Cabela's Big Game Hunter: 2004 Season

Main Menu

The main menu gives the player the option to choose a quick hunt (limited to only one tag per hunt, progress in the career mode is not effected), or the career hunt, where players can unlock locations, embark on long hunts, and bag multiple animals on one hunt. The options, multiplayer menu, movie library, credits, and high scores list are also on the main menu.

Upon creating a profile, the player can choose their character, most of which are males and females of the mid-20s, mid-40s, and the mid-60s. Each character will have different levels of experience. For example, the mid-20s male is able to carry more items and run longer distances, whereas the mid-60s male will tire easily. However, the mid-60s male is more proficient in tracking and aiming, whereas the mid-20s male is rather inexperienced in the field. The player can also choose a log cabin setup where they can view their best trophies from the game. <Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2004 Season></Activision>

Career Hunt

The career menu allows the player to pick a location and begin hunting, go to the target range, access the log cabin, save the game, and browse and change the settings. There are eight locations in the game:

• British Columbia - Canada's westernmost province, this location is known for its rolling hills, thick forests, a stone bridge over a waterfall, and a set of trails giving the player easy access to all four corners of the map. The game here is grizzly, mountain goat, Stone sheep, and Dall sheep.
• Alaska - The largest US state. This map features massive slopes and ravines, a river that bisects the map, and a glacier at the end of the trail. The game here is polar bear, Alaskan moose, and Sitka blacktail.
• Alberta - Known as one of Canada's "Three Prairie Provinces", Alberta features thickly-forested mountains and trails. Game here is wolf, woodland caribou, and bighorn.
• Arizona - The hottest map in the game, with a diverse amount of wildlife and landscapes. Game here is cougar, javelina, coues deer, pronghorn, and bighorn.
• Montana - The fourth-largest state, this map features open plains, forests, and a massive lake that freezes over completely in the winter. Game here is elk, Shiras moose, and mule deer.
• Northwest Territories - Being one of Canada's most sparsely-populated, frigid, and largest regions, temperatures are considerably low, forests are often too thick for vehicle transport, and wildlife is concealed by the vast valleys and foliage. Game here is brown bear, barren-ground caribou, and musk ox.
• Quebec - A large region with thick forests at sea level, but large, bald peaks. Upon spawning at "Bathurst Falls", a boat can be found directly behind the cabin, although there is not much water to make boat travel practical. Game here is black bear, Canadian moose, and Labrador caribou.
• Texas - A large state of thick pockets and trees and brush, amidst large plains and steppes. The rough terrain makes travel by the pickup truck difficult, but the large map and hot temperatures make walking impractical. Upon spawning at "Ash Fork", a boat can be found by driving up the trail, and walking off to the right towards the lake. There is a dock here, and another dock placed at the opposite side of the lake. A cast iron bridge seals this gap, and a broken bridge can be found at the bottom-left corner of the map. Game here is coyote, whitetail, and wild boar. <Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2004 Season</Activision>

Gameplay

The player is allowed to spawn at four spawn points in each location. In this game, there are four cabins in each location, offering themselves as spawn points. The player is given a vehicle that suits their transportation needs based on their location and selected season. Winter seasons, with the exceptions of Arizona and Texas, will give the player a snowmobile. Montana (in the three seasons besides winter), Arizona, and Texas will spawn the player with a pickup truck. All other maps in the seasons of summer, spring, and autumn, will spawn the player with an ATV.

Controls

• W - Walk/Run Forward
• S - Walk/Run Backward
• A - Strafe Left
• D - Strafe Right
• Q - Equip Last Selected Weapon
• Space - Open Inventory
• E - Mount/Dismount Vehicle, Exit Bullet Camera, Claim Trophy, Collapse Decoy
• X - Tracking Camera
• B - Refill Hydration Bladder
• L Shift - Run (can be held or used as toggle)
• L Control - Crouch (can be held or used as toggle)
• F1-9 - Equip/Use Item based on respective inventory slot
• Escape - Menu
• Mouse 1 - Fire, use item
• Mouse 2 - Aim, Zoom

