The story of Robin Hood and his Merry Men is one of the oldest and most recognizable legends. Many people heard it while growing up, which helped fuel their sense of adventure and daring-do. In the recently released Hood: Outlaws & Legends, those young adventurers can finally play out their childhood fantasies. This competitive multiplayer title sees two teams of outlaws competing to claim a precious treasure from the State.
Even though Hood has received a positive reception, with players already tearing through the ranks, some things just feel a little off (as noted in our review of the game). New releases are often expected to have some problems coming out of the gate, but some of them are just far too distracting or confusing to ignore.
10 Players Can All Choose The Same Character
It’s established in the game’s tutorial that Hood allows players to play as one of four characters: Robin, Marianne, Tooke, and John. Each character has a distinct appearance, backstory, and role to play. The issue is, when developers characterize player characters to such a degree, it creates an expectation of continuity.
However, there have already been reports of all four players on a team picking John (a formidable character indeed when played well) and just plowing through all obstacles. Overwatch experienced a similar issue during its launch period, and Hood may also need to take steps to prevent players from abusing this oversight.
9 Arrow Boxes Serve All, Bomb Boxes Serve One
One of the primary mechanics of Hood is the use of arrows and bombs, consumable items. Only the agile and speedy Robin and Marianne can use arrows, but every character can use a unique type of bomb. However, each character begins a match limited to just one, and they need to restock from bomb boxes found around the area.
The nonsensical thing is that even though the boxes are rendered showing multiple bombs, it completely empties when a player collects from them. This doesn’t apply to arrow boxes, oddly, and Robin and Marianne can hold a lot of those (seven and nine respectively).
8 Touching The Chest Triggers Lockdown
Arguably the most appealing aspect of stealth games is the challenge. Being able to sneakily break into a fortress, bypass security, and grab the treasure without anyone knowing what happened is truly proof of skill.
When playing a round of Hood, any number of players can claim the chest without being seen a single time. However, this is all rendered moot when nearby areas go into lockdown the moment somebody picks it up. This may be a way to up the urgency, but it still invalidates efforts made to remain undetected.
7 Tooke’s Weapon Couldn’t Be Any More Conspicuous
The story of Robin Hood includes a colorful cast of characters, and one of the most consistent is a wandering monk. His name tends to differ, but in Hood, he is named Tooke and he appears as a strong and dignified brawler. While it’s not uncommon to depict monks as disciplined warriors, they tend to rely on hand-to-hand or staff weapons.
Tooke uses a censer as a ball and chain for ranged and sweeping attacks. For someone who values espionage and all things stealthy, it’s an impractical choice. Censers give off a distinct odor, while also emitting light and smoke, which would be very easy to spot in the dark.
6 The Sheriff Always Finds The Chest, But Doesn’t Return It
A Sheriff’s job is to enforce the law and punish criminals, which is exactly what he does in Hood. He appears as a tall, imposing, heavily armored soldier, who stomps ominously around the area shaking the ground with each step. His main role is to act as the keyholder, and once the chest is stolen, he goes into pursuit mode.
No matter where players take the chest, he will always home in on its location, usually followed by a posse. After reaching the chest, he simply starts roaming around without making any attempts to take it back to the Vault. This gives players more of a chance, but is very jarring to watch nonetheless.
5 Enemies Spawn Out Of Thin Air
Plenty of game designers use brilliant tricks to make players feel as though they’re being overwhelmed by enemy forces. These spawning methods tend to be subtle, or at least difficult to notice. Hood doesn’t take that route with its enemy generation.
While killing enemies does make it easier to get around, they never stay down for long. This is blatantly obvious during the extraction phase of the heist. After the chest has been placed onto the winch platform, enemies will swarm around it. If there aren’t many left, more will literally pop into being. It’s a bit of an immersion breaker.
4 Tooke’s Gas Bomb Is The Only One That Poses A Danger Of Friendly Fire
Each character in Hood can carry one bomb, and all of them are different. Robin uses flash bombs, Marianne uses smoke bombs (a perfect fit for her stealthy playstyle), John uses explosives and Tooke uses gas. Tooke and Marianne’s bombs are similar, in that they both release clouds of smoke when used.
The difference is that Tooke’s gas bomb can rapidly drain stamina, which makes it effective against other players. Since it also obscures vision, it’s tempting to use it to protect the team, but that will drain their stamina as well. Allies can hit each other with arrows without consequence, so it’s a strange choice to draw the line for friendly fire at Tooke’s gas bombs.
3 Guards Don’t React To Dead Bodies
As stealth games have evolved, so has the realism and complexity of their AI. This includes mechanics that take sounds and other distinct clues caused by the protagonist into consideration. Stealth becomes more difficult when players understand that they can’t simply kill their way to the goal. If they do decide to try that route, they often need to make sure they hide all evidence of their presence.
While the AI in Hood can react quite quickly, enemies rely solely on visual contact with players. Guards commonly travel in pairs, and one can drop dead in front of the other without their companion raising an alarm. They may be generic foes, but a bit more personality and responsiveness would go a long way.
2 There’s No One At The Hideout
Most team-related games incorporate some kind of home base. It often acts as a hub area where players can upgrade equipment, choose missions, and plan strategies. Hood’s hub is called the Hideout, a rustic arrangement of stalls and training areas hidden deep in a forest. It also acts as a waiting area, while players queue to join a game.
There are a lot of interesting elements to the Hideout, including a blacksmith, clothing stall and challenges stand. The unusual aspect is that the Hideout is completely devoid of life and activity. It’s hard to sell the fact that this band of rogues is stealing for the people when they’re nowhere to be seen.
1 There’s Only One Game Mode
When gamers sit down to play a game together, they like to have options. Franchises like Payday and Left 4 Dead offer multiple game modes that provide different levels of challenge. In Hood, there’s just one game mode at launch, and it always follows the same linear objectives: steal the key, find the vault, and extract the chest.
What’s also unusual is that playing against the AI is considered training and worth little to no rewards, an odd choice considering how difficult the challenge can be. There is a lot of potential in a team-based stealth game, but it needs to be tight, consistent, gripping, varied and rewarding. Not to mention, in some areas, logical.
NEXT: Hood: Outlaws & Legends: The Suspense Is Terrible Achievement Guide
