It’s truly rare to see so much controversy surrounding the release of a video game. It harkens back to the days of Mortal Kombat and Senator Lieberman, and his crusade to implement an age appropriate rating system on video games to warn parents of their content. As we all know, this movement succeeded, and the games sold today all contain an ESRB rating. But not since the inception of this rating system has there ever been a game that utilized the AO (Adults Only 18+) rating from the ESRB. Enter Hatred by developer Destructive Creations; a violent, isometric shooter that has you murdering innocent people ‘just because’ the main protagonist hates everything, including himself.
Shrouded in scandal and smeared by critics wide and abroad due to its Adult Rating, Hatred – to the shock of many – is definitely not the first game to be widely criticized for its adult-centric content. Hatred eerily resembles the classic 2D isometric game Postal by Running with Scissors, and that game was released years ago before the ESRB had any real impact on the industry. Postal’s gameplay is nearly identical to Hatred’s — you played a disgruntled Postal worker that gunned down innocent men and women.
While the game used 2D graphics, the subject matter was of much debate back in the day, as your victims wheezed and yelled, ‘I can’t breath’ as they slowly crawled across the ground and bled to death. The realism of today’s graphics, though, allow Hatred to produce a more realistic portrayal of events that we all had the misfortune of seeing in today’s news. And in a lot of ways, this could be why so much controversy (and hatred?) surrounds this title and its inevitable release on Steam.
With all that aside, though – Hatred is a solid shooter that keeps your adrenaline pumping from the time you start playing. Essentially, the main premise behind Hatred is to kill as many people as possible before you die. As the main character says in the beginning, ‘I want to die in the most violent way possible.’ Well, that is not only a possibility for the game’s deranged protagonist, but it can happen at anytime (especially when breaking into a victim’s house).
While most targets (i.e. people) will run in fear, others will pull either handguns from their pockets or shotguns from dressers to protect their homesteads, adding more challenge to an already chaotic form of gameplay. If you are successful at executing your attackers, you still have to fend off the countless number of police officers that are pursuing you. The game has its moments, though, as the protagonist mutters trashy obscenities to himself as you have him run down dimly lit streets, darkened back yards, and into places like the supermarket to raise some cane. But again, the style of dark humor used in Hatred isn’t for everyone.
In fact, it could easily offend some people. Basically, if you were to dismantle the social buffers of society and allowed the ‘real’ to hang out, you would essentially end up with the premise, and creative direction, behind Hatred and its overall content — absolute chaos with a slight peppering of madness thrown in for good meassure.
Hatred’s open world – while not as large as the GTA series – provides plenty of missions based on your main objective. The available side missions are obtained by locating the special marker(s) located on your compass. Completing these ‘side’ missions can net substantial bonuses, along with a respawn point. It’s worth mentioning that unless you activate one of these ‘respawn’ points, you will have to start the game over if you die. In some ways, Hatred can be compared to a roguelike because of this feature.
Hatred’s healing system is rather unique, if not a bit controversial. Instead of using a more traditional method (i.e. med paks, etc.), the player must brutally murder any victim that hasn’t already died from his/her wounds. For every victim that is executed, the player gains a small margin of health. However, the amount of health received per kill can vary based on the game’s difficulty setting. The executions have to be the game’s most shocking feature. There’s at least a dozen execution moves that vary based on the weapon(s) being used. Some involve straight out, brutal stabbings to splitting skulls in two with a shotgun at close range, to name just a few.
The game also provides a barrage of weaponry that accumulates over the course of each chapter. These weapons include, but are not limited to – assault rifles, handguns, shotguns, grenades, and flaming cocktails that can burn your victims alive. Each weapon has its own strengths and weaknesses, so there are times when one weapon is more useful than another.
No matter how many times you have to play through the same location/chapter, the gameplay never seems to grow stale. This stems from the constant game of cat and mouse you play, as you chase your victims into houses, supermarkets, and even the local police station. The gameplay also changes when you start a new game, so as mentioned earlier — Hatred borrows some gameplay elements from the roguelike genre, separating it from your standard shoot ‘em up.
The graphics have to be the darkest ever seen in a PC game. The environments are devoid of color; a grey-like haze settles heavily over the streets, houses and backyards that make up Hatred’s world. There are exceptions, of course, when a victim is shot or stabbed, or when a fire erupts from a damaged vehicle. Blood pools brightly where ever victims lay, while explosions and fires have a dull, orange glow to them. After playing for a few hours, you tend not to notice the black and white color palette.
The unique graphics allow you to focus more on the game, preventing your eyes from wandering to other objects instead of the main character. This adds a movie-like quality to Hatred; it also provides the player with a truly unique gameplay experience. A lot of gamers may not approve of Hatred’s subject matter (it touches on sensitive subjects that have taken center stage on the nightly news), but the game itself is a heart-pounding, thrill of a ride from the moment you start playing.
As mentioned earlier, this new standard of gaming isn’t for everyone. But those that do enjoy a mindless shooter will appreciate Hatred’s exhilarating action. Besides, what’s the point of having a rating system if developers can’t push the envelope? The AO (Adults Only +18) rating has been around for a long time, but no one has ever attempted to overstep that boundary. Maybe Hatred will encourage more developers to experiment with this rating instead of ignoring it. And besides, Hatred is a lot of fun despite its subject matter. In fact, you could say that it provides a ‘blood drenching’ good time.
James ‘Daripp3r’ Pittaro
Platform: PC
System Requirements
Minimum:
OS: Microsoft Windows Vista (SP2) with DirectX 11 update (KB971512-x64), Windows® 7 (Service Pack 1) and Windows 8.1 – (64-bit only).
Processor: 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5-750 or 3.2 GHz AMD Phenom II X4 955
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 or AMD Radeon HD5850 (1 GB VRAM)
Developer: Destructive Creations
Publisher: Destructive Creations
ESRB: AO (Adults Only 18+)
Price: $19.99
Hatred Official Website: http://www.destructivecreations.pl/
| Review Score | |
|---|---|
| Graphics |  |
| The stunning black and white graphics add a movie-like quality to the experience. | |
| Sound | |
| Fantastic sound effects and a brilliant soundtrack. | |
| Gameplay | |
| This is the best isometric shoot 'em up you’ll play this year. | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| Every so often, a game is released that makes you sit up and take notice. In Hatred’s case, its controversial gameplay makes for a bloody good time. | |
