Try to rent first before you buy.

Author's Rating:

Pros: Good graphics, good animation, good mulitiplayer.

Cons: Very difficult and repetitive. Graphics a little small in multiplayer mode.

The Bottom Line: 
Rent before you buy. The game's entertaining enough but it becomes monotonous and it's not worth full price. Multiplayer is better but it's still a mediocre title.

Author's Review
A demonic power has been awakened by kids having a rave in the streets! Hmmm... and you have to sort the mess out by shooting everything that moves and slashing everything that doesn't. Cue The Reckoning.

In The Reckoning you play as one of four zombie/vampire hunters. Each Hunter has different attributes (speed, strength, stamina, accuracy, conviction etc.) and therefore different strengths and weaknesses. In this way, it's not much different to scrolling beat-em ups.

All Hunters have long range weapons (firearms), short range weapons (swords, knives etc.) and magic (aka "edges" which are powered by your "conviction"). As the game progresses you can pick up new weapons and as you gain experience points (through simply killing bad guys), your character's attributes improve as well as the power of their edges.

Choose your character and start shooting and hacking through the levels. That's pretty much it!

What are the games good points? Well, the animation is excellent. Zombies are literally shot to pieces and there's some really eye-catching detail such the bullets flying out from your gun, gun-flash and gun-smoke. Your character really moves well, 360 degrees. It's also a test of skill at the beginning as you learn to aim your weapons and get used to the fiddly controls - but it's worth the effort as you begin to move your character slickly through crowds of zombies, cooly firing and reloading.

There is also a decent variety of enemies and good, challenging end-of-level bosses. And finally, there's is no shortage of enemies to get stuck into.

What are the game's bad points? Well, one of The Reckoning's good points is also one its flaws. There is a huge number of zombies/vampires to deal with from the start - maybe too much. I have not seen a "beat-em up" with so many enemies. It doesn't matter where you are in the game either, whether it's the beginning or the end, those zombies are everywhere. On one count, I had thirty zombies on one screen. Now it sounds like fun, and to begin with it is - but when you have to shoot over 300 zombies to get to the mid-point of the first level it means two things - (i) the game quickly becomes monotonous and (ii) you end up dying a lot and restarting.

The game's graphics also become quite small when playing a multiplayer game. Don't be deceived by the screenshots on the back of the game's box! However, it is still playable and the detail is still there.

Thirdly, I think the game should have made more use of music to add atmosphere. When it did, the game was really lifted but it rarely happened. Occasionally a thumping dance track kicks in when you are fighting the undead; or there's demonic choir music in the haunted church yard (a la "The Omen") - and it really adds to the excitement and atmosphere - but for 95% of the time there's just the sound of your footsteps to keep you company.

So there you have it, an attractive but run-of-the mill slash fest. Great graphics and animation and wave after wave of enemies which made the game monotonous after a while.