Cabela's Big Game Hunter

"Walking in the woods simulator..."

I’ve never been one to have any sort of love for a hunting game and there are some exceptions to the rule of games in this genre that make them enjoyable. The first thing that you’re going to find here with Big Game Hunter is that this is targeted at those who enjoy the thrill of the hunt and sitting out in the wild all day looking for something to blast with a weapon. While games such as this could be considered a first-person shooter, there are elements here that make it less than that and more of a true hunting simulation. If you’re not into the hunting scene and really don’t have all that much interest with playing through a simulator that forces you to track an animal, then you need to steer well away from this.

When you get into the game itself, you’ll find that there are some interesting ways that you can go about finding your quarry and making it a new trophy for your room. Through a variety of item selections, you can choose how you want to be outfitted in order to track down your prey and get them to not notice you before you take your shot. While the premise sounds about right, there are portions of the game that literally have you fumbling through the woods looking for signs of your target. In the meantime, you might not see anything but rendered trees and wide open spaces for half an hour or better depending on your luck with the map. For most gamers who are looking for action, the lack of targets and the lack of anything to kill for the most part reduced the title to a snore fest.

Actually getting into the mode of killing your prey takes a little thought and some intuition on your part as to what will be useful and what won’t. A small variety of weapons allow you to hunt your targets at will and blast them when you finally do have them in your sights. To help you with your targeting and your accuracy, you can spend a little time in the shooting range before hitting the open field, which is a definite plus. Different weapons have different attributes to them and you will have to pick and choose what it is that you want to do with your weapon of destruction. One weapon will be quick and silent, but the accuracy needed is greater than say the weapon that has the most power and is loud enough to scare everything away.

Other various tools are here to help you such as calls and bait, but the one thing that you have to watch out for are the animal that you’re attempting to track. At first you might want to hunt a bear, but end up seeing nothing but deer in your path. While your first thought is to kill anything in sight, you have to remember that you have a hunting license and there is no way that you can legally kill that deer with your bear license and not have it count against you. Each time you screw up or get attacked by a wild animal, you’ll be taken back to your cabin and admonished by the park ranger who will pretty much tell you that you’re an idiot for doing something wrong and then send you back out on your way.

Control really doesn’t mean much in Big Game Hunter, as most of your movement in the woods will be done over a map to go through different locations. You can move your hunter here and there but at a very slow pace, which really doesn’t do much but scare away the deer or piss off the bear. Depending on what weapons you’re using, the analog stick does a fine job in lining up your target and keeping your aim true to where you need to hit. If you’re a little off and not sure of what it is that you should be aiming at, then you’ll find that the practice stage is where you need to spend a little time. Menus and the like are easily accessed and the map is user friendly to help you move around the different park areas.

Being out the woods means that you have plenty of nature to look at and the occasional animal that you can line up in your sights. While Big Game Hunter does a good job in recreating the outdoors experience, there are points in the game that made me tilt my head and look with a strange look. The animals themselves are about as realistic as you can get without actually being there to see them, but the open environments really don’t seem to have the depth that I would think a real location would. I’ve found that some of the more impressive animations comes when you’ve taken your shot and the animal collapses to the ground in a heap rather than what you’re shooting it with.

The audio is light enough to the point of being non-existent and as with most hunting simulations, you really don’t have much in your ears during the actual hunt. Between locations and between hunts, there is a catchy tune that will greet your ears, but nothing solid enough to make you remember after the game is shut off. Sound effects are limited to animal sounds that {if you’re an outdoorsman} sound just like the real thing and better in stereo sound. The gunfire blasts and otherwise is tinny in nature and really doesn’t do much to immerse you in the feeling of being there. Occasional voice effects can be found, but they are limited and nothing that you’ll find noteworthy.

Big Game Hunter is the true hunting simulation game for the Play Station 2 and I can’t think of one better that I can recommend for the hunting aficionado. However, if you’re just eh average gamer who is looking for a new first person shooter game to play, then you’ll find that there is nothing here that will either interest you or keep you blasting away into the late hours of the night. If you have a family member that likes to hunt, then this title would be the perfect give, though you might find that for yourself, this is the perfect rental when there isn’t anything more entertaining on the shelf at your local video store.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/19/03, Updated 03/19/03