The Grinder

The Grinder is a first person shooter video game in development for the Wii, and a top-down shooter for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows by High Voltage Software. It is scheduled for release in 2011, although it has yet to obtain a publisher. It is currently unknown what happened to the game, as it never finished development, nor was it officially cancelled.

Plot
In an alternate universe, mythical creatures such as vampires, werewolves and zombies are a reality, and the people of Earth have adapted to their presence. A small group of monster hunters, comprising Hector, Doc, Miko and AJ, are hired by the mysterious organization called "Book" to exterminate these threats while investigating the source of the outbreak.

Gameplay
In The Grinder, players control one of four characters, each with their own unique attributes which can be upgraded as the game progresses. Players will have to use different techniques to defeat certain foes, and will have access to a large number of weapons, some of which can be dual wielded. The game will also offer players complete customization of its controls, and is stated to support Wii MotionPlus.

An online multiplayer mode will be included in The Grinder, which will make use of the Wii Speak peripheral. Each level can be played online cooperatively, with support of up to four players simultaneously, and will have multiple routes.

At the 2010 Game Developers Conference, it was revealed that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game would be a top-down shooter, rather than a first-person shooter.

Characters

 * Hector: A Mexican bounty hunter who has tracked targets on both sides of the border. Hector is boastful, arrogant and greedy. He used to be a professional hunter, but has annoyed so many people over the years that he cannot get a job with any of the professional companies.


 * Doc: He wants to figure out what makes the monsters tick. Doc was a hunter for years but he left the life behind years ago when a mission went very badly. Since then, he has been working as an underground doctor.


 * Miko: Miko is a Japanese assassin looking for a new challenge. She was getting bored with her job, until the night one of her targets turned out to be a werewolf. Despite nearly getting killed, she found the battle exhilarating and immediately set out to take down more monsters.


 * AJ: An urban explorer who had a very bad experience and is looking for revenge. AJ is the sole survivor of a Slasher attack. She knows that it's only a matter of time before the unkillable monster that slaughtered her sorority sisters on a weekend camping trip catches up with her to finish the job.


 * Book: The secretive contact responsible for hiring the four hunters to control the outbreak.

Development


The Grinder will use the Quantum3 engine, which High Voltage confirmed would help push the amount of characters onscreen to the maximum. The developers are also working to have the game contain no loading times. High Voltage Software previously worked on Hunter: The Reckoning and confirmed that The Grinder was influenced by that game. Left 4 Dead was also an inspiration, as were grindhouse horror films.

The Grinder was in development for the Wii only, but a later interview revealed that ports will be made for other platforms. While the Wii version of the game is a first person shooter, the ported versions are top down shooters.