Concrete Jungle: How Did This Happen?

A critical retrospective on Predator: Concrete Jungle, exploring its flawed story, gameplay, and why it failed to live up to expectations.

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Key Takeaways

Predator: Concrete Jungle fails to deliver a compelling story or engaging gameplay.
The protagonist Scarface is an emotionally fallible but poorly written character.
Gameplay mechanics and controls are unresponsive and frustrating.
The game’s design choices, including AI and checkpoint systems, detract from player enjoyment.
Despite nostalgic value, the game does not age well and is difficult to recommend.

What the video covers

The video revisits Predator: Concrete Jungle, a childhood favorite that was critically panned upon release.
Initially intended as an appreciation, the review turns into a critique due to the game's many flaws.
The story is described as weak and bizarre, featuring a Predator named Scarface causing a massive catastrophe.
Scarface is portrayed as a cowardly or unlikeable protagonist, with poor plot decisions and character development.
Gameplay suffers from unresponsive controls, bad camera mechanics, shallow mechanics, and poor AI.
The game’s checkpoint system and fail states are frustrating, leading to repeated mission restarts.
Despite some fun moments, such as combat with the spear gun, the overall experience is marred by design issues.
The video highlights wasted potential in story and gameplay, with time spent on minor details rather than core improvements.
The review includes humorous and sarcastic commentary on the game’s narrative and mechanics.
The video concludes with the reviewer expressing frustration and disappointment with the game.

Chapters

What is the main criticism of Predator: Concrete Jungle in this video?

The video criticizes the game for its poor story, unresponsive controls, shallow gameplay mechanics, and frustrating checkpoint system.

How does the video describe the protagonist Scarface?

Scarface is portrayed as a cowardly or major asshole Predator who causes a massive catastrophe and is treated poorly by his peers.

Does the reviewer find any redeeming qualities in the game?

Yes, the reviewer notes some fun combat moments, such as using the spear gun, and appreciates the attempt at showing a more emotionally fallible Predator.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

Speaker A

[Music] I played a lot of games as a kid, good and bad. Some of my favorites were young and obscure, weird little products like Jaws Unleashed or Stubbs the Zombie. Recently, I've been going back and trying to replay some of those games from my childhood to see how they've aged. One of the first games I started with, the game we'll be covering today, is Predator: Concrete Jungle.

Speaker A

games from my childhood to see how they've aged one of the first games I started with the game we'll be covering today is predator concrete jungle all right now here's where I got to be real with you initially I went into this

Speaker A

All right, now here's where I gotta be real with you. Initially, I went into this experience wanting to make an appreciation post of sorts, a video all about giving props to a game that received nothing but shit on release. Concrete Jungle was one of my favorites as a kid. It couldn't be that bad, right? Wrong.

Speaker A

bad right wrong honestly the more I started to play this game the more I started to fucking hate it this video was originally going to be called an exploration of predator concrete jungle but now I'm going to call it concrete

Speaker A

Honestly, the more I started to play this game, the more I started to fucking hate it. This video was originally going to be called "An Exploration of Predator: Concrete Jungle," but now I'm going to call it "Concrete Jungle: How Did You Fuck This Up So Badly?" No, no, okay, that's not gonna fly. How about "Concrete Jungle: How Did This Happen?" Yep, story. Let's get this thing out of the way early.

Speaker A

about plot besides maybe the first one and even then it's more about the characters in the situation rather than some sort of plot beat driven narrative thrust and that's pretty much what they do here the first third of the game is

Speaker A

Predator has never been a series about plot, besides maybe the first one, and even then it's more about the characters and the situation rather than some sort of plot-beat-driven narrative thrust. And that's pretty much what they do here. The first third of the game is basically just the Predator running around and killing gangsters and muggers, like fighting crime, with these objective names like "What am I doing here?"

Speaker A

concrete jungle begins with a semi interesting inciting incident you play as Scarface a predator chilling on earth just doing his thing decapitate in nineteen thirties gangsters when shit goes wrong and he takes a bad bunch which is a moment that looks straight

Speaker A

Before we get too far into it, let's just rewind and start right at the beginning. Barring some hilarious animation, Concrete Jungle begins with a semi-interesting inciting incident. You play as Scarface, a Predator chilling on Earth just doing his thing, decapitating 1930s gangsters when shit goes wrong and he takes a bad bunch, which is a moment that looks straight out of a fucking Bugs Bunny cartoon.

