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"A beautiful nature hike.......... with GUNS!!!!"

In order to truly appreciate the review I am about to post for this game I want you to understand a little about me, the reviewer and my history with hunting games.

First off, I have never hunted in real life. I have no desire to shoot any animals that aren't trying to hurt me. I did a little fishing when I was a kid, that is the closest thing I came to it and the fact that I have fired a shotgun, a rifle, and a bow and arrow on several occasions during that YMCA/Boy Scouts phase of my life comes in as a close second.

Of course, as we all know (or should know) is that the reason people like to play video games is so they can do things they cannot and/or would not do in real life. And I am thankful for them very much.

On Thanksgiving morning 2003 I happened to be at a Walmart killing time before eating turkey dinner at my mother-in-law's house. I happened by a bargain bin full of computer games and spent the next hour or so sorting through them.

I happened across "Trophy Hunter 2003" for $4.77 and debated in my head over and over whether or not I should get the title, as I had some dark curiosity about hunting games in the back of my head, but was reluctant to ever try one as it would surely disgust my wife.

So I resolved my inner conflict by purchasing the game and a nice bouquet of flowers for my wife. As they say, an ounce of prevention............

Anyway, that cheap computer game became the standard upon which I judged all hunting games after it. It was, and is still the best hunting game I have played. But when I finished it, the thirst for more hunting games grew and I expanded my search to many different hunting games old and new, spanning across the PC, PS2 and X Box.

Some games were fair, but a lot were beneath my even bothering to write a review for them as I could not even stand to play them long enough. I would have written a stellar review for TH2003 but the review already existing on this site very well sums up how I felt about the game, so why bother?

Cabela's makes TONS of hunting games. And now they finally made one I enjoy, after playing several of them I did not enjoy as much, the one example that comes to the forefront of my mind is "Dangerous Hunts", a game that was not all that great (you can read my review for the X Box version on this website).

Big Game Hunter 2005 involves the same elements of any other hunting game. You track the animal, stalk the animal and/or lure the animal all for the sake of killing it with your gun, knife, or bow. What I believe makes a game like this good is just how enjoyable each one of those aspects is, to what graphical detail, and how wide a variety of environments can you do this tracking, stalking and luring of how big a variety of animals to kill. Follow? Its pretty much the same activity but a few subtle gameplay aspects can make it or break it.

The additional features that this game has over most other hunting games is that you can do your career mode as a sort of story where you follow in your grandfather's footsteps of hunting greatness. There is a linear story line that takes you through six regions of North America (Forest, Marsh, Grassland, Desert, Mountain, and Tundra). There are required tasks and then sub-quests you can take on during your journey.

In addition to regular hunting, you can also do things like participate in trap-shooting contests. On the way through the wild you can rescue hunters and others lost in the wild, and even put sick animals out of their misery at the request of the warden.

A big criticism I had of Cabela's Dangerous Hunts is that the space you had to walk through was so limiting that you were practically walking through a maze to find your trophy. This issue is SOLVED in BGH2005 and it is the game I wanted Dangerous Hunts to be.

Features that this game has that are common to some hunting games are an optional "bullet cam" that shows you the path of your bullet when you fire a shot, the ability to adjust the scope of your firearm, automatically claim your trophy instead of having to walk over to it, and the ultra-game-spoiling "trophy beacon": a little red dot that marks exactly where the animal is. That last feature I disabled, as I want to play a HUNTING game, not a SHOOTING game.

There are a few things I did not like, for instance the distance between save points. The fact that you could only carry one type of animal call or one kind of telescope, one kind of decoy, etc. was something I never understood in some of the Cabela's games, and it does not exist in TH2003. Also, it does not seem like the calls and lures do you much good. Therefore my favorite way to play a hunting sim has always been to follow the tracks, and the game does have a very good tracking feature.

Graphics: 8/10

The graphics were good but not perfect. There were some flaws like when you drove the pickup truck you could see the blades of grass through it.

Sound 10/10

There is not that much sound in these games until a shot is fired and/or an animal attacks you. So I will give it a perfect score as I noticed no flaws in how real it sounded and the spacing of the Dolby Digital sound was very accurate (i.e. if the waterfalls are behind you and to the left it comes out in those speakers). This last feature is helpful in finding where a particular animal noise is coming from so you can investigate it.

Controls 7/10

The walking/shooting aspect was competently done. You do have to pause the game to use an item or to look at the map. There are other hunting games that you don't have to do that with. Vehicle controls are sometimes clumsy, as is consistent with every game I have tried so far, and if you want to drive an ATV in the woods, FORGET IT. You will hit tree after tree going slower than if you ran and will injure yourself to the point where your character will be walking 5 feet and then gasping for air.

Gameplay 9/10

I love the game setup. You talk to the warden, get your tags for whatever animals you can hunt, go to the store to buy your equipment, rest in the lodge, go to the range to calibrate your firearm and your ready for the tracking, stalking luring and killing I mentioned before. And it is done quite well. I did get a rush out of some close calls I had with Grizzly Bears about to eat me alive, as well as the well-aimed shots from 160 yards away.

Replay Value 8/10

I will definitely put this one on the shelf and dust it off in a few months to try it again on a higher difficulty.

Rent or Buy: If you like hunting games then buy it. You won't be disappointed. If you have never played a hunting game before, rent it for sure.

I think the only other thing I could ask for in a hunting game aside from the above is to have a "humane" game or game mode where you are armed with a tranquilizer gun and you are trying to capture endangered species to send them to a zoo for their preservation. I think a lot of husbands would have an easier time with their wives if such a thing existed.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/03/05