Over the years there have been countless shows, stories, and movies chronicling the adventures of Robin Hood and his Merry Men.
In the new game Hood: Outlaws & Legends players get to take control of different interpretations of four of the classic characters as they attempt to locate and extract loot in an enemy-strewn environment.
After playing a tutorial that introduces the characters and their abilities; players will have access to a camp where they can upgrade their weapons, skills, clothing, and change characters.
Players can then select if they wish to do a training mission or work the main mission that pits two teams of four against one another.
Players can select amongst four characters; all of which have unique strengths and weaknesses to them.
There is Robin Hood who is a Ranger class and uses his bow to dispatch enemies at a distance. Unfortunately, the supply of arrows is limited and when they run out; players must locate more and have limited combat options beyond bashing enemies with a Bow.
Marianne is a Hunter class and uses wrist-mounted bolts and a blade in combination with speed to make hit and run attacks and stealth kills.
Tooke is a Mystic who uses a Flail to attack enemies but can be open to attacks while his stamina rebuilds and he retracts his weapon.
John is a Brawler class and uses his hammer to smash enemies and uses his bulk to hold open gates and crank the extraction winch.
The missions involve sneaking into areas to locate the Sherriff and stealing a key from him. Once the key has been obtained; players must locate the vault and extract the chest to an extraction point and winch it until successful extraction.
This is not as easy as it sounds as various soldiers, archers, and Knights will attempt to stop players and the indestructible Sheriff is instant death when encountered up close. While players have a special ability that slowly recharges over time; their full power will only stun the Sherriff and makes him a character best to avoid.
The maps are less varied than I expected but they are interesting enough to hold players’ interest and the respawn points for killed players largely depend on taking and holding key strategic points.
In the main game mode; a second team will compete with your team to get the loot and have zero issues attacking you and taking your hard-earned loot and forcing players to contend with an enemy team and the A.I. enemies.
It is times like this that using the bombs and special abilities can be a savior but must be used sparingly.
I was shocked at first that the game did not have a campaign and was a co-op experience only but thanks to the cross-play function; I was able to find plenty of people to play with and having a good team is the key to success and enjoying the game as I can tell you toxic players or Lone Wolves can really ruin the experience.
At first, I thought the game was fairly simplistic and limited but the more I played; the more I found myself enjoying it as it really grew on me. While it is not going to be for everyone; those who invest the time to learn the various characters will likely enjoy it and being able to play a match in roughly 15 minutes makes it a great game to pop in and out from.
It would be nice to see more maps, characters, and some fine-tuning down the line; but for now; the game offers a pleasant enough distraction.
3.5 stars out of 5
