Predator: Hunting Grounds: PS4 demo review

Predator: Hunting Grounds: PS4 demo review

Predator: Hunting Grounds is free to play until March 30 NZT

Illfonics' follow up to Friday the 13th sees the studio take on another franchise.

This time it's the 80s classic Predator, and the game throws you deep in the jungle for its tutorial where you play the Predator, hunting out a target and wiping out those who stand in your way.

The demo also involves a multiplayer element, but given no matchmaking's been successful with waits exceeding 15 minutes before frustration sets in, there's no way to honestly gauge what the multiplayer is like.

Illfonics has acknowledged there are matchmaking issues, but don't seem to be remedying it during the trial weekend, which is just problematic for a game that's essentially offering up window shopping.

But to all intents and purposes the thrill of playing as the Predator in the new jungle map titled Overgrowth just about manages to make up for that.  Set in the South American jungles, the map's a nicely dense affair with trees, foliage and height giving you more than enough options to help plot the demise of your enemies.

Given the task of taking out a target from the guerillas infesting the jungle, the Predator uses the usual skills of heat-seeking and leaping through trees, cloaking and targeting missiles to its advantage.

The controls are simple at best, and there are some passing thrills as you execute soldiers and hunt. But it'd be more interesting to see how the game works as a multiplayer, given the 4v1 is the main drawcard here - and no doubt, most will want to play as the Predator rather than the fireteam despatched to take it out.

While the demo offers some promise, it's to be hoped the game irons out the horrendous matchmaking problems which have prevented the beta demo from fully embracing its community and its fans - it feels like it has potential to honour the hunter's legacy, but it's yet to be seen how.

Predator: Hunting Grounds releases on PS4 and PC in April