Cabela’s Big Game Hunter 2010 Review

By: Chad Law

If there is one genre of video games that is the most shunned upon it is of hunting games, and there is a good reason for this my friends. Cabela’s Big game Hunter 2010 has learned from its predecessors and improved greatly. Right off the bat you will notice that the graphics are well up to date and beautiful. The extreme detail of the very skin of water buffalo and the fur of a bear are enhanced. The game designs did a great job bringing these animals to life which improves the hunting experience. Yet despite the beautiful picture this game gives it’s lacking in so much more.

 I hate to say but there are only 12 story missions to complete that involving hunting big game in enclosed and limiting areas. After beating the game I feel like I was given the short end of the stick and that the game was actually cut in half. With so little to do it is a big surprise that the game is currently worth 40 dollars as of 1/4/10. If you were to look back at Big Game Hunter 2005 one think most people loved was the fact how large and open worlded maps and regions were though they were mainly in North America. The story missions play out as so, you play as an average hunter who has teamed up with a Hunting Corporation that is sent to specific areas to hunt big game for sport.

The only way to really advance to new regions though is to gain enough experience points in order to gain levels to advance. You gain experience by hunting game, finding animal tracks and participating in boring and unexciting shooting galleries. As you level up in addition to gaining new areas you obtain new weapons but it is nothing to get hyped up about because they are so similar in design the only thing that really changes is accuracy. Yet that does not say that I didn’t love my Orion crossbow with the satisfying moments of killing Big Game with heat piercing arrows

. The Game Developers have added a medal system in game to inspire people to take their time to get into the perfect spot and  obtain the perfect moments to take down game instead of decimating the entire forest in 1 quick go. Your character has an ability called Hunter Sense which is not new to Cabela’s game but for those who do not know it allows the Hunter greater vision for his prey. This includes the ability to see through the animal and locate vital organs for instance a direct shot into the lunge is more affective then a shot into the legs. Yet getting a heart shot is will give you more points towards your experience level. In hunter sense you are able to see the outline of objects that would compromise your position in hunting and spook your Prey away.

Yet while I was hunting my prey I felt that my AI prey was really slow and not as responsive. I would literally right up in there face and they are looking at me and they just don’t react to me being there at times. Which usually means an easy kill but I really wanted a hunting experience. If this is a bug it needs to be fixed or the AI may just need improvement. The most annoying sections of the Big Game Hunter 2010 are the unnecessary and ridiculous log sequences. This requires you to balance yourself across and log using the analog stick and takes away from the hunting experience. At times these logs will fall into the ditch and you will have to button mash your way back up the ledge. The fact that this happens several times would lead one to think that maybe walking across dangerous placed logs is not the best idea.

What’s even more disappointing is that the game has boss like animals. Yet they only come in two varieties Big Cat and Bear. The developers tried so hard to set up these boss moments but fail so much due to the fact that they die in a couple hits. If you were to really think about you’re fighting a bear, a common creature of the forest, not a mutated alien from another planet. If you are an achievement/trophy hunter and you people know who you are you will be glad to hear that most of the achievements in Big Game Hunter 2010 and really simply to obtain. I got an achievement for just pressing the left bumper 10 times!

From this review you can tell that this is really not a superb game and I would only rank it at a decent game but it’s not worth 40 dollars in no way. Yet if you are hard core hunting fan I would suggest that you are to rent it at a maximum. For the once superb hunting game formula has being altered for the worst. Enjoy your hunt…..if your not too busy balancing on top of logs.

+  Overall shooting stuff is fun

- lacking length in game

- Annoying button mashing sequences

- Plain out too easy to beat