Maps

The map layouts are extremely similar to each other in this game. Each map has four cabins in four corners of the map, where the player can choose to start the hunt from the menu. There are main trails highlighted in red on the player's GPS. Smaller, usually more tortuous trails, are drawn in thin brown lines. All minor trails do form complete circuits with either themselves, other minor trails, or the main trail. Bridges are seen in most maps. Texas has a bridge in disrepair at the bottom-left corner of the map. This signifies the trail's end, and the player will only fall through the open middle into the river below; the player can swim to a bank and resume hunting. Only two maps offer boat transportation: Quebec and Texas. Quebec does not offer water routes through the entire map to make water travel practical. Texas, on the other hand, allows players to travel between two areas of a large lake, which is beneficial during warmer seasons, as travel by foot is exhausting, and driving by truck can be dangerous given the terrain.

All maps, except Arizona and Texas, are thickly-forested maps. All maps contain evergreens, with some deciduous trees. The maps do vary in their landmarks and textures. British Columbia has brighter colours, while Alaska has darker colours and foliage, with rolling hills and glaciers. The Northwest Territories is the coldest map in the game in winter, along with some of the steepest slopes. Montana contains a large lake in the centre of the map, entitled "Springdale Lake." Arizona is a desert map, while Texas is a prairie-plains map with deciduous trees.

Equipment

Players can choose from a variety of weapons: rifles, shotguns, handguns, and bows. Most rifles are bolt-action, with one semi-automatic. There are three shotguns, three handguns, three drawback bows, and a crossbow. Players can also choose their clothing based on terrain, climate, and surroundings. Tents, food, water bags, calls, decoys, lures, and other beneficial equipment, like tree stands, tripods, and rangefinders, are also available. The player can use the space bar during a hunt to access their inventory. Only ten individual items are stored in the inventory, clothing not included. Only four instances of one object, if it is an object of which multiples can be taken, can be taken. They each fill up one slot. Food, covers, lures, and water can be brought on a hunt in multiples of four.

Fines and Penalties

The player can violate hunting regulations by firing a weapon after hours (8:00 pm – 8:00 am), shooting a non-game animal (rabbit, lynx, snake, fox), shooting an animal they do not have a tag for, hitting an animal with their vehicle, or firing their weapon within 150 yards of an inhabited building. Upon the first violation of any of these rules, the player will receive a warning from the warden. Upon a second violation, the warden will fine the player $200. They will be fined another $200 upon a third violation, and upon a fourth violation, the player will be forced to leave the hunting area. A window will open giving the player to restart the hunt or quit to the main menu. If a player decides to restart the hunt, they will find their tags replenished and their trophies from the hunt cancelled. If they choose to quit the hunt, their trophies will be cancelled, and they will have to purchase any used tags again. The player can always return to the area at a different time. An area never closes to a player when asked to leave.<Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2004 Season></Activision>

Objectives, Goals, and Completion

In order for the player to complete the game, they must bag at least one of every trophy from each location. Therefore, the lowest amount of hunts a player must complete in order to complete the game is eight. Each man is playable in all four seasons, although no animals are exclusive to any season; all game animals for a given location appear in all four seasons. There are also no firearm restrictions, making weapons like shotguns, bows, and handguns optional but not necessary. Given the overall simplicity of the game, the level of challenge is up to the player, if they decide they will bring more difficult weapons, make use of the various lures, decoys, and equipment, or choose to hunt in more difficult seasons. These are the major changes that Activison made when developing Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2005 Adventures for the PC.

Upon creating a new profile (choosing a hunter, cabin, and name), the player will start with only one location unlocked, British Columbia. The photos of the location (viewed by rotating the season choice) will be brightly illuminated, as opposed to the other locked locations. All other locations are locked from the start and the photos will be darkened considerably, and the word 'LOCKED' will appear at the top of each location until they are unlocked. Upon completing a location, the photos will remain brightly lit, but the word 'COMPLETED' will appear at the top centre of the photo. This will continue until all locations are completed. Upon completing the final hunt, the player will be shown a video of the developers' hunts set to the theme music. The video starts with the words "Congratulatons, you have completed your career hunt." Five demo videos should be unlocked in the "movie library" section of the main menu. The demos include hunts in British Columbia, Alaska, Montana, Quebec, and Texas.

