Robin Hood has been given the gritty reboot he needed back before Russel Crowe butchered the character the death with his awful attempt at a Nottingham accent. Is it any good?
I’m still really early on in my pillaging career in Hood: Outlaws & Legends but I get the sense that Focus Home Interactive and the developers, Sumo Newcastle, are on to a good thing with this team-based heist game.
There’s just one game mode, four playable characters, and a handful of maps to play in at launch, but I’ve already found myself smitten with the game. The concept is really simple and it could probably work without Robin Hood and his band of killer thieves, but attaching the concept to something familiar (and in the public domain…) is a smart way to elevate the game.
The idea is that two teams of Outlaws compete against one another to pull off a heist. On each map there’s a chest, but it’s locked away in a vault and the key is on the Sheriff and needs to be pickpocketed. Each must try to first steal the key, then unlock the vault, and then rob off with the chest by taking it to an extraction point where it can be winched to safety. It’s straight forward but how you get around each task is what makes the game exciting as you never really know what the enemy team is going to do. Will they hang back and lay in wait, allowing you and your group to pinch the chest, only to ambush you and take the booty for their own? Or will they fight from start to finish? It’s this dynamic gameplay that makes each round exciting to play. I will say, though, that the amount of fun and success you’ll achieve is largely dependant on who you play with. If you’re stuck with a team of non-speakers, you can forget about any kind of teamwork or success. But, get in with a chatty group and you’ll have a whale of a time.
The review is still in progress but in the meantime you can have a look at Hood: Outlaws & Legends running on PS4 and PS5 in the gameplay videos below, with each one showing a full match from start to finish. I’m going to be up late through the night fighting for my riches, and I’ll be back before the weekend to let you know my final thoughts on the game.
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