"Killing helpless animals has never been so fun!"

With this game you get to help Stephen Colbert and eliminate the most fearsome creatures on the planet. Of course I speak of bears. But they aren't the only thing you'll be hunting in Big Game Hunter 2005. It's a hunting game that will please you if you like to shoot wildlife from 50 yards away.

STORY
You play a random hunter with a Grandfather named Pete. As a kid your grandfather took you all over the world to watch him viciously kill tons of animals. He was hoping to get into the Hunter's Hall of Fame, but as he was 3 animals away from victory, he slipped on some ice and broke his leg. Then he got older and died. True story. In order to make your grandmother proud and prove you can do what Gramps could not, you enter the big Hunting tournament and aim to kill all of the 65 animals necessary. Your granpappy would be proud.

GRAPHICS
The game has a huge amount of locations, each filled with countless trees and bushes and hills. So I can't help but acknowledge the amazing amount of detail that must've took. The graphics look really decent. I mean it could look better but hey take what you can get. Bears look like bears and they don't look like Yogi Bear. Though I'd like to shoot Yogi. Always stealing my picanic basket.

SOUND
The audio however is just forgettable. I had a feeling it would be when the game booted up and I started to hear banjo music. The game features little to no music, and it's pretty much all ambiance and animal sounds. Nothing big to get excited about. Oh and I can't forget the lame voice acting. It's like they got a programmer to do the voices really quick because they were tight on time. Oh well, can't win'em all.

GAMEPLAY
Does the game succeed at being a hunting simulation? Surprisingly yes. Now this isn't Grand Theft Auto. You're not gonna see waves of animals come down the mountain and you shoot the hell out of them. It's a hunting game, which means you've got to sneak and wait. You have to have the right scents, the right camouflage, and you've got to know how to take a damn good shot. The controls aren't awkward at all thank god, and everything is very simple to do.

Because you're actually in a tournament, you have to abide by their rules and shoot only what you're assigned to shoot. Otherwise you can be fined or worse, kicked out of the tournament. You'll kill elks, moose, wolves, and various other wildlife. And you'll kill them in every region you can think of. A snow filled tundra, a desert canyon, even the swamps aren't safe from you and your gun. And every now and then you'll get sidemissions like finding a sick bear or saving someone from an animal attack.

There's no real story in the game, so you'd think it would get repetitive just killing animal after animal. But for some reason I wanted to keep going. Weird huh? I enjoyed myself with this game....though I wouldn't buy it myself. Another nice feature I enjoyed was the killshot cam. Basically as you fire the bullet to kill the animals, it goes into a somewhat slow mo camera angle of the bullet and it's pathway to the target. And there's nothing greater than seeing a bear get plugged in the head and fly 10 feet. Oh and that's another thing...if you don't like the killing and abuse of animals, stay the hell away from this game.

IN THE END...
I had a fun time much to my surprise. However I like a little more story, and I like a little variety as well. But this felt like going on real hunting...it's a break away from the real fun, where you get to sit and just relax. So I recommend this one. Give it a rental, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/12/06