Cabela's Deer Hunt 2005 Season Preview

The deer just stood there, staring as if daring the hunter to try something. So, the hunter did. Aimed really carefully, then fired that rifle and put the Rocky Mountain Mule Deer down.

Activision Value and Sand Grain Studios are behind the PlayStation 2 release of Cabela’s Deer Hunt 2005 Season. The game is billed as much more than a sequel and in many regards it certainly is more than a sequel. The game sports solid eye candy with lush environments and new deer models.

But the preview build also revealed a few weaknesses.

The program sports two modes of gameplay, the career hunt in which players can unlock levels, items, missions and clay-shooting mini-games, and the quick hunt which will plant players into one of nine regions with a specific target. You get to roam and hunt, with the game providing glowing red dots to indicate where you may find your target. The intensity of the dot shows how far away they are.

The idea of the dot is both good news and bad news. The good news is that because you are not really there and can’t employ real tracking skills, you do get an indication on where to go. The bad news is that because the target has that glow, it’s almost impossible to see what part of the animal you are aiming at.

Other features include the addition of trap and skeet shooting (a first for the title and franchise), nine total deer species, 18 new missions, and 1,000s of Cabela’s gear options. You also get four different types of vehicles to drive, including that big old 4x4 and a boat to traverse the watery stretches.

The game also sports several different difficulty levels to allow cyber-hunters to tailor the challenge according to their skill level.

Like previous titles in the series, you do have a number of avatars to pick from, each with different abilities. And you do have exhaustion levels when you are moving through the bush. You cannot just run toward targets. The avatar’s breathing becomes louder and you will have to slow down and walk or rest to recover.

While the game has a solid options package, one of the items that did not appear to be available was any way to speed up the targeting system. It is very slow and quite testy when it comes to moving it a half-inch or so to line up your shot.

Starting at the easiest difficulty level, twice a deer ran right past the avatar and the targeting was so slow as to prohibit getting the shot lined up fast enough. Perhaps this will be addressed by the time the final build is released.

Other than that, Cabela’s Deer Hunter 2005 Season is a well-designed continuation to the series. The sound of the game is terrific, and the graphics are very well done. Those who enjoy cyber-hunting will likely find this to be a welcomed expansion to their library.