Cabela’s Big Game Hunter 2012 - the game itself - retails for $50 US pretty much everywhere, but for ten extra dollars you can get the combination package that includes a Top Shot Elite peripheral. Essentially a glorified Nintendo Wii remote, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions use an infrared LED bar powered by AA batteries (the Wii version uses the console's LED bar). The Top Shot itself is comfy and easy to figure out. Unfortunately it is plagued by the “less-than-eight-feet” rule. Meaning that trying to use it at a distance of less than eight feet from the LED bar will render it useless. I was able to get it calibrated twice, and both times the reticule moved way too fast, proportionally. The scope attachment didn’t line up with the reticule, making the whole experience an exercise in futility.
So I swapped to a standard controller, and found the controls to feel way more natural and comfortable - in addition to actually working.
Comfortable, well engineered...no good at close range.
The campaign is narrated by the player’s character. One cutscene at the start sets up a story about an international hunting contest, and the load screens for each hunt continue that story. The contest manager also gives tips and plot updates via a “phone voice” during hunts. It has a nice flow to it, but ultimately it’s altogether unnecessary. It does nothing to motivate; it’s just kind of there for the sake of being there. Maybe someone at ActiVision needed some busywork.
As you progress more rifles and shotguns are unlocked - these can be upgraded by spending points that you’ve earned along the way. Upgrades include more powerful scopes, harder hitting ammo, and several other basic options. You can carry two firearms in any given hunt, along with your deer call and binoculars.
Hunts are objective based and grant you scores depending on what kind of blind or stand you may utilize, how many shots you needed for the takedown, and if you are able to accept a special challenge for each one. These trophy challenges generally specify an extended range, multiple targets, or even push you to be patient and identify certain animals in a small herd or group for extra points. Throughout each hunt small varmints and birds will cross your path and give you the opportunity to earn some more points with your shotgun. Predators will also sometimes attack, and you must have decent reflexes and good aim to drop them mid-air.
By far my favorite part about any hunt is the ability to slow things down and get a good bead on your target. By holding the left bumper everything goes into slow motion and any animal under your crosshairs is suddenly x-rayed - its vital internals are highlighted from within, giving you the option of how to take it down. For someone who needs practice choosing where to aim in a real hunting scenario, this is a wondrous feature.
Using blinds and stands earns extra points. Animals are highlighted in red in this view mode.
Bow hunting takes extra patience, and is extra rewarding.
But I’m afraid we’ve hit the high point. There is so much wrong with this game that the average gamer - and even the average hunter - is going to shy away from. First of all, the hunts are so linear it’s impossible to get lost or to fail, and tracking literally consists of activating a “detective mode” so see where the nearest set of tracks is. Second, the game is very picky about only letting you carry two carefully selected guns...but when a predator jumps out at you, your bolt action rifle suddenly can fire in rapid succession and without reloading. So much for being even slightly realistic.
And then there’s my biggest gripe of all: the co-op Shooting Galleries. Oh, man, the Shooting Galleries...
Shooting Galleries are a four-player competitive or co-op mode. Each person gets a reticule with a little ammo indicator. You can swap from rifle to shotgun and back again freely. Each area is an on-rails segment. The object? Kill everything that moves.
I don’t get offended by video games. But I have to challenge the bone-headed decision that someone made on this. Why - after carefully crafting animal models and animations so that the hunting experience was as realistic as a studio could feebly manage - would anyone ever think it was okay to make a mode where the sole purpose was to blast critters and leave them lying around? Granted, the carcasses disappear after several seconds, but you get the point. I don’t mind my toddlers watching me “stalk” an elk (stalking in this game is literally crouching and making a beeline for a shooter’s blind), taking aim, and firing. It may seem a bit morbid but in our family hunting is a natural thing. But there’s no way I’d let them see Mommy and Daddy blasting apart the countryside and dropping every animal in sight for no reason. This isn’t supposed to be a parody game, it’s supposed to be a hunting game - and to me that should entail the respect for nature that a true hunter has, even if the rest of the game is a bit lame.
"Oh, how pretty... Kill it!" This might make a good frat party game mode. Otherwise...just...no.
What I’ve wound up with is a game that is very selectively fun. Thankfully I can re-hunt the areas that were the most satisfactory, and can even upload pictures of my trophies to Facebook. The game cuts a lot of corners when it comes to simulating a real outdoor experience, but when it comes down to choosing a vantage point and taking the perfect shot it can be a rewarding gameplay session. All I have to do is avoid the Shooting Galleries and the Top Shot peripheral, and I can actually enjoy Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2012 quite a bit.
This review is based on the Xbox 360 version of the game.