Good evening from the East Coast everyone. I am writing this after a long day at New York Comic Con. I purchased a few goodies, of which I posted on the Facebook page. Little did I know Illfonic was showing off Predator: Hunting Grounds for PS4! I had to RSVP from the Experience Playstation app, which was fairly simple. And as luck would have it, I was able to RSVP for a demo session mere minutes after logging in. Things were looking up. The hunt is on…

We entered the booth in groups of 5, one of the exhibitors handed out 5 cards to pick from. This would decide who was the Predator and whom was part of the squad. I was one of the soldiers, which initially dissapointed me but realized this was a better way to get the gist of the controls. Especially since I can’t remember the last time I played a squad shooter. Fortunately, the stations were equipped with headsets for the players.

The initial menus layover the mission, story and insertion point. I won’t lie to you, I was trying to absorb it all and can’t remember the finer details. There were about 4 different maps to choose from. Jungle, Pyramid, Crash Site annnnnd I have no idea.

Alright, on to the gameplay. If you’ve played the Friday the 13th game, it has a similar feel. Not only do you have to worry about the impending threat of the Predator, but mission objectives to worry about. Secure this, hack that, blow up that. You know how it goes. I spent a few getting the hang of the controls, but by the time the session ended I was comfortable. It was increidbly fun running with the team, getting each other backs. We stuck together the entire time, which I highly recommend. I was on the verge of death once thanks to some stupidity but was revived just in the nick of time.

Despite my first person shooter skills being a bit rusty, I was a valuable member of the operation. Much to my delight I acquire my favorite weapon towards the end: the shotgun. And you damn right I uttered, “I like to keep this handy, for close encounters”. If you don’t, just stop reading this blog post immediately. Wait, wait come back. I need the clicks. To heal yourself during battle, you either use medicine injections or first aid kits scattered across the map.

Unfortunately (fortunately?), we did not have a big showdown against the Predator. One of my teammates wounded him however. There was green blood scattered about on the ground to prove it. If you spot him, with one button press you’re able to alert the rest of the team too. That’s a cool feature.

And to top it all off, me and my ragtag bunch of soldiers completed the mission and survived. Free t-shirts for us as well! Overall, Hunting Grounds is incredibly fun despite it being in the pre-Alpha stage. I look forward to hopefully giving the demo another run or two.

Anyways, I am exhausted. Stay frosty everyone…