"Hunting, fishing and nature walking"

I am writing the first review. I will make it good. This is a fun game worth checking out.

The following story comes from Cabelas Outdoor Adventures for the Nintendo Gamecube:

I was very excited about my trip to Prince of Wales Island in Alaska. I packed my fishing rod, a rifle (although I wasn't planning to shoot anything) and some binoculars. When I arrived I saw that the terrain was very moutainous and full of plant life.
I was walking along gingerly when I saw something move up ahead. I pulled out my binoculars to get a better look. What I saw was a Brown Bear that reminded me of Banjo from Banjo Kazooie. The Bear was just minding his own business, sniffing around and eating bugs.
As I got closer, he saw me and ran off behind some bushes. Disappointed, I kept walking in the direction in which he ran to see if I could find him again. About ten seconds later, I hear a roar and see the bear charging after me very fast. I didn't have much time to react. I didn't have my gun ready, I was holding my binoculars instead. I tried to run, but it was no use. The bear swiped at me and the next thing I know, I get a message on the screen saying that I had a medical emergency and was being taken back to the lodge.

Later, I went fishing, and when I caught a fish, a bear wanted my fish and attacked me again. This time I got my gun out in time and shot the bear, but not before my hunter was severly injured. When your character is injured in the game, he walks slower and get tired easily.

This is an example of how robust the gameplay of the game is. You don't have to hunt and fish, you can also go nature-sight-seeing (although if you want to unlock new environments, you must complete the objectives, which are mainly hunting and fishing). The environments are large and full of life (you can actually see bugs flying around some plants).

Compared to Previous game:
The last Cabela's game I played was the 2003 version of Big Game Hunter, and I am happy to say that Cabelas Outdoor Adventures is a lot better. For one thing, the load times in Outdoor Adventures are much improved.

Game modes:
Open Season (quick pick-up and play mode)
Adventure Mode (create a profile and build a career)

Adventure mode is where you progress in the game. You can hunt, go on missions, enter shooting contests, go to a target range. If you run low on money you can earn some by winning shooting contests.

Hunting:
You can proceed in the hunt on foot, by truck, car, snowmobile or boat depending on your location. Of course, vehicles will scare animals away. There are objectives that must be completed for each hunt such as, taking down two bucks, take down one buck and one doe, etc. In addition, there are side missions that pop up that include taking down a rampaging Bobcat before he kills all the deer, or catch this many fish, or take down this bear who just attacked you while you were fishing (as mentioned in the scenario above).

Locations:
The choice of hunting locations are great. Here is the list of locations:
Washington County, Pennsylvania
Henry Mountains, Utah
West Klickitat, Washington State
Upper Delta County, Michigan
Prince of Wales Island, Alaska (where I got attacked by the bear)
White Pine County, Nevada
Taylor's Island, Maryland
Kerr County, Texas
Saskatchewan, Canada
Chihuahua, Mexico

Difficulty Setting and Animals:
The game has 3 difficulty settings. On the easiest setting, you are given a radar with multicolored dots that tell you where the animals are.
The green dots are big game (Bears, Bighorn Sheep, Rocky Mountain Elk, Mountain Goats, Moose, Antelope, etc.), the purple dots are small game (Foxes, Skunks, Beavers, Rabbits, Squirrels, Raccoons, Coyotes, etc.) and the yellow dots are deer (White-tailed, Desert Mule, Rocky Mountain Mule, Columbian Black-Tailed, Red, Sika, Fallow, etc.). Some of the fish include Walleyes, Rainbow Trouts, Silver Salmons, Muskies, Arctic Grayling, Crappie, Striped Bass, Northern Pike, etc.)
The following list is a count of how many animals are in the game (I got this information from the instruction manual):

Big Game: 11 different types of animals
Small Game: 11 different types of animals
Deer: 10 different types of deer
Fish: 11 different types of fish

The types of animals, deer and fish you encounter depend on which location you are in.

In addition to the radar, the easiest difficulty setting also allows you to lock-on to your targets, which is cheating in a way. But it gives beginners a fighting chance. The toughest difficulty setting takes away the radar and the ability to lock-on.

Equipment:
Before you hunt, you need to stock up on equipment in the store. As you progress in the game, you unlock new equipment to be purchased within the game. These items range from guns, bows, fishing rods, scents, mating calls, binoculars, clothing, tents, decoys, etc.) There are 17 guns to choose from (all of them accurately named from their real-life counterparts (for example, you can buy a .30-30 Lever Action Rifle, a .22 -250 Bolt-Action Rifle, a 12-Gauge Autoloader Shotgun, a .500 Magnum Pistol, just to name a few.

Fishing: The one downfall
If the game has a downfall, it is in the fishing mode. To enter fishing mode, you have to be standing exactly in the right spot near the waters edge to even get you fishing rod out. This can be difficult. Fishing is only available where signs are posted for it (you can locate them by markers on the map). Every other long cast you cast out is guaranteed to have a fish bite at it. The rest of your casts will not generate any interest. When a fish bites, a sequence begins where you have to press a direction on the directional pad, then use the L and R buttons to reel out or reel in. It is so sequential and predictable that you will find that you can do it with your eyes closed, just by listening to the sounds that the game is making. In the end, the fishing experience seems like a developer afterthought and must have been tacked on during the last couple months of development.
To the games credit the fish look highly detailed and stats about the fish (type, size, weight) are given to you after you catch them.

Here is the score breakdown:
Graphics: 10
Gameplay in hunting: 9
Gameplay in fishing: 4
Sound: 10
Overall: 8

Side note: The memory card uses 5 blocks.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/17/06