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Platform: XBox

Developer: High Voltage

Publisher: Interplay

Genre: Action

ETA: March 2002

Still only 60-70% complete, Digital Mayhems Hunter: The Reckoning promises massive hacks and bloody slashes plus hordes of gruesome enemies in the tradition of games like Gauntlet. Set in the dusky, nightmarish World of Darkness universe by White Wolf Publications, Hunter is shaping up to be an action-packed macabre peek into the world of the damned.

Never having been a fan of hack & slash, reflex violence games, I’m approaching Hunter with a skeptical eye. There’s a thin, delicate balance of game play and structural depth required not to fall into the snare of brain numbing repetition and eventually complete boredom. Harvesting profundity from such a simple concept can be tricky - from the looks of it, High Voltage is gently placing this baby on the balancing wire hoping not to lean too far in any direction.

Taking from the White Wolf pen & paper role-playing series, in Hunter evil lurks within seemingly ordinary people. Disguised as regular humans, zombies, werewolves and all sorts of ghouls mingle with the public and the only ones capable of detecting them are Hunters, those who have gained this extraordinary insight through traumatic events. Instead of making insane accusations and being cast from society as lunatics, the Hunters have chosen to band together and squash the demonic insurrection themselves. Players will control one of four fighters in what could be bloodiest game since Mortal Kombat.

The four selectable “Hunters” include a tattooed biker named Deuce, a paranormal priest named Father Esteban, a temptress Police officer Samantha and a short skirted raver named Cassandra. The somewhat cliché characters are highly detailed complete with grungy clothes, facial hair and the grim look of someone with a fatal task at hand. At there disposal is a sweet variety of weapons like pipes, axes, pistols, swords, shotguns, crossbows and even flamethrowers with which they’ll mow through the unstoppable swarms of the undead.

Beyond its frightening concept, Hunter will consist of 20+ levels each including specific mission objectives. At this stage in development the level design is consistent with the pretty, almost too shiny Xbox graphics we expect. This one nearly guarantees plenty of eye candy and blood-spattered visuals. There’s a lot of gothic architecture, and eerie locations like a playground, empty warehouses and a prison execution chamber. Enemies also will come in various forms -- beside the compulsory zombies and werewolves there will be 20 highly detailed fiends to slaughter.

It seems easy to write Hunter off as a pumped up, “Gauntlet-ized” means of hitching a ride on the horror express but hopefully there will be more to it than that. From what I’ve seen the game play appears slightly superficial, relying more on the shock affect of wildly severed limbs and gore than on basic premises of clever game play and enjoyable action. The real breadth of the game may come in the multi-player mode where all four Xbox ports can join four players for a ghastly rendezvous.

Alas, many a game has looked like fun in the preview stage but ultimately lacked in its fundamentals once it hits the shelf. Hopefully in the end, Hunter: The Reckoning will offer more than a few hours of violence and a $50 doorstop.

- Doug Flowe