Why aren’t there more games where you play as the Predator?

Sure, there is the fantastic Aliens vs Predator games, and possibly a few other random games where you play as The Predator in some fashion, but I want to know why there are zero to none which just feature you as a single, invisible hunter, stalking your prey and then mercilessly offing them. It gives you a great feeling of superiority, knowing that they can just tell you’re nearby, ready to strike at any moment, but they never see that final moment coming. I’m sure many people feel the same about this, but there is even a surprising lack of mods that utilise this idea, and an even greater lack of them that do it well. The hilariously fun Half Life 2 mod, The Hidden: Source, is one such shining example of a mod that does it remarkably well. Full write-up after the cut.

There’s a small group of people I play PC games with. It’s what we do all the time, play games. I get home, get on Ventrilo and we decide what we’re going to do for the next few hours. Quite often, Aevan will jump on too. Be it Left4Dead, Team Fortress 2, Saints Row 2, Sacred, D&D Online, etc. etc. We play everything.  There isn’t much I do online that doesn’t involve this group, and we usually end up sticking to a couple games for about only a week or two before moving on to something else. However, one game we have gone back to time and time again is The Hidden.

The Hidden is a fairly simple concept. Two teams, the IRIS – a crack military squad trained in hunting down and intercepting escaped test subjects from Infinitum Research, and The Hidden – said escaped test subject from said research institute. The major difference between this and most team based game types however, is that the Hidden team is comprised of only one player, as opposed to the IRIS team which supports up to eight. Rounds are played out in standard team deathmatch fashion, with the team that eliminates the other declared the victor. This may sound like a completely unfair advantage in favour of IRIS, but you first need to know exactly what the Hidden is…

The official story for the mod on the website talks of genetic experiments through DNA manipulation on human test subjects in order to create the ‘perfect covert military agent’, most notably in the area of ‘Biologic Light Refraction’ – a process that could potentially render a human subject almost completely invisible. Along with their previous testing in increasing reflex time, improving strength and stamina et cetera, this makes for one deadly individual indeed. However, due to a ‘gross miscalculation’, something went horribly wrong and the most recent subject – codenamed ‘Subject 617′ – was left with severe synaptic trauma (massive headaches) and managed to escape from the facility, killing anyone in his way. The IRIS (Infinitum Research Interception Squad) team have now been dispatched to find Subject 617 and bring him in by any means necessary.

So, this leaves us with a person who is faster and stronger than the average human, has the ability to pounce large distances and can ‘cling’ to walls (though he cannot climb them), has the ability to see the ‘auras’ of nearby living beings, and is almost completely invisible. Light is refracted around 617′s body, so it is possible to barely make out a distortion effect around him, but he’s pretty damn hard to see. And now that we have his abilities covered, what tools does he have at his disposal for taking down his pursuers?

The Hidden has a total of two weapons he can use against the IRIS team – a knife and three grenades. Whilst this may not seem like much, these weapons are surprisingly effective. With the knife, 617 has two attacks. Primary fire is a simple slash that does a decent amount of damage (and also heals you slightly whenever you hit an IRIS player), and the secondary fire is a very satisfying instant kill attack known as the ‘pigstick’.  Now again, this could sound a little unfair or ‘broken’ – an invisible character being able to instantly kill other players – but one thing you need to know is this move has a little over a second for preparation once you use it. 617 pulls the knife back with both hands and plunges it forwards – which if it makes contact causes the body of the IRIS agent to explode in a shower of gore – and also makes a fairly loud growling sound, alerting anybody nearby to your presence. So unless you’re absolutely sure you can make a killing blow without being filled with lead the instant you attempt it, it is not always the best decision. It can be absolutely hilarious/terrifying if you are an IRIS player looking at a team mate, only to watch them explode sideways out of nowhere as a result of this attack. Although the explosions can be fairly amusing and effective with the pigstick, this does bring with it one major drawback. Subject 617 can use his primary knife attack to heal himself when it hits, as I have stated before, but this can also be used on the body of a dead opponent a few times to get a few small heals after they have died. While incredibly useful, this can only be used on bodies that are still intact, rendering exploded corpses useless. You can also carry bodies around and nail them to walls and ceilings using a combination of the pounce and pigstick, providing a hanging meal for the Hidden and a terrifying warning to the IRIS. Subject 617 can also pick up physics objects strewn throughout maps and launch them at opponents, making for a quick ranged attack that does a little damage.

