Yeah it's basically the old Splinter Cell "Spies vs Mercs" set-up, where it makes it easier for the lone, agile stealthy player to stalk the more unaware team, and thus also makes it more tense for the latter.
Plus if and when they introduce more skins, as I'm sure they will given how many different Jasons they ended up with in Friday the 13th, it'll be nice to be able to see them all the time while you play. Not that I would have complained if the Predator had been in first-person as well, but I think this is a good way to go about it.
Also it's a few days old, but I didn't see this new Playstation blog post up anywhere yet:
https://blog.us.playstation.com/2019/09/11/everything-we-learned-about-predator-hunting-grounds-at-gamescom-2019/Some nice, hype-building descriptions in there.
Quote from: Playstation blog"When the Predator cloaks, he makes a clicking sound. When you're playing as the Fire Team, focused on the objectives and you hear that click, you'll start freaking out," Jared says. "My favourite moments are when the Predator is hunting you but you're mudded up so he can't see you, and he's directly overhead, moving through the trees. That's when the tension really gets you."
Quote from: Playstation blog"Mudding up is a mechanic that we pulled in from the first movie," Jared explains. "It covers your heat signature so the Predator can't spot you as easily. But then, when you do mud up, you'll be vulnerable for a little while you're looking down — and that's when the Predator can pounce."
In one of the games we played, that's exactly what happened. Towards the end of a match, in a desperate race to reach the chopper, one of the IllFonic guys stopped to cover himself — but it was too late. The Predator was quickly on top and liberating his spinal cord from his body.
So, using mud will have a drawback if the Predator suspects you're going to do it and strikes at the right time. Definitely doesn't sound like it's going to be op or something where every human player just does it the instant they start every single game. That's good.
And this
definitely hasn't been shown or talked about before:
Quote from: Playstation blog"His helmet can get blown off which makes him even more vulnerable as he won't have heat vision any more, and you won't be able to aim the Plasma Caster, so the shots will be a little off."
That's a really cool detail, similar to how you can knock Jason's mask off in F13, only here it actually has negative gameplay effects for the Predator! Granted I guess you could say it did in F13 too since it was one of the things you had to do if you wanted to try and kill Jason, but this sounds like it'll affect more matches in a more noticeable way.
Also, humans potentially stealing a Predator's mask? Wonder if we might get a The Predator-themed trophy for that?