izigame.me

Huntdown is a very good side scroller shoot’em up and a very excellent love letter to the '80s and its cyberpunk dystopian cinema, so what is the story. In the not too distant future of the 21st century after World War 3 entire nations have collapsed and the world outside is ruled by mutants, but profiteering megacorporations have created a city for people seeking refuge from the chaos, but only if they abide by their policies and work.
But for those who refuse there is another path, a criminal path. Gangs of all kinds have risen up committing assault, robbery and murder and regular law enforcement cannot stop them or are on their payroll. But there is a small group of people who have no allegiance to corporation or gangs, their only true allegiance is to the highest bidder, these people are called bounty hunters and they only live for one thing to hunt them down.
Alright the likes, the gameplay is very good and for the most part it's hard but fair, it does have some bunk in it but I'll get to that in the dislikes. Anyway the gameplay has a sort of Contra kind of feel to it as you run around picking up weapons while killing bad guys and trying to survive the various environments and at the end of a stage fight a powerful boss nothing too complicated, while still very enjoyable. The weapons are all very good, you have your standard pistol to the shotgun, but we get more fantastical devastating weapons and they are some weapons that are more useful than others, it’s up to you to pick which ones to use and how to use them.
The story is very good it's simple basically you're a bounty hunter and you have to kill the bad guys and collect their bounties, but it does a few things differently especially at the ending where it has the perfect setup for a sequel, It's also absolutely chalked full of references to the '80s action and dystopian future cinemas from Blade Runner to Robocop and Running Man, it was quite a joy to see.
The pixel Graphics are really good very colorful with many great designs from characters, the city, the weapons, even to enemies and bosses, it’s a joy to behold with all the scenery and colors capturing the look of classic side scrollers, but with modern touches.
The levels are really good very diverse with great little touches here and there that just makes each level and the city itself just stand out and being quite visually distinct and not wearing out, like they're also items that are specific to those areas like the subway station we see subway cars running about and we hear a woman on the loudspeaker talking about the various rules of the subway station, then junkyard there are burning pipes and destroyed vehicles, then to the rich upscale neighborhood with shops and museums, it's these little touches and attention to detail that make the whole game’s levels feel alive.
The enemy and bosses are really good each one has their own unique looks, I especially like the fact that the standard enemies each has a specific look tying them to their gang, like the hoodlum dolls red jackets and more fashionable appearance to the final level’s gang The Number One Suspects and their Asian inspired attire and a lot of the common enemies have references to them like referencing greaser culture or Kung Fu black exploitation cinema.
The bosses are spectacular each one has their own unique looks and attacks that really keeps you on your toes, also a lot of them are also references to different things, like one that's inspired by greaser culture, another boss at wouldn't be out of place in the warriors movie, we even have one boss that is a reference to RoboCop.
The music is very good each track is a joy to listen to that fits with the game’s aesthetic very well. The game also has voice acting and the voice acting is really good, especially for the bosses each one despite having a few lines does a really good job.
Alright the dislikes, I did say the gameplay is for the most part it's hard but fair, but it does have some bunk in it, like Suki the sniper’s level as it feels pretty unfair not only are you dealing with jetpack people you're also dealing with guys with homing missile bazookas.
Some of the boss fight stages can also feel very unfair and pretty chaotic like Sunny Rooster’s when he’s in his second form as you're not only dodging him, but also lava and Grandmaster Yuudai as when you drain his health to specific point Chinese dragons with bombs start flying around the screen, that feels particularly unfair because not only are you dodging his shotgun blasts, but you also have to worry about those Chinese dragons.
Alright with that done Huntdown is a very good side scroller shoot’em up and a very excellent love letter to the '80s and its cyberpunk dystopian cinema, it has very good gameplay, a very good story and really good enemy and bosses, so I definitely recommend this game if you're a fan of side scroller shoot’em ups or you love 80’s cyberpunk dystopian Cinema then I highly recommend getting this game and I really do hope this game gets a sequel someday.