Ernest Hemingway
believed that a man was only truly alive when he is either fishing or in the
middle of a big game hunt and for many hunters this is actually true. Activision
has brought us a few Cabela-themed hunting games for the Xbox, many of
which concentrate on the thrill of the hunt in the great outdoors but it’s the
Dangerous Hunts series that has taught us that sometimes even the most
experienced hunter can become the hunted. So we’re back in the wild with
Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2 – a game that skips the hunting altogether and
makes it all about the first-person shooting action.
You play a
nameless, faceless big game hunter that finds himself resting in his secluded
cabin in the great wilderness when a one-eyed hunter named Old Hugh comes
knocking on your door with an intriguing proposal. He asks you to help him find
his nephew and niece lost in the wild and, in return, offers you information on
the whereabouts of your old hunting partner who went missing during a hunt. Your
adventure takes you around the globe from the jungles of India to the vast
tundra of Siberia. It’s a mission to find a friend while fending off a number of
exotic animals that inhabit each locale. So this becomes less a quest for
hunting fame and more of a first-person shooter where the enemy doesn’t fire
back but rather jumps out at you.
If you’re
expecting to use scents to lure any game or stalk the terrain carefully in order
not to spook an animal you’re tracking then you will be very disappointed. From
the first mission down to the very last one you will find that you will
be the one that’s being stalked and hunted. Oftentimes wild animals will jump
out at specific spots, usually taking a bite out of you or, if you’re not
careful, on top of you. The environments in each locale are huge and you won’t
know an animal is dead on your tracks until the music picks up. Really,
sometimes it feels as if a wolf or cougar just materialized out of nowhere.
Luckily, you’ll have firearms at your disposal, oftentimes receiving different
ones from your guides.
Speaking of
guides, this isn’t a lonely adventure. You’ll have a number of companions
throughout the game, a few of them that are big game hunters themselves. There’s
a problem with having guides by your side, though. Your guides are supposed to
be men of big game wisdom but why do they always put themselves in a situation
where you need to save them from their incompetence? I swear, Old Hugh has a
hunting knife and a gun and he still manages to get himself mauled by animals.
The good part is that guides will hand over their weapons (sniper rifles,
shotguns and even revolvers) but the bad news is that you will have to start the
mission over if they die.
With much of the
hunting elements out of the way, the game feels more like your average
first-person shooter complete with scattered health packs and extra ammo clips.
The levels themselves have you performing main objectives as well as secondary
ones. Some levels are geared to move the story along while others are all about
shooting as many animals as possible until you get to the boss animal. Oh yeah,
you read correctly. Like most first-person shooters, there’s a level boss,
mainly a huge and dangerous animal that cannot be brought down with less than
two bullets. You’ll fight off a huge grizzly in the first level as well as a
lion in another. Are they challenging fights? Not really but they add some
variety to the straightforward levels that start feeling the same. At least
there’s a level where you get to ride on a helicopter while bringing game down
with a long-range rifle.
Besides the fact
that the game is linear and a bit on the short side, you’ll often encounter some
baffling moments that make for a frustrating experience. In the second level in
Zimbabwe, for example, you’ll encounter some killer bees that attack you even
after you shot the beehive just as you were instructed to do. You’ll even fall
into quicksand, something that means instant death the very second you happen to
step into it so forget a vicious swipe from a tiger, quicksand is the true
instant killer.
On the graphics
front, Dangerous Hunts 2 is not a very pretty Xbox game nor is it a very
realistic one either. The animals look vicious and you won’t help but yelp out
the second a blood-thirst tiger jumps out at you or even a lion. The problem
isn’t how they look but rather how they move. You can move out of the way of a
charging wolf but when they turn it isn’t with a natural one but rather an
awkward spin. Shoot certain animals and they’ll not only stiffen but they’ll
perform a summersault. The environments range from ho-hum to not bad at all. The
foliage, for example, looks decent from afar but when you move closer it becomes
quite an eye sore.
As for the
game’s sound, the game does a great job of bringing all the sounds of each
specific locale to life. You’ll hear the wilderness come to life with the sounds
of insects, distant wolves and the cracking of dry twigs at your feet. When you
fire your long-ranged rifle you’ll hear the echo of the shot ring through the
canyons and even shotguns have that loud retort. The animal sounds are dead-on
and you’ll know when a cougar is around because you’ll hear its unmistakable
cry. While the main character doesn’t say a word, you’ll hear plenty from your
guides who are often trying to spook you with “What’s that?” or “You heard
that?”
Cabela’s
Dangerous Hunts 2
misses the mark when it comes to the hunting and as a
first-person shooter it hardly comes close to bringing us an action game worthy
of the series or the genre. The far off locales are a nice touch and the
dangerous game you’ll encounter just sweeten the deal but when it comes to the
gameplay there’s no real reason causal gamers will want to purchase this one.
Even hunting fans will not enjoy this title so you’ll want to stay away.
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Gameplay: 6.2
Forget the
hunting because there’s no strategy or hunting involved in this game so expect
this to be a straightforward first-person shooter with wild animals (including
bees) as your enemies. There are some great locales, many with their own boss
animals, but the lack of hunting in a hunting game just doesn’t make any sense.
You don’t have to buy guns either so you’ll get a chance to fire a variety of
handguns as well as shotguns and rifles. Helicopter hunts add some variety.
Graphics: 7.0
Visually, the
game looks so-so, adding very little in terms of Xbox specific visual
razzle-dazzle. The environments look somewhat decent in some places and look a
lot better in others (such as the Zimbabwe level). The human character models
look poor but thankfully many of the animals look good. Then again, have you
ever seen an elephant do a summersault?
Sound: 7.5
The ambient
sounds are nicely detailed and there are some great animal sounds that do a
better job of giving you the impression you’re deep in the woods or in the
jungle. The sounds of the wild will surround you and that’s a really great
thing. The voice acting is actually decent and the game’s score works nicely.
Difficulty:
Medium
With no real
stalking or going through the trouble to set up traps, using animal calls or
scents, the real challenge is trying to keep cougars or desert lions from
landing on top of you. Really, you’re more the hunted than the hunter, often
shooting not to collect a prize but rather to keep savage wolves or stampeding
elephants from mauling you. The animal AI is pretty sharp at times but most of
the time they just run in circles.
Concept: 6.5
Big game
hunting in far off lands sounds interesting but when there’s no real hunting
involved and your experienced big game hunting guides are better at getting
themselves killed then lending a hand you’ll know the experience isn’t exactly
how they advertised it in the brochures. There are some unlockable bonuses and
secret levels to unlock (one taking place around an Aztec temple).
Overall: 6.2
The hunting
and stalking elements are completely removed from the series and thus making
Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2 a shooter with very little substance or
redeemable qualities. Sure, you’ll get to see exotic locales and shoot dangerous
exotic animals but it doesn’t feel like hunting at all. Really, if you
enjoy hunting games then you should avoid this one.
