VG Mad

Hatred

System: PC
Developer: Destructive Creations
Publisher: Destructive Creations

02 Jun 2015

With all the negative press before launch, with some bullshit moral high ground taken by some reviewers at mainstream gaming sites, is Hatred really deserving of the Adult Only rating? Is it really deserving of being banned from Twitch? More importantly, is the game actually any good?

First up, the main screen. It has a film grain effect, with selective parts of the imagery glowing nicely. The main antagonist is featured, looking dark and morbid. All minor animations seem to do the title screen very well.

The options are good enough to tweak to preference and performance. A nice option in there, is to disable all in-game execution cut scenes, as after a few plays, you will certainly want to turn these off, so to keep the game play flowing.

At any time, you can switch between mouse and keyboard, and a joypad. Mouse and keyboard are definately the better control system for this game, as the joysticks seem both overly sensitive, and difficult to master. No doubt as with any game though, you will learn to use the joypad over time.

Personally, I feel the joypad controls could do with some patching.

The isometric view works well, layers of object graphics are taken away when near them, to help keep the focus on your antagonist. The levels are well built, with near to everything being destructable.

Some vehicles are also hijackable, which is great for mowing down groups of civilians, though sadly they are weak, so you are practically driving a ticking bomb as soon as it takes damage.



The police aren't the only enemy hunting you down either. Should a civilian come across a weapon, they will arm themselves, thus becoming an armed enemy likely to chase and gun you down too, if you don't eliminate them quickly.

Executions can be done against any downed person, that isn't fully dead. Doing executions is necessary, as this is the only way to replenish your health.

To help see targets within the world of Hatred, a minimap is provided, along with the ability to highlight humans and objects with a red glow.

Various weapons, and various projectiles, can help to keep the game interesting, should you want to come back and play in a different style.

The game can seem a little repetitive, which isn't much of a deal breaker considering the game is roughly five hours long.

Hatred isn't brilliant, though it is indeed playable when you just want to cause some detructive mayhem after a bad day, just as the devs intended.

Does it deserve the AO rating? Certainly not. You can do much worse in GTA. It certainly doesn't deserve being banned from twitch or retail stores. The media hype has certainly contributed to a sales boom, that is without a doubt.

If you don't have any issues with mindless killing, and lets face it, its highly doubtful you couldn't care less, then Hatred is a game worthy of some of your spare time.