Speaker A

beat those I guess so being the conniving creature that he is Scarface immediately thinks well I fell 15 feet might as well nuke the city and that's exactly what he does [Music] also quick note I always thought the

Speaker A

I'm not even sure what causes this blast, honestly. It's almost like this fucker trips and falls and then just calls it quits. It seems as if the Predator's true weakness is random explosions. Hard to beat those, I guess. So, being the conniving creature that he is, Scarface immediately thinks, "Well, I fell 15 feet, might as well nuke the city," and that's exactly what he does. [Music]

Speaker A

sent out the memo about the wrist explosion so he wouldn't have to bite the bullet and actually blow himself the fuck up I mean I wouldn't want to do that I'd stick the bomb in the ship fuck carrying that around on my hand which

Speaker A

Also, quick note: I always thought the Predator's bombs blew up the Predator and not the ship that they pilot. More a suicide bomb than anything. Not this dude, though, for some reason, because plot. I feel like he probably just jerry-rigged his shit after the clan sent out the memo about the wrist explosion so he wouldn't have to bite the bullet and actually blow himself the fuck up.

Speaker A

protagonist of concrete jungle the series's first cowardly predator or maybe he's not a coward maybe he's just a major asshole his buddies certainly treat him like that when they show up which they do fairly quickly I'm sure they already had a Google Alert set for

Speaker A

I mean, I wouldn't want to do that. I'd stick the bomb in the ship, fuck carrying that around on my hand, which brings up the question to me: did he know that he would fuck up? Was this Predator aware of his own klutziness and just left the bomb in the ship? "Don't worry about it, guys, it'll be fine." Is the protagonist of Concrete Jungle the series' first cowardly Predator? Or maybe he's not a coward, maybe he's just a major asshole.

Speaker A

and unsurprisingly they are not pleased this is the alien equivalent of your overconfident friend bragging about getting a hunting license but then the first time he goes out he trips over a fucking tree trunk and he carpet bombs

Speaker A

His buddies certainly treat him like that when they show up, which they do fairly quickly. I'm sure they already had a Google Alert set for Scarface: ruinous disaster. Okay, now that I've expunged the toxic, pointless stream-of-consciousness thought processes the intro of this game has spawned within me, let's continue. It only gets fucking weirder from here.

Speaker A

bother giving them the dickheads if they're not gonna be xenomorphs why even design a new alien for the scene I appreciate the little detail I guess but that's time that could have been spent elsewhere that's time that couldn't

Speaker A

So, you know, Scarface's posse arrives on site, and unsurprisingly, they are not pleased. This is the alien equivalent of your overconfident friend bragging about getting a hunting license, but then the first time he goes out, he trips over a fucking tree trunk and carpet bombs the local wildlife preserve. This guy needs to go to jail.

Speaker A

so our story begins yes I know it's just starting I'm taking my sweet time here like I said earlier though past that initial explosion not much happens in the first third of concrete jungle or than Scarface murdering a bunch of the

Speaker A

Scarface is taken out to the boonies of the universe and exiled to a backwater Dust Bowl with nothing to do for a hundred years but eat sand and fight not aliens. Why even bother giving them the dickheads if they're not gonna be xenomorphs? Why even design a new alien for the scene? I appreciate the little detail, I guess, but that's time that could have been spent elsewhere. That's time that couldn't be spent making the Predator handle like a fucking video game character.

Speaker A

gung predator causing a massive catastrophe it shows off a different kind of predator a more emotionally fallible almost relatable monster but then BAM they hit you with the neon appleís if there's one way to immediately make me stop taking your story seriously it's to

Speaker A

So Scarface, assumedly, spends 100 years doing push-ups and eating penis at scorpion stew before his crew finally shows back up to give him a shot at redemption, and so our story begins. Yes, I know it's just starting. I'm taking my sweet time here. Like I said earlier, though, past that initial explosion, not much happens in the first third of Concrete Jungle other than Scarface murdering a bunch of the local gangs, many of whom have pioneered the Predator's leftover tech in the century since the Scarface ruinous disaster.

Speaker A

desperately approaches the head of the Borgia company for help who is like the granddaughter of the mob boss you killed at the beginning or something this woman Lucretia boss of El hongo and heir to the Borgia family Empire

Speaker A

Now, at this point, I was still giving the story the benefit of the doubt because I actually really liked that intro plot point of an arrogant, gung-ho Predator causing a massive catastrophe. It shows off a different kind of Predator, a more emotionally fallible, almost relatable monster. But then BAM, they hit you with the neon apples. If there's one way to immediately make me stop taking your story seriously, it's to name your main city "Me Innopolis." That is some Axe Cop level writing, guys. You should have left that one on the whiteboard.

