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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Hunting Developer: Magic Wand Productions Publisher: Activision |
Hunting games are always presented with an interesting dilemma throughout the design process. The sport of hunting isn’t exciting for
the majority of the time. Time is spent sitting in one spot waiting for the trophy to walk by aimlessly. The hunter gets one shot and one
shot only at getting the trophy animal. So how does a game take that same feeling and still make it a lot of fun to sit down and play for
an extended period of time? If it was authentic to the experience of hunting no one would want to play, but make it too much like a
videogame and the audience of hunters will be disappointed. This is the root of the problems with most of Cabela’s hunting games
that have been released, and sadly “Cabela’s Big Game Hunter” for the Nintendo Wii is yet another weak release.
The game seems to suffer from the same problem that other Cabela games suffer, the fact that it offers the experience of sitting in a
tree stand for a extremely short period of time and then it tosses in some bullet time meter powered by adrenaline and a hunter’s eye
which brings out the targets by turning the scene black with the targets glowing bright yellow. It is understandable that the game is
trying to be targeted to a large of an audience as possible, but then players are taking on a cougar that can take six point blank rifle
blasts and still maul the hunter several times before it is finally taken down.
“Cabela’s Big Game Hunter” hinges on players venturing to different locations, meeting the hunting ranger for that area, playing a
variety of mini-games, going off and shooting a certain number of creatures, then going after the trophy animal. Achievements are
unlocked, and then players move onto the next location, meaning it is as exciting as it sounds, which isn’t much.
There are some small differences along the way. Sometimes, though it is a rare occasion, players will have to climb up a rock face by
tapping certain buttons at the appropriate times, or keep balance on a log bridge by doing the same thing. Regardless, none of it is very
exciting when there are so many other quality games available.
One of the few joys of hunting through a videogame is completely lost in “Cabela’s Big Game Hunter,” the ability to switch between
several different types of guns without having to worry about carrying around a huge bag of equipment as they would need in reality is
what could separate hunting game from the real thing. However, the game provides no incentive to explore the different firearms
available to the player. Players are able to play through the game using only the standard rifle, switching to the cross bow and using a
call only when the game requires players to use them to advance in the game. Players will continuously unlock new weapons for their
collection but they will still remain to be unused. It would have been a lot more fun if different hunts required different guns and if each
of the guns had their own specialties that could be seen through playing the game, much like that of guns in real life.
Another exciting part of hunting is the exploration, being able to chart out hunting grounds and finding where the animals are hiding.
“Cabela’s Big Game Hunter” holds the player’s hand too much with its very linear level designs and mission map that literally puts a
bull’s eye on the area of the map where players are able to find their next target. Following the one available path to the clearly specified
spot on a map isn’t exactly what the experience of hunting should be like.
The controls for the game work fairly well compared to what is offered by the next generation system. Pressing the B button while lining
up a shot with the Wii remote can be fun, though aiming with a scope can be a little bit tricky as the player’s viewpoint shifts back and
forth too much. Tracking animals can also be a bit tricky but the experience is more immersive than on other gaming systems thanks to
the fact that players are actually aiming something towards the television screen rather than maneuvering an analog stick to aim.
Visually, the Wii version of the game actually holds up fairly well, thanks to the fact that it was clearly made for the Xbox 360 and was
then ported over to the other gaming systems. The only real drawback is the weird depth of field effect that doesn’t seem to adjust
when players zoom in on an area. Instead players get an oddly pixilated view of a low resolution tree branch. “Cabela’s Big Game
Hunter” may not be the most mind blowing game on the market, but it does look fairly solid on the Nintendo Wii system.
