Reviewed: October 23, 2005
Reviewed by: John Paige
Publisher
Activision Value
Developer
Sand Grain Studios
Released: September 13, 2005
Genre: Hunting
Players: 1
ESRB: Teen
8
9
8
8
8.5
Supported Features:
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
The promotional literature for Cabela’s Outdoor Adventures warns “stealth, strategy, and technique are of the utmost importance!” Truer words were never spoken, and you FPS gamers out there with itchy trigger fingers would do well to heed these words before spending your hard earned cash on this product.
Being a Metal Gear and Splinter Cell vet, I am perfectly at home with stealth and strategy. But, bearing my soul, I must confess that no armed guard or power mad super-villain has ever frustrated me as much as the North American white-tailed deer. “Challenging” is the word of the day with Activision’s latest foray into the great outdoors, a deeply detail-oriented and gorgeous game that seeks to simulate the thrill of the hunt and succeeds…almost too well.
There are two modes of play: for the gamesman on the go there is “Open Season”, a quick start mode that drops you into a random hunting ground with a grab bag of weapons and supplies. This is the fastest way to get right to the stalkin’ and killin’, but you only have one area and one supply set available initially. Unlocking new random areas and new supplies depends on your success in the other mode of play, “Adventure” mode, a more involved and labor-intensive style of play. Here you custom tailor your hunter, including name, appearance and attire, then shop for everything you’ll need to turn the fluffy wildlife into so many decapitated wall hangings.
You begin with a purse of 5,000 dollars. This seems like a lot to spend on a simple hunting trip, but it can dry up fast once you get a look at the available inventory, which reads like the insert of “Guns ‘n Ammo”. Among other items available for purchase: rifles, shotguns, bows, handguns, lures, scent sprays, snowshoes, laser range finders (is this necessary? These are deer, not Soviet tanks), tents, medical kits, and maps. Everything can come in handy, but maps are probably the most indispensable item of all. With them you can keep track of your location relative to the hunting lodge so you can find your way out of the woods again (insert outdated Blair Witch joke here).
You can buy as much as you can afford, but before deploying to the field you have to account for weight. The more you carry the more you’ll tax your stamina which is necessary for jogging and sprinting, something you may be doing a lot of since these animals can run like Jesse Owens and apparently turn on a dime. Stamina and stealth – a combination of your visibility and noise level – can be monitored at all times through your HUD. Pay close attention to these as they will mean the difference between blood-splattered triumph and shameful defeat.
As with real hunting there are loads of rules to follow and signs to read. Only certain animals are considered fair game in each location and you’re given a strict kill limit. Killing the wrong animals, or too many of the right kind, will result first in warning, then fines, and eventually a premature end to the hunt. Each area also has restrictions on weapons, allowing only certain types on certain terrains. This is important to note since you will only have a couple locations available to you at the onset and you have to have green lights across the board on weapons, gear, and accessories before you can begin. If you’re the “plan ahead” type, this is for you.
The hunts are a tremendous challenge, especially if this is your first hunting game. You’ll need a keen eye, working knowledge of your gear and its uses, and patience, patience, patience! Even on easy mode these critters will not simply amble past your sights and wait to be shot. Finding them is easy enough, thanks to a handy mini-map that can spot prey even when they’re a good way off. But what then?
Successfully stalking a deer, for example, requires you to be conscious of your stance, your distance from the target, the amount of noise you make as you creep closer, and the direction the wind is blowing since approaching downwind automatically doubles the odds that your prey will bolt. Once in range you have to aim as carefully as you ever have in your life since a miss will send every mammal in a mile radius scrambling, leaving you to repeat the meticulous tracking and stalking all over again. Sound tough? It is.
If you bag a fair target you’re rewarded with plenty of dough and a chance to upgrade your stats, such as “accuracy” and “resilience” to make you, in theory, a better hunter. While in Adventure mode you’ll occasionally be offered a “Contest” mission, usually a chance to hunt a prize buck or other rare prey. Coming back with one of those slung over your shoulder will yield big money and progressively harder contests.