Speaker A

populated lorina luckily the Russian machine men fight with the coordination of an overwatch team of randoms with no mics so it's not really a thing at this point Lucretia's mad she seems to have a vague hold on the entire drug market of

Speaker A

Eventually, Scarface cuts through the gangs and is left with none but El Matadores, a gang run by El Hongo, who desperately approaches the head of the Borgia company for help, who is like the granddaughter of the mob boss you killed at the beginning or something. This woman, Lucretia, boss of El Hongo and heir to the Borgia family empire, responds: "You fucking with her boys by sending out a team of mech suit assassins to hunt down our hero."

Speaker A

AJ Lucretia your Ronin bodyguard is skilled in 10,000 ways to kill that doesn't work either God what is it with this game and racial stereotypes as boss battles maybe you're like fighting the stereotypes it's like you're fighting racism it couldn't be that this game is

Speaker A

They corner Scarface in a neon-lit NASCAR arena full of flying cars, which sounds awesome, but it's a very loosely populated arena. Luckily, the Russian machine men fight with the coordination of an Overwatch team of randoms with no mics, so it's not really a thing. At this point, Lucretia's mad. She seems to have a vague hold on the entire drug market of neon apples, so she's starting to freak out with all the gangs and distributors dropping like flies around her.

Speaker A

Tarantino film now is this a good a time as ever to mention the fact that the dialogue in this game is terrible for the most part I'm sure you already inferred this here's some proof if you need it in the name of God once again I

Speaker A

But she's got another boss battle lined up for Scarface, as she's employed a crew of Asian stereotypes to watch her back. But hey, Lucretia, your Ronin bodyguard is skilled in 10,000 ways to kill. That doesn't work either. God, what is it with this game and racial stereotypes as boss battles? Maybe you're like fighting the stereotypes. It's like you're fighting racism. It couldn't be that this game is just ignorant and childish, right? What else? Just you wait.

Speaker A

way field find out who's cutting into my action and cut them out like a sick bowel without anaesthetic imagine dear picked up rifles and turn them on their hunters rebuilt me innopolis and it stays in the hands of the Borgia family

Speaker A

So Lucretia contacts her father for advice, patriarch of the Borgias of 2030, and we get this brilliant cinematic snap zoom. "All animals have their habits and inhabit nice vulnerability." It's just like a Tarantino film. Now, is this as good a time as ever to mention the fact that the dialogue in this game is terrible for the most part? I'm sure you already inferred this. Here's some proof if you need it.

Speaker A

sent him to hide out with her crew of export star hookers there's a black market trading Depot there you know the one it's run by the working girl's ex-porn star hookers right this could be turning into the greatest not in my life

Speaker A

"In the name of God, once again, I beg you. You want me to send the Russians, is that it? I have people here who've murdered, tortured, and raped not as crimes but as Olympic challenges. You hear that drivel? Victor darling, get your men down to New Wayfield. Find out who's cutting into my action and cut them out like a sick bowel without anesthetic. Imagine, dear, picked up rifles and turned them on their hunters. Rebuild Me Innopolis and it stays in the hands of the Borgia family. Understand? Get my wife whatever she needs and bring this monster to me. The projects and barrios are full of scum who'd murder their own families for a chance at your business."

Speaker A

ever played like top ten easy oh there's a good top ten video idea yeah but that would probably end up being a countdown of the top ten Leisure Suit Larry games women constantly have their titties busted out for no good

Speaker A

So moving on, Scarface tracks down El Hongo to the docks where Lucretia has sent him to hide out with her crew of export star hookers. There's a black market trading depot there, you know the one. It's run by the working girl's ex-porn star hookers, right? This could be turning into the greatest... not in my life. I'll bet you al—

Speaker A

cowboy boots after slicing through an army of half-naked women opening them up like pickle jars you find out that this army of quote it's pornstar hookers are actually wearing these crazy future super suits that seem to be equipped

Speaker A

with some modified version of the Predators cloaking tech but instead of just cloaking them it also projects like Holograms on to them that they use for the express purpose of Allergan extra skanky these fuckers are guarding these docks in shape-shifting super suits and

Speaker A

the writers thought it would be a good idea for them to be disguised as fucking cowgirls and but sluts is walking around holding an assault rifle with your titties popping out really less conspicuous than a suit of armor why not disguise them as

Speaker A

construction workers or fucking stevedores or something that actually conspicuous good holy fuck love this game okay I gotta look up the credits I gotta find the group of like four or five white guys that I can blame for