Like most of the games in the Cabela series, “Cabela’s Big Game Hunter” lacks in most categories that really matter, mainly the
overall fun factor that the game offers. Real hunters will be disappointed in the game’s arcade elements and videogame fans will be
upset that they are spending so much time playing a hunting game when they could instead be taking out aliens or mutants. For those
that are diehard hunters and enjoy videogames, as long as they ingored the adrenaline based bullet time and hunter’s eye, this is a
game that is sure to pass the time between hunting seasons.
the majority of the time. Time is spent sitting in one spot waiting for the trophy to walk by aimlessly. The hunter gets one shot and one
shot only at getting the trophy animal. So how does a game take that same feeling and still make it a lot of fun to sit down and play for
an extended period of time? If it was authentic to the experience of hunting no one would want to play, but make it too much like a
videogame and the audience of hunters will be disappointed. This is the root of the problems with most of Cabela’s hunting games
that have been released, and sadly “Cabela’s Big Game Hunter” for the Nintendo Wii is yet another weak release.
The game seems to suffer from the same problem that other Cabela games suffer, the fact that it offers the experience of sitting in a
tree stand for a extremely short period of time and then it tosses in some bullet time meter powered by adrenaline and a hunter’s eye
which brings out the targets by turning the scene black with the targets glowing bright yellow. It is understandable that the game is
trying to be targeted to a large of an audience as possible, but then players are taking on a cougar that can take six point blank rifle
blasts and still maul the hunter several times before it is finally taken down.
“Cabela’s Big Game Hunter” hinges on players venturing to different locations, meeting the hunting ranger for that area, playing a
variety of mini-games, going off and shooting a certain number of creatures, then going after the trophy animal. Achievements are
unlocked, and then players move onto the next location, meaning it is as exciting as it sounds, which isn’t much.
There are some small differences along the way. Sometimes, though it is a rare occasion, players will have to climb up a rock face by
tapping certain buttons at the appropriate times, or keep balance on a log bridge by doing the same thing. Regardless, none of it is very
exciting when there are so many other quality games available.
One of the few joys of hunting through a videogame is completely lost in “Cabela’s Big Game Hunter,” the ability to switch between
several different types of guns without having to worry about carrying around a huge bag of equipment as they would need in reality is
what could separate hunting game from the real thing. However, the game provides no incentive to explore the different firearms
available to the player. Players are able to play through the game using only the standard rifle, switching to the cross bow and using a
call only when the game requires players to use them to advance in the game. Players will continuously unlock new weapons for their
collection but they will still remain to be unused. It would have been a lot more fun if different hunts required different guns and if each
of the guns had their own specialties that could be seen through playing the game, much like that of guns in real life.
Another exciting part of hunting is the exploration, being able to chart out hunting grounds and finding where the animals are hiding.
“Cabela’s Big Game Hunter” holds the player’s hand too much with its very linear level designs and mission map that literally puts a
bull’s eye on the area of the map where players are able to find their next target. Following the one available path to the clearly specified
spot on a map isn’t exactly what the experience of hunting should be like.
The controls for the game work fairly well compared to what is offered by the next generation system. Pressing the B button while lining
up a shot with the Wii remote can be fun, though aiming with a scope can be a little bit tricky as the player’s viewpoint shifts back and
forth too much. Tracking animals can also be a bit tricky but the experience is more immersive than on other gaming systems thanks to
the fact that players are actually aiming something towards the television screen rather than maneuvering an analog stick to aim.
Visually, the Wii version of the game actually holds up fairly well, thanks to the fact that it was clearly made for the Xbox 360 and was
then ported over to the other gaming systems. The only real drawback is the weird depth of field effect that doesn’t seem to adjust
when players zoom in on an area. Instead players get an oddly pixilated view of a low resolution tree branch. “Cabela’s Big Game
Hunter” may not be the most mind blowing game on the market, but it does look fairly solid on the Nintendo Wii system.
Like most of the games in the Cabela series, “Cabela’s Big Game Hunter” lacks in most categories that really matter, mainly the
overall fun factor that the game offers. Real hunters will be disappointed in the game’s arcade elements and videogame fans will be
upset that they are spending so much time playing a hunting game when they could instead be taking out aliens or mutants. For those
that are diehard hunters and enjoy videogames, as long as they ingored the adrenaline based bullet time and hunter’s eye, this is a
game that is sure to pass the time between hunting seasons.
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