’s the one that every woman hates”) has obviously been included to add to the shock value, but it actually made me chuckle. The chatter from police radios also adds to the games authenticity.
Hatred Gameplay – Driving Indoors? – Hatred Uncensored Highlights Part 4 – Draegast
Hatred could have been a modern day re-master of the original Postal game, but without the intended humour. They certainly have a similar theme. I loaded the original Postal just to remind myself and I was happy to say Hatred is certainly a better game than the now decrepit looking Postal, and I was happy to go back to Hatred (and the controls didn’t seem so bad after all). Like Postal, it would be nice if the next game evolved into either a first-person or third-person shooter. If not, then at least make the levels bigger or fix the awful save points.
If I am to play a twin-stick shooter, then I usually want to play them on a handheld like my PS Vita. Dead Nation being a good example, having it on both PS4 and PS Vita. I played it on Vita even though the PS4 version was superior because I always feel the power of a console is wasted on games such as these. Hatred, though, has managed to get me to sit on my £1200 gaming PC and while away the hours basically killing, killing and more killing. Apart from the unnecessarily frustrating restarts and the slight repetitive nature of the gameplay, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s fun if you don’t take your games seriously. It’s subject matter makes it stand out from its competitors. Some will see that as a bad thing, while others will just enjoy it for what it is. It’s a fun game that doesn’t take itself as seriously as everyone else has. It’s also a game PC gamers will argue that makes their games collection more unique than their console counterparts. Always good for a bit of one up-manship and at £15 it’s certainly worth a look!
Update: Patch 5 fixes cops shooting you when off the screen, and this certainly helps the game play. Now, you don’t die as often to a police officer that you can’t see. The difficulty level feels like it has been tweaked too, as progress was a little easier, as was my survival rate. The game actually feels a little less frustrating since the update so more reason to check out the most notorious game released in recent years. Oh and that fact that’s it’s not half bad is reason too.
Thanks to those Youtube channels featured for the gaming footage.
Hatred is out now on Steam, and click on the top image for the full-size version.
Hatred Gameplay – 11 videos (1080p HD) – Darknewt
Important info:
- Publisher: Destructive Creations
- Players: 1
- HDTV options: up to 1080p
- Dolby Digital 5.1 sound: Yes
Director: Jaroslaw Zielinski
Music: Adam Skorupa
Voice cast:
Jim Daniels
Tony Grosz
Trevor Larson
Dave Millis
Dave Sneed
Nicki Sneed
Susan Suntree
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GRAPHICS SOUND GAMEPLAY POTENTIAL |
8 8 6 6 |
| OVERALL | 7 |
I’m all about the Games and Gadgets. Rumoured to have been born with a mobile phone in his hand. (It’s not true. It was a Gameboy) You want to know more about my business? You better invest in it then hadn’t you.