Cabelas Big Game Hunter 2012
Cabela’s Big Game Hunter 2012 is a sports video game centred around hunting large animals, and was originally released at the end of 2011 for consoles. With an exciting story and plenty of hunting action, the game has a lot going for it and I guarantee you’ll have a lot of fun. Now, let’s jump straight into talking about what the game is all about.
An intense story
The game opens with the main character, John Sharp, hunting a man-eating grizzly bear in the middle of a blizzard. Out of nowhere, a mysterious hunter appears and gets attacked by the grizzly, leading to an intense fight that ends on a cliffhanger with Sharp seemingly seconds away from death. Sharp humorously commentates the entire cutscene, which provides some comic relief, but it’s still intense and will leave you wondering what’s going to happen next.
After the cutscene, you get taken back in time to Montana where the first part of the story takes place. I don’t want to spoil anything, but just know that you’ll get to experience plenty of thrilling moments both in Montana and the other locations you get to visit. You eventually reach Alaska which is where the final scene with the grizzly takes place, too, so be sure to play the whole game through to find out what happens.
Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2012 lets you explore a vast expanse of mountains and valleys with unprecedented choices in direction never before seen in a Cabela's hunting game. Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2012. The Games on Demand version supports English, French, Italian, German, Spanish. Cabela’s Big Game Hunter 2012 takes you on a fun-filled, fast-paced adventure around the globe. With the world as their playground, players will explore a vast expanse of mountains and valleys with unprecedented choices in direction.
Five unique locations
As mentioned, there are multiple locations you get to visit in the game including Montana and Alaska. The other three are Mexico, Texas, and Namibia. Each location features unique animals, so expect to come across more than 30 different species throughout your journey. Some animals like the cottontail rabbit are small and won't be much of a threat, but you’ll also come across larger animals like moose and rhinos so take extra care around those.
Hunting gameplay
As the game is about hunting, you naturally get to use a variety of guns, but there are also a bunch of other cool things incorporated into the game to help you with your hunts such as callers, shooting blinds, and tree stands. Be sure to take advantage of these because the animals are smart in this game and will run away if they can see or hear you easily.Additionally, you’ll be able to take advantage of a special slow-motion mode during the game to land shots more easily. This mode only triggers under certain circumstances, but when it does happen, it’ll be very useful and may even save your life.
The hunting in Cabela’s Big Game Hunter 2012 is very reminiscent of what can be found in bigger games like Red Dead Redemption or Far Cry and is just as fun. If you enjoy hunting and are looking for a relatively simple game to scratch that hunting itch, be sure to download Cabela’s Big Game Hunter 2012 and give it a go.
Pros:
- A range of environments to explore with unique animals in each
- A great story with intense moments that’ll keep you on your toes
- Simple controls that are easy to get the hang of
Cons:
- Not a whole lot of variety in gameplay
- Graphics are slightly outdated
- Though fun, the game isn’t super realistic so don’t expect a polished hunting game masterpiece
Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2012 | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Cauldron |
Publisher(s) | Activision |
Series | Cabela's |
Platform(s) | PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360 |
Release | September 27, 2011 |
Genre(s) | Sports (Hunting) |
Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2012 is a huntingvideo game developed by Cauldron and published by Activision for the PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360 in 2011.
Gameplay[edit]
The game takes place in five different locations: Montana, Mexico, Texas, Namibia and Alaska. Each location features three different primary days with five different hunts available from the start of the region. The game features a big variety of environments available including lush forests, dry deserts, craggy mountains, flooded plains, scorching savannas and the freezing tundra. The game also features multiple scenarios where 'decisions' will have to be made. Each region features a variety of animals each specific to the environments in which can be hunted throughout the game.
The game incorporates many new and returning elements not found in previous main series games, such as having shooting blinds, shooting rests and tree stands, a caller, and other things to aid the player. 'Hunter Sense' returns, and now upon finding evidence, the player creates a flashback in the form of a black-and-white moving image of the animal's last known location and what that animal was doing. But other new things are implemented in this game to work against the player, such as animals now having some of the most improved and most realistic AI in any game, meaning they could easily see, smell, or hear you if you make a wrong move. Similar to Dangerous Hunts, predators can now randomly surprise the player by jumping out of a bush or off a cliff, so the player's 'killer instinct' slow-motion mode activates, turning the player towards the animal to shoot before it lands a hit. Getting to your target is now more challenging with the implementation of stealth hunts and timed hunts. Stealth hunts are when the males are not within reach and the player must use stealth and cover (usually thick bushes, logs, and rock formations) to avoid females, noisy terrain, and other animals like birds. The player is also given a device called a UTD that measures your presence to the animals. A low-pitched beep means that the animals are calm and can't detect you, medium-pitched beeps indicate that animals are starting to detect your presence, and high-pitched beeps tell the player that animals have clearly spotted the player and they are about to run away. A timed hunt is activated either when you reach your target, a predator or another force that could disturb the animals appears and the player must kill the target in a certain amount of time; or when the animals appear as a large herd and the player must kill a certain number of males before time runs out. Many birds and small mammals roam around for the player to shoot at their leisure. Sometimes the player can reach a hidden area, where they have an opportunity to photograph rare animals and natural behaviors. There's also a gun store where players can buy, customize, and upgrade their weapons.