Speaker A

this fucking a bomb oh my god oh my god grant morrison wrote this game grant morrison holy fucking shit okay I need to stop right now did anybody know this this guy this fucking guy if you don't know is a prolific

Speaker A

comic book author that has written both some of the best and the worst Batman and Superman comics ever produced I'm sorry this is just blowing my fucking brain out of my skull cap right now I I need to take a break so sexism and grand

Speaker A

Morrison that's what we're on does this shit really need to be in the game grant I really don't think a predator game needs to feature the player ripping half-naked woman in half this shit starts to feel like to catch a predator

Speaker A

more than anything you kill Hongo you kill the porn star hooker leader soldier named baby blue you sick fuck and now it's time to go after Lucretia herself so at this point the story it's no longer about Scarface as I'm sure

Speaker A

you've noticed by the fact that I haven't mentioned the fucker in like five minutes this is a story about Lucretia and the Borgia family which like raise your hand if you wanted to see that shit you get cut scene after

Speaker A

laborious cutscene of these fucking awful assholes spouting shit dialogue back and forth like fucking exposition BOTS and it just gets so tedious I was hoping we'd get some more characterization out of the main character but nah Scarface never says anything he never

Speaker A

does anything more than spittin mimicked voices out of his helmet which I will admit is effective in one or two scenes it's creepy I had just hoped that Scarface was get a bit more of an arc after these semi

Speaker A

interesting premise that the game started off with but now all the cutscenes are delegated to a character who says shit like this I have customers waiting in war zones all around the world you moron the impacts a bunch of

Speaker A

twists into the last half and I really don't have the time nor the energy to break down the arduous specifics of this game's finale so I'll try to just sum it up in like one paragraph keep it short

Speaker A

Lucretia's father is actually hunter the son of the gangster scarface killed in the 1930s who has been kept alive alongside his mother isabella via reverse-engineering and studying Scarface's blood and abandoned technology side note isabella is also wearing the same dress that she was

Speaker A

wearing literally 100 years ago I don't know why she's also apparently the precursor to the mother computer system aboard the ships and alien like what she throws a bunch of Xenomorphs at you at one point what the fuck she gets one

Speaker A

good hammy line and then she gets stabbed we only had that one night but I never did get over you Hunter then turns himself into a man predator hybrid a man deter he kills Lucretia with one solid backhand and then your face off against

Speaker A

him atop the biggest statue in the city with Lucretia's old crew of Asian stereotypes backing you up you always set you try to protect me well now's your chance yeah it's a fucking ridiculous climax you kill hunter your crew picks yep a bad bad man

Speaker A

cut the credits I'm done talking about the story I don't want to anymore let's move along to the game play game play concrete jungle has all the makings of a great game it's got a killer arsenal weapons it's got some brutal animations

Speaker A

it's got open levels that allow for exploration and a little bit of emergent gameplay here and there so why exactly is it a fucking shit sandwich the answer is complicated well actually no not really this game controls like shit the

Speaker A

biggest thing that holds concrete jungle back from greatness in the gameplay Department or it's horribly unresponsive controls but that's not to say the camera isn't terrible or the mechanics are shallow or the AIS and dumber than a sack of bricks we got all sorts of

Speaker A

issues to cover here but before we dive into all the wonderful little details that make this game as spine-tingling as it is let's talk about the good stuff I like exploring this game's levels when the game allows me to do so concrete

Speaker A

jungle is a linear game but its levels come in multiple forms you've got semi open city levels with multiple objectives and miscellaneous NPC's then you've got much smaller more linear levels with very specific paths to follow and then you got boss battles

Speaker A

which usually take place in large one-room arenas it's cool to play a linear game that mixes up the size shape and playability of his levels but after I got a taste of the larger more open arenas that's all I wanted the game to

Speaker A

be the open-world formula makes the levels feel so much more spontaneous and interactive allowing the players tackle situations however they see fit with their badass arsenal of alien weaponry after levels like that it makes the more linear sections feel obligatory and

Speaker A

stilted mostly due to the infuriating controls and colonoscopy camera that worked best when the main character is given the widest birth possible this game does not do well in interior spaces I'm giving up set we're talking about the good things smile through the pain

Speaker A

charlie smile through the pain the Arsenal and concrete jungle is just about all you could ask for it predator game you get to handle all of your favorite devices from the plasma caster to the spear gun to the death disk and

Speaker A

they all handle appropriately it is legitimately fun to blast him on the fuckers head off of his or her body with the spear gun it just doesn't get old okay guys say here when a string of jumps goes uninterrupted by a finicky

