Fun story: I was at goodwill one time (I don’t remember why) and I saw this game being sold for a dollar. I figured “hey why not” so I bought it. When I first tried it on my PS2, the game actually started up just fine, so it seemed to already be off to a good start. I then went to the hunter select screen. There weren’t that many different options, but I figured all right, that’s not whatFun story: I was at goodwill one time (I don’t remember why) and I saw this game being sold for a dollar. I figured “hey why not” so I bought it. When I first tried it on my PS2, the game actually started up just fine, so it seemed to already be off to a good start. I then went to the hunter select screen. There weren’t that many different options, but I figured all right, that’s not what is important. I then selected out all my gear, reading up on the hard-to-read descriptions about the different items, and finally got ready for the hunting experience of a lifetime. I don’t hunt, since I hate waking up early and sitting, doing nothing for eight or ten hours straight. I figured, “This game must take the experience of hunting and make it more exciting, right?”
It doesn’t.
This game is loaded with issues. The biggest problem is how tedious it is. The cardinal rule of making a video game is NEVER, EVER make a game boring. Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts is the type of game that sounds fun when you read the box art, but then you play it and you realize it’s not very glorious. What makes this game so tedious is that there seems to be only one or two of an animal throughout the ENTIRE map, so finding anything is ridiculously difficult. I understand that they wouldn’t want to have too many animals on the map to make it too easy, but adding a couple more throughout would have made the game a lot better. It’s even worse when something else gets the kill (like a wolf killing a deer) before you get the chance. You have to restart the mission and go through all the boredom again. This game is such a chore to sit through. While I give it credit for having many different types of species available, most of the game ends up feeling the same. You can only play a couple missions at the beginning, and the rest have to be unlocked. It doesn’t even feel good to get a kill, since you feel like it was just luck that you ended up near the animal. It can also be a problem the other way around, where a bear will be chasing you, but they are miles behind and the game won’t let you use certain items like tripods or ground blinds. This is extremely irritating. It can be difficult to control the game, even if you play around with the settings. The navigation is also a pain, with many hills that are too steep to climb, as well as invisible walls. However, there is one item that makes the game a little less tedious. The GPS item is definitely one of the most useful. It will show your current location and even help find animals easier. I give them a lot of credit for adding this, and at only forty dollars it’s a really good deal.
There is also a system where you can set your stats to your liking, such as making your character move faster, moving more quietly or have more steadiness when holding the firearm. Unfortunately, this system is very flawed. You set the stats when you create your profile, but if you go into the game and find that you don’t like how you set it up, well that’s just too bad! You will have to delete your profile and create a new one. It would have been better if you started out with lower stats and slowly got to build up by progressing through the game. Even as is, I don’t notice much of a stat difference. No matter how high you set the agility, it takes way too long to recharge and runs out way too quickly. In the Winter, you might run out and have to catch your breath after only five seconds! The best way to get around this would be to wear warmer clothing. However, this is a good example of how fun gameplay can be more important than realism. You will constantly need to sell guns, buy new guns, even buy more ammo, buy new clothing depending on the season, food, water, and buy different calls. I understand they implemented this so the game would have more strategy, but it just makes it more annoying. I will also give them credit that selling something gives you your full money back, so you never feel like it’s being wasted or you are running out too fast.
I would just like to make note that Most of what I played is the career mode, on medium difficulty. However, i have played custom hunts before. They still share most of the same issues, but you can choose which animals to hunt for. In this mode, you have to buy specific tags, so if you go in the game to find an animal you don’t have a tag for, you can’t shoot it. This is irritating because it might be one of the only animals you see all game. The game does manage to capture the tediom of hunting, but it still doesn’t change the fact that its main goal isn’t something to be proud of.
If you’re a hunting fan and you have a lot of patience, maybe give this game a try. However if you aren’t into the hunting life, this won’t do you any favors. I haven’t played any of the later installments, but from what I’ve heard, they aren’t really much better.… Expand
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