The game also features multiplayer where players can create or customize their own map from a template (based on campaign or gallery) or from scratch. Players can place trees, foliage, water, terrain formations, and animals found in the game or create custom animals, which they can hunt with friends with online connectivity. Players can set challenges to compete in hunting the rarest animals and like Campaign mode, players can also buy and customize their weapons for each type of situation (a typical weapon is usually a variation of a scoped bolt-action hunting rifle). There are multiple shooting galleries like arcade, where you can kill as many animals as want, target, which you can use to practice your marksmanship by shooting wood cutouts of animal targets, or reflex which tests your hunting skills by instructing the player to kill certain animals in a chronological order. The game was released packaged with the Top Shot Elite, a plastic peripheral for the Wii controller.
Story[edit]
Twenty-five-year-old John Sharp, a rookie big game hunter, is invited to participate in the Cabela's 2012 International Safari hosted by John Hathcock, a high-ranking member of the Order of Orion, an elite club of world-class big game hunters from all over the world. The player starts in Montana, Sharp's homeland, where he hunts red deer, white-tailed deer, pronghorn, and hunt an elk before wolves scare it away. The next day a wounded mountain lion terrorizes the area, and Sharp must kill it. The player heads to Mexico, where he hunts whitetail, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, and mule deer. After taking shelter in an arroyo during a sandstorm, Sharp finds boot tracks, confident that someone trespassed into his zone. Just as he's approaching a bison herd, a rifle fires and misses, scaring them off. It's revealed Matisse fired, trying to make Sharp miss his chance. The two argue, but Hathcock shames them.
Then the player goes to Hathcock's private ranch in Texas, hunting white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, wild boar, bison, and moose. The radio gets a distress call from Freidkin, with Hathcock telling Sharp to check it out. Sharp finds that Freidkin's stand was knocked over by a startled bison, making him fall 70 feet down into a gorge. Sharp must then defend him from meat-craving boars until medical assistance arrives. Freidkin is taken to a hospital, where his left leg is amputated, making him drop out. The player goes to Namibia, where he hunts blackbuck, impala, zebra, wildebeest, greater kudu, White rhino and Cape buffalo. Sharp comes across lion tracks, confirming that a hunting pride is scouring the area. Sharp hears as Cassidy alerts everyone that he and his kill are surrounded by lions. As Cassidy starts to panic, Sharp instructs him to abandon his trophy and jump into a nearby ravine. There are several roars and a scream as several birds are flushed from the trees. Sharp runs to the site, finding nothing but Cassidy's rifle and pack with smears of blood. Sharp sees the male lion in the distance, and must dispatch the lionesses. He's then ambushed by the lion, and as he's about to kill Sharp a shot fires, and the lion pauses and falls to his side. Sharp sits up and sees Matisse, revealing he shot the lion for himself, saving his life. Authorities scour the area, but Cassidy's body is never found.
The player and Matisse finally go to Kodiak Island in Alaska, the final location as an approaching Arctic blizzard threatens the cancel the tournament. Meanwhile, a man-eating grizzly bear named Bloody Ben has been terrorizing the island for the last decade, and poses a huge threat to the hunters, spectators, and game animals in the area. The player hunts red deer, Sitka deer, elk, Dall sheep, caribou, and moose. In the midst of the blizzard, Sharp finally finds Ben's tracks, and just as he's about to shoot, a man jumps in front of his scope, revealed to be Matisse. He aggravates the bear by shooting twice, but is mauled. Sharp runs to Matisse, badly injured and passed out. Sharp is then startled by the bear, and jumps to the ground for his rifle as Bloody Ben closes in for the kill. Sharp kills Ben after shooting him 6 times in his vitals. Matisse wakes up, only to see Sharp looking at him with a confident smirk and Bloody Ben dead behind him. Matisse admits defeat to Sharp and apologizes for everything he's done. Sharp then sells Ben's skin to the Order, and he uses the money to go to Hawaii the next summer. The game ends.
Trivia[edit]
- The Cape buffalo is misidentified as a water buffalo, and the trophy score one has four horns in the photo.
- The golden eagle is the only small game animal that will give you a penalty if shot at.
- This game is the first appearance of the gray wolf, bison, wild boar, zebra and wildebeest in the Big Game Hunter series.
- This is the only Cabela's game to feature the UTD.
- This is the last Big Game Hunter series game released on the Wii.
- All international versions of the game were localized in Activision's Dublin office.