Speaker A

camera movement or a bafflingly precisely placed piece of terrain it can it can feel good it's possible for the platforming to feel good okay I'm done I need to talk about the controls the predator handles like a hustle hiccup

Speaker A

that's some type of why don't I fix that concrete jungle is a fucking crash course in just how badly awkward controls can fuck a game up the character over reacts to the tiniest of movements or camera inputs making fine

Speaker A

movement a chore in a world that was specifically built for fine movements the jumps in this game are fucking tight you've got to know exactly where you want to land and even then getting the printer to land there requires such

Speaker A

finagling that I often have to set the controller down to prevent my hands from cracking into gnarled which claws and in the midst of all of this you're fighting a camera that seems to be under the employ of the gangsters you've been sent

Speaker A

here to Z spine you have to wrestle that thing into submission like the fucking wild stallion the camera reacts just as intensely as the character so you're stuck with eyes and legs that don't work you're a blind paraplegic but we're not

Speaker A

done yet folks what elements could we add to this cocktail to make it an even more pungent dumpster fire is it a rage B hate C couldn't fusion D all of the above and more but mostly C I'll give

Speaker A

you a second to make your choice [Music] why am I even doing this the answer is C well D it doesn't matter and that's because player feedback is a bit of a fucking issue in this game each missions

Speaker A

objectives are left intentionally vague which is something I feel like older games used to do a lot more there was a lot less hand-holding in general I don't mind if a game lets me figure things out on my own but the obtuseness of these

Speaker A

objectives isn't so much not holding your hand as it is ditching you in the middle of the food court to be lured into a white van by Laffy Taffy and dinosaur comics a game's objectives should helpfully push you towards what

Speaker A

you need to do to finish the level not send you into a 45 minute long spiral of madness running around in circles feeling like the universe's dumbest alien it never feels like this game fully explains any part of itself

Speaker A

leaving just a little bit of every single facet from how to use the weapons to how to beat the levels irritatingly indefinite now it's time to talk about the checkpoint system or rather the complete and total lack thereof so the

Speaker A

camel's back has already been broken by this point hours of this overly enthusiastic control scheme broke that poor animal into and this lack of any kind of a checkpoint system is like the vultures circling overhead cementing for certain the slow stomach-churning demise

Speaker A

of concrete jungle I can't tell you how many fucking times I got to the last objective of a mission after 20 minutes of desperately but successfully wrangling our Parkinsons riddled predator into submission only to be met with a totally unforeseen explosion or

Speaker A

timer or other arbitrary as fuck fail state and then I just had to start it all over over and over and over there is a sick masochistic sense of satisfaction to completing a level after hours of slowly learning every fucking nook and

Speaker A

cranny of the thing in order to be able to play it at all but that limped reward of yeah I spent two hours trying to beat this level of a thirteen-year-old predator game better my fuckin hates just really isn't worth the blood or the

Speaker A

sweat or the tears the collectibles and extra suits are kind of cool the Arsenal is exciting and short bursts and the core of the idea is solid but all of this would be good is trapped in what can only be described as a fucking shit

Speaker A

sandwich okay now in the midst of this whirlwind of fury I must reiterate this is not the worst game I've ever played okay there is some good in here it could be worse it could always be worse I could have

Speaker A

been in Brazil that time when spiders read from the sky although after eight hours of playing predator concrete jungle I am genuinely no longer sure which of those two things I would prefer in conclusion making this video has been

Speaker A

fun but playing the game that I needed to make this video was not fun and here's the moment where I gotta be honest with you guys I didn't finish this game I do believe I experienced the breadth of the content that concrete

Speaker A

jungle has to offer but after a certain point this video was just taken too damn long to make because I couldn't bring myself to play this fucking game anymore I gave concrete jungle around eight hours of my life I got over halfway

Speaker A

through but I had to stop I just had to stop the checkpoint system was too much in the end I saw that mission failed screen so many motherfucking times that I began to dream about it this game got

Speaker A

in my head like a fucking military interrogation guys it started to hurt me combined the controls that make you feel like a beached whale with a script that constantly assaults you with these cringy terribly acted and genuinely sexist as fuck moments and you've got

Speaker A

maybe one of the worst licensed games I've ever played maybe maybe just one of the worst opening this game up to keep slow hugging through it felt like pulling teeth after the second hour I tried guys a fine

Speaker A

[Music] [Music] [Applause]

Topics:Predator Concrete Junglevideo game reviewgameplay critiquegame story analysisgame controlsnostalgia gaminggame design flawsPredator franchisePurposeless Rabbitholesgaming commentary

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