Hunted: The Demon's Forge Previews
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As well as hitting enemies at range with bowfire, E'lara can freeze them with magic attacks or status buff her partner so that Caddoc can charge in and smash them apart, and should either fall in battle to the ravaging hordes easy to do if your buddy isn't watching your back the game allows you to magically revive them so long as they're in sight. It's a clever feature that should cut down on frustrated cries for help when you play with a friend online.
But it isn't all just about fast-paced and bloody combat, with a smattering of puzzles added to the mix: we watched the pair hunt for switches that needed to be hit to drain a waterlogged cave. What we liked about Hunted was its fun flow of co-op combat, with both E'lara and Caddoc exchanging sardonic banter, and that, despite its slightly bland fantasy looks, is what makes it stand out. Just how well that feeling will translate into a single-player experience worries us slightly, but for now it's looking like a promising and slightly different two-player experience.
And then we make our way to Xbox360Achievements.org for another hands-on look:
The first arena looked to show off the strength of the battle charge, as a skeleton warrior sat on a turreted weapon that began to overwhelm us with fire, making it abundantly clear that ranged weapons were the way forward here. The battle charge is Hunted's way of keeping the co-op gameplay at the forefront of the proceedings, as it allows you to make one another's attacks a lot more powerful, adding all kinds of magic effects to them. A quick charge of E'lara later, with Caddoc keeping guard, and the barrage of electrically charged arrows was enough to clear the first stage of the arena, leaving just a frantic finish to be had. It was Caddoc's turn to shine here and taking up the reigns of the turret, we obliterate the undead skeleton army that starts to swarm out of a few of the arena's portals. A few carefully placed shots later with the large turret though and the portal spawning endless waves of foes were closed and it was time to move on.
Moving into the swamp area, the players are greeted with the chance to partake in a side quest by talking to a sprit who offers clues to find a lost weapon that was lost in the area many years ago. After scouring the swamp area and seeing off the various beasts that attacked us, we came across the Axe of Delaine, a powerful unique weapon that's only usable by Cadddoc.