This is the first Cabela game to offer both hunting and fishing on the same disc. You can fish in any of the same locations provided you have the proper equipment (which is also subject to extensive regulations). You can fish either with Spinning or Fly tackle and store your catches in your pack or eat them to replenish health. Fishing is altogether easier than hunting (hint: fish can only run so far), but it’s definitely the weaker element of the game and the rewards, both monetary and challenge-wise, are far less.
Success in the first few areas will unlock locations with a wider range of exotic and increasingly jittery game, as well as more difficult terrain including, in the final level, a desert. It would be nice to have more of these areas available initially, but honestly if you can’t succeed in the beginner locations you won’t have a prayer in the advanced ones.
I can’t claim to have unlocked all the locations but what I have seen is beautiful to look at. The hunting grounds are huge and rich in detail, containing lots of neat little touches like animal tracks and birds in flight. In the winter hunts the color palates are fairly muted, but there is ample light and shadow to add a very real edge to the grounds blanketed in snow.
The fall season hunts are gorgeous with lots of reds and browns. Water textures are smooth and even the sky is fun to watch as clouds race by overhead. The animals, assuming you can see them, are well rendered in both movement, which is very natural, and proportion, which is excellent.
The only visual hiccups involve the humans. In the field you have the option (which I don’t recommend) to switch to third-person mode. While this allows you to get a better sense of your position relative to, say, a shrub, your hunter looks clunky up close and his movements and stances are painful to look at. There are some movies throughout the game that are part of a rather lame attempt to tell a story between hunts. Once again the animals look great, the humans not so much.
The sound design is a perfect compliment to the graphics. In the field your only soundtrack is an orchestra of natural sounds: chirping birds, rustling leaves, splashing fish, bleating deer. The effect is very calming but still very real, like the visuals. The only effect that would add to the ambiance is wind, which is unfortunately missing.
The only music you’ll hear is on the menu screens and in the movies (along with some generic voice work). This is fine since music of any kind would be out of place in the field. Important to remember is that sound is part of the gameplay. You must be aware at all times of how much noise you make while walking and creeping through underbrush. Step through thick leaves or a strategically placed puddle and you may cause the ears of every varmint in range to prick up in alarm. So turn your volume up, use caution, and don’t be distracted by all the chirping and bleating.
“Cabela’s Outdoor Adventures” is a solid package no matter how you look at it. With two modes of play, 32 land species and 11 types of fish, 19 weapons, 11 cool locations, and a catalog of literally hundreds of accessories, the options available are enough to keep any armchair hunter busy for weeks or months. Once you get the hang of it there is great incentive to keep going since meeting each new challenge rewards you with bigger purses, harder levels, and loads of new hardware. Plus you can keep track of your biggest kills and catches and, with a basic point distribution system, continually upgrade your hunter and fatten your profile.
Perhaps the only downside is the lack of any multi-player options, though any attempt at that would be problematic (splitting the screen, for example, would ruin the look and feel of the game). But even in One Player mode you can still trade war stories with your pals about the rainbow trout you caught that was THIS big.
Now it’s time for my great big, enormous, neon-lit footnote: THIS GAME IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. If you buy or rent this title expecting it to be Wolfenstein in the woods you’re going to be very disappointed. Like authentic hunting, “Outdoor Adventures” demands wit, attention to detail, and – I’ll say it again – patience! Many gamers out there, even the ones who fancy themselves crafty and even-tempered, may have to fight the urge to fling the controller across the room after just a few minutes in the field. If you’re one of those types – be honest with yourself – save your money. These critters are tough!
That said, I will also admit that this is a title that grows on you. Maybe it’s the lack of oxygen in those high mountain passes, but when you’re looking down the barrel at the hapless prey you’ve just tracked for 20 minutes you can even begin to feel a giddiness approaching euphoria. Call it the thrill of the hunt. But call it quietly…those deer can hear really well.