IGN - Cabela seems to have picked up the pace.
A common complaint about several previous installments in the long-running Cabela's series of hunting and fishing sims is that they got their simulations a little too right -- they were frequently focused on offering as accurate a re-creation of the hunting experience as possible, and that translated into some really slow gameplay. After all, if you go out hunting for real, you have to spend hours preparing, then making your way out into the wild, then waiting and waiting and waiting for the chance to take, maybe, a single good shot.
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Rating Description
out of 10 click here for ratings guide
7.5 Presentation
Nicely done. This latest Cabela's outing takes inspiration from modern first-person shooters and picks up its pace of play, adding checkpoints and progressive goals to achieve.
6.0 Graphics
Outdoor Adventures has to contend with a lower display resolution and some blurriness in textures on the Wii and PS2, but the PS3 and Xbox 360 builds are sharp.
7.0 Sound
Music is kept mostly to menu screens in order to preserve the silence of the hunt and put emphasis on audio cues there -- which are done pretty well.
7.0 Gameplay
A decent hunting sim that doesn't stray too far into serious simulation, which saves the player a lot of time. The fishing portion is poor, but thankfully doesn't seem to get much focus.
7.0 Lasting Appeal
A Trophy Creator mode that allows you to customize your own animals and then track them down extends the experience, after you've cleared the story mode.
7.0
Decent OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average)
KeenGamer: "With Hunting Simulator 2 set to release later this month, we decided to take a look at some of the best hunting video games available on consoles over the years. From all the Cabela’s games to the most recent theHunter: Call of the Wild, gamers have had a plethora of options to choose from to get their hunting simulation experience on. Here, we take a look at a few of our favorite hunting games ever offered on consoles."
About writes: "Cabela's Outdoor Adventures is the only videogame that lets you both fish and hunt in the same title. If you're the outdoorsy-type, it is pretty much a dream come true. The execution is a little uneven, unfortunately, as the hunting is pretty fun and the fishing is really bad, but together they make up a decently fun overall package."
Cabela's has been applying its brand name to hunting and fishing video games for a long time now, and none of its previous products have been real stand-out hits. Outdoor Adventures isn't either, but it at least addresses and common complaint about many of those past games and picks up the pace of the gameplay -- diving into this one is quick and easy, and you can play for short periods of time and still see a lot of action, instead of just sitting around and waiting for hours for bucks and birds to wander by. It's got a few issues and the fishing's mostly phoned in, but Outdoor Adventures may well be a decent option for aspiring woodsmen this season.
Presentation - 7.5
Graphics - 7.0
Sound - 7.0
Gameplay - 7.0
Lasting Appeal - 7.0
Overall -
