Welcome Time Wasters!
We’re mixing it up this week by checking out a game still in its early stages of development. I used to do this more often a couple of years ago, but slightly fell out of the habit. However, Android Hunter A caught my attention this week.
I discovered Android Hunter A via a Facebook ad while wasting time (big surprise). I was immediately interested in it due to the Mega Man X vibe that I got from the promo images. I’m a big fan of Mega Man games and the market is a little dry at the moment. Sure, we got Mighty No. 9 (and I honestly enjoyed the game) but I want more. Luckily for me, there are others that think the same.
Android Hunter A puts players in the role of an Android named A (You know, like the Reploid named X?). He’s teaming up with the United Rebellion to put a stop to an android uprising. Yeah, this definitely sounds like a Mega Man game. There’s not much to know about the story yet besides this. The game is still way early in development to know anything else, but I hope it can bring something interesting with its story and not just present players with another Mega Man rehash.
The gameplay in Android Hunter A is very similar to the Mega Man X series. A has a gun equipped to his arm. This gun can shoot small energy projectiles and be charged up for a larger shot. A can also dash while on the ground and in the air. However, he doesn’t have unlimited air dashes.
The alpha version of the game that I got to play, which is up on the game’s website, only includes one level. It’s a city highway level that reminds me a lot of the first Mega Man X game. There’s also a boss at the end for payers to go up against. Overall, it worked well and I can seek the potential here. There are preview images for ice, fire and jungle levels, but they aren’t available in the alpha.
The visuals in Android Hunter A are incredibly similar to the Mega Man X games. I’m not talking about the actual graphics, which are 3D models on a 2D plane, but rather the designs. The various characters in the game all look like someone’s Mega Man X fan character and it worries me that they won’t stand out on their own. All of the different characters in the game also look kinda the same, which is a problem.
Not to harp too long about the graphics, but there are some strange color choices in the first level of Android Hunter A. Namely that every thing is black. The city is black, roads are black and a lot of the enemies are black. It can make it hard to see enemies as they kind of just blend in with everything else. Still, this is just an alpha preview, so maybe things will change by the time the game gets a final release.
The audio in Android Hunter A actually seems to be coming along nicely. There are great sound effects and the music in the first level is fun to listen to. There’s even some small grunts from A when he jumps or is hit. I was a little surprised as I expected the alpha to lack much in the way of audio.
Overall, there is potential for Android Hunter A. As it is now, I’m worried it will pull too much inspiration from the Mega Man X series and become nothing more than a shallow clone. Hopefully I’m wrong. I really want to be wrong, but only time will tell.
Alpha, Beta and Early Access games don’t get final scores from me. Instead, I’ve put a 2.5 GiN Gems placeholder score up.