If you have ever wondered what it is like to track and kill a dangerous, man-eating lion or bear, you might want to look somewhere other than Cabela's Big Game Hunter for a realistic look at it. Despite the outdoorsman cred the Cabela name adds to the title, there is very little to this hunting game that feels remotely accurate.
Hunting seems like a genre screaming for first-person view so you feel as through you are right there. Instead, Big Game Hunter pulls you out of the equation; giving you a third-person perspective and a grizzled hunter character to control. It gives the game a tiny bit of a story, but a hunting game does not need a narrative or story to explain why or what you are doing. While wandering around the landscapes of Montana, British Columbia, New Zealand, and Africa, you will notice ever-present crosshairs in the center of the screen. The sights turn red when on an animal, and pulling the left trigger pulls up your scope view for a better look at the animal. Someone has evidently taken a census of each area prior to your arrival, because each animal you have your crosshairs on instantly lists a highly detailed description of it; including weight, age, and sex.
Animals are abundant in the game, but you will have to show some restraint. The one piece of realism the game provides, outside of your gear, is the need for hunting tags. You will get either tags or permission for each animal you kill. The game will offer warnings for animals you do not have permission to kill, but after the third 'mistake', it is game over. When you do have tags for an animal, after you shoot it, your 'adrenaline' meter goes up. It seems strange the first time you see it, and eventually proves to be downright asinine. After racking up a few animals, your meter becomes full, and you are ready to press the left bumper to use it.
When you use 'adrenaline', everything except your gun stops moving. This turns animals, quite literally, sitting ducks. The effect is exciting in action games, like Stranglehold and Max Payne, but that is because there are enemy bullets to dodge. No such danger in Big Game Hunter exists, making it an unnecessary, unsportsmanlike gimmick. It is even less a necessity when you start noticing just how eager the animals in the game are for their 'big shot'. All too often, animals stop and pose for you to shoot them while they stare at you. There are plenty of moving targets for you to shoot at, but they never seem too interested in getting away from the area; choosing instead to alternate twenty-seconds of running with five-seconds of standing still.
If that does not make your hunts easy enough, animals are not only unfazed by the ringing gunshots as you take down one of their brethren; they seem intrigued by it, flocking in mass towards your area. If there is one element of hunting that should remain realistic, it is that animals are scared of people and loud noises. Somehow, the developers loose track of this simple fact of nature. The result is swarms of animals to shoot at and the occasional animal that will readily walk right past you as though looking for food.
In the rare event that you are unable to find any of species you need to shoot, you have a few helpful tools at your disposal. The most realistic and common sense of them is your inventory, which contains hunting tools from duck calls to fighting antlers to species specific scents to draw in your prey. The other 'weapon' at your disposal is 'hunter sense'. Not only do the developers think that your father was Keanu Reeves in The Matrix, they believe that your mother was the alien in Predator. A half-Neo, half-Predator lovechild sounds like an interesting scenario for a game, but it makes a mess of a hunting simulation. Pressing the right bumper unveils your 'hunter sense', and changes the landscape to a strange black and white heat-sensing mode where you mysteriously 'know' where the animals are hiding.