Target Range

The game includes a target range, the sole purpose of which exists for the player to adjust their aim with each weapon in relation to the targets and moving and stationary decoys. The player cannot actually sight their weapon; Cabela's featured this aspect of their games in the Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2006 Trophy Season and Alaskan Adventures.

Log Cabin

Upon creating a profile, the player can choose a log cabin where their best trophies from their career hunt will be displayed. The heads will always be in the same order, regardless of profile or cabin. There are eight cabins to choose from, each with a different layout and view outside. The player cannot freely tour the cabin, as their view is restricted to the animal head they have selected. The player can view the statistics of the mammal in question, such as weight, age, sex, firearm used, distance from they were killed, point(s) of impact, and location. Each profile will also have a separate page where the player can view the scoring of animal by looking at illustrations of their skull, and horns or antlers if applicable.

Options

The player is given a wide variety of options concerning graphics, controls, audio, and gameplay. Here the graphics can altered considerably, allowing the player to suit the performance to their system's limit, and can even troubleshoot compatibility with newer systems. The player can survey several game-changing options as well, such as auto-claim (does not require the player to walk to their trophy and physically claim it), and trophy beacons (the red and blue dots that indicate a game mammal's location and life status; these are on by default, but can turned off in easy and medium-level hunts. They are off and locked as such in hard difficulty).

Similarities

• Both games have identical menu layouts, options, animal and location information, equpiment, firearms, hunters, animals, vehicles, noises, animations, properties, and assets. The 2004 Season does feature some different textures, graphics, and assets
• Both games include North American locations.
• Both games require the player to bag all animals for a given location in order to complete it and progress.
• Both games will show the player a compilation video set to theme song upon completing their careers hunts.
• Both games will start the player with one unlocked location and the rest locked upon creating a profile. The games also allow the player to progress at their own pace and choose which locations to unlock and in what order.
• Both games feature the same penalties, violations, and sequences of fines, warnings, and eviction.
• Both games feature the same animals, as well as non-game animals.
• Both games feature the same tracking system, HUD, and inventory.
• Both games allow the player to record their own hunts and name them in the movie library.
• Both games allow the player to choose their spawn point, of which there are four aptly named areas of each map.

Differences

• The 2004 Season has slightly italicized font, while the 2005 Adventures features straighter and bolder font.
• The background of the menu in the '04 is of the camera quickly panning around the landscape that is not actually featured in the game. The '05 features a much slower animation, also of an area unseen in the game, but from a more fixed and linear perspective.
• The '04 contains eight maps, while the '05 contains ten. The '04 also maps of very similar landscape, while every map in the '05 is drastically different from the other.
• The '04 allows each map to be played in all four seasons, with each game mammal appearing in each season. The '05 allows each map to be played in only two seasons (different depending on the map) and some mammals appear in one seasons, while some do in the other. This requires the player to go to each location at least twice each (with the exception of Kentucky's winter season). The '04 only requires one visit each.
• The '04 does not impose firearm restrictions on each map, rendering most of the weapons pointless, except for players willing to challenge themselves. Each '05 map enforces some firearm restriction, such as: rifles and shotguns, bow-and-arrow-only, shotgun-only, or no restrictions.
• The '04 features four cabins each map, usually situated in each corner, connected by main trails (highlighted in red on the GPS and map) and smaller trails (usually brown or black). The '05 contains two maps that do not contain trails and only four maps contain buildings.
• Hunting hours in the '04 range from 6:00 to 20:00, regardless of location. The hunting hours vary based on the map in the '05. The arctic maps feature shorter hours, beginning in the late morning and ending by early evening. However, most maps have normal hunting hours.
• The '04 displays temperature in Celsius, while the '05 displays it in Fahrenheit. One theory as to why this might be is that the '04 consists of four Canadian maps and four US maps, while the '05 includes only two Canadian maps, seven US maps, and one Mexican map.
• Both games feature different compasses. The '04