The grenades also come with an element of strategy to them. Whilst a single grenade for the most part will not outright kill an opponent at full health, it will deal a very large amount of damage, leaving them with just enough life left to take one or two regular knife slashes. Grenades are also extremely effective for groups due to the obvious explosion radius this weapon produces – one particular moment recently when I was playing, the IRIS team were goofing around, standing on top of each other to form a ‘totem pole’. One grenade toss later I had scattered all of them and left all but one with next to no health left, resulting with a bout of laughter from all involved. The fact that you only have three grenades also means you have to be very careful with how you use them – using a grenade for a single IRIS member is usually considered an absolute waste when you could save it for a time when everybody is grouped together (which happens more often than you would think). The grenades also have a shell shock effect to them, causing player vision to blur and have their sound replaced by a high pitched inner-ear style ringing for a few seconds. This time can be used to take one or two out before they regain their senses.

I mentioned before that Subject 617 can cling to walls and ceilings, which is probably the absolute most useful ability in your arsenal as the Hidden. Almost every map is designed to put this ability to excellent use, with plenty of rafters, high ceilings and walls to hide on, waiting for your unsuspecting prey to walk beneath you. It is extremely satisfying to drop down behind a player that has no idea where you are and take them out in a single strike, leaving you to pounce back to the place you were hiding in. Quite often, IRIS players never think to look right above them in these situations and the surviving members will lunge into a paranoid bout of spraying gunfire in all directions around them hoping to catch you.

The last ability that Subject 617 has in his arsenal is the ‘Aura View’. With a press of a key, the Hiddens view switches to a negative colour effect for the area around him, and at first glance does not appear to be very useful at all (it in fact makes it much more difficult to see anything). However, the useful part of this ability is that it will show you the location of human players in the map, even if they are a few rooms away up to a certain amount of walls between you. This view also shows what state their health is currently in – dark green being full health, with colours changing progressively to dark red which means they are dangerously close to death. Coupled with the hiding ability from the pounce maneuver, this is extremely useful in planning out your attacks against your would-be captors. It is a tremendous amount of fun to play as the hidden, if a little daunting at first with all of this new movement available, and the sheer power available to you with the attacks you have coupled with the invisibility gives you a great feeling like you could take on the entire world. Though whilst subject 617 may be powerful and stealthy, he is also extremely fragile. A well placed shotgun blast to the head can take out the Hidden instantly for the most part, and he really can’t take that much damage form other weapons. Play the hunt right, however, and you can easily gain full control over your foes, manipulating them to your will until you have each one on their own and within your grasp.

It is also ridiculously fun to use the speech menu when playing to taunt IRIS players. The Hidden can say phrases such as “I’m heeeeere!” or whisper “Look up…” to add the feeling that the hunter is just playing with his prey before causing it to explode from a well placed stab to the back of the head.

So, it’s a blast to play as the Hidden, but what about the boring old marines? Not to worry, the team behind The Hidden: Source have done a fine job in making team IRIS fun and interesting to play. Whenever you join a server, instead of being assigned a faceless random character model to play as, you are given a list of IRIS members to choose from – each with their own names and back stories (I always pick Jamar Swope, if anybody was wondering). You then get to pick one of the two classes available out of assault (more weapons to choose from) or support specialist (can give other team members ammo and can carry more support items), and finally choose your weapon loadout – one primary weapon, a pistol and a support item.

The weapons available for IRIS for the most part are your standard shooter fare of assault rifle, sub machinegun, shotgun, pistols. However, there are some fun little additions for the rest of the equipment available. One of the most notable is a gun known as the ‘Less-Than-Lethal Launcher’ or ‘Very-Extravagant-Name for a Tranquiliser’. The gun does not do much damage right off the bat, at at first glance only appears to fire green paintballs, but if one of these paintballs makes contact, things turn into pure hell for Subject 617. His vision becomes blurred (even more so for every successive time you manage to peg him with one of these), and his health starts to deteriorate until the blur effects wear off. It also makes a very distinctive ‘pewff’ sound (not to be confused with pew-pew) every time it is fired, and believe me that sound will instill eternal hell bound fear into any Hidden player.

Aside from picking your weapon loadout, you are also able to pick one item from a list of additional equipment. The items are as follows;

-A flashlight, which obviously will illuminate dark areas, but for the most part is fairly useless.

-Night Vision Goggles, which enhance light in dark areas so you can see much more clearly. Much more useful than the flashlight.

-A laser aiming module which can be used on any weapon, so you can actually see where you will shoot (there is no crosshair). It also is pretty good at showing you if the Hidden is in front of you.

-A shot of adrenaline which makes you run crazy fast for about 30 seconds, your vision is blurred when you do this, but it can really get you out of a pinch at the most intense of moments.

-’Sonic Trip Alarms’, which look kind of like a laser trip mine, although they are supposed to show the Hidden on your radar if he passes through the beam.

These items are interesting and diverse enough to match anybody’s play style. For instance I love carrying the night vision goggles with me for the most part as I seem to be able to notice the hidden much easier whilst using them, whereas other people have a harder time when they are active. Most of the other guys I play with use the Laser Aiming Module top help them spot where the Hidden is when he move into their sights. I also tend to use the Sonic Trip Alarms for unintended uses, after you place them they become solid objects in the game world, so I use them as makeshift platforms to climb up to vantage points to camp and watch for Subject 617. More often than not it just gets me killed faster…

Teamplay is also a huge factor in this game, as you constantly have to be watching each others backs to make sure the Hidden doesn’t sneak up and catch one of you unawares. For the most part, it is always better to stay in groups as a single player on their own is an extremely easy target. You do need to be careful not to group up too close together though, as it most often fatal for most of the team if you are clustered together in what my group refers to as ‘Grenade Formation’. The team communication is well done, with in game voice chat, character speech binds and standard text chat all offered, and this can also add to the atmosphere of the game. If a player is killed off by the Hidden, they can no longer communicate with the rest of the IRIS members at all, so calls to see if a player is still alive after hearing something horrible will be met with radio silence and the gripping fear that you may now be all alone.

The maps in the hidden are a wonderful mix of executive buildings, rooftops, creepy underground laboratories, trainyards and even a derelict mansion. All of these maps have wonderful places for the Hidden to climb around and hide out to stalk his prey, and most of them just ooze atmosphere to provide some frightening settings for the human players. The map work is very well done, with a great combination of well done architecture and physics objects strewn throughout the maps, which reminds me that you should be on the lookout for the Xbox that is hidden in every stage. Nothing is more terrifying than turning the corner of a hallway and seeing a giant last generation Microsoft console flying toward your head.

With all this great fun in The Hidden: Source, I do have to bring up a couple of glaring issues I have with the mod. The most frustrating of which has become known in the group I play with as ‘Black Screen’. Usually after playing for a map or two, after the transition to the next level some sort of graphical hiccup will occur, and at any moment in gameplay where motion blur is supposed to be rendered (shell shock from a grenade, the effects of adrenaline or from the Less-Than-Lethal Launcher), the screen will just turn completely black. This has happened to me on all three of the systems I have played The Hidden: Source on, and it happens to everybody else I know that plays the game. It can really ruin the experience when you get hit by a grenade explosion, only to be completely and utterly blind for the next few seconds and have no idea where you are moving or aiming. It can be even worse for the Hidden, after getting hit with the tranquiliser and having his location completely exposed without knowing where to escape to. This can really ruin a game, and required closing and re-opening the game to fix it. I have also managed to fix it simply by starting to record a video in Xfire, but for those who don’t use Xfire this doesn’t really help. The other problem I have is that they haven’t freaking updated this mod in two years. The creator, Ging apparently has been working on the new version this entire time, but due to team members dropping out or other issues, not much progress has been made. It’s more of a selfish concern but I would like to see much more out of this mod.

In all, The Hidden: Source is a fantastically well done mod, and an absolutely hilarious time with a group of friends, and whilst the issues that it has can be extremely frustrating I do highly recommend the game – especially for play at a LAN party or with a group of friends you play a lot of games with online. I really wouldn’t know about the public experience, and I have never tried it on a public server, but I assume it would still be a great time with strangers!

And once again, for making it through my Holy Crap Wall of Text (Trademarked by Aevan), here’s a video of a typical Hidden round. Bear in mind Xfire’s encoder ruined my audio synch again by the end, and I get killed WITH A FREAKING PISTOL, but you do get to see the totem scattering I mentioned, and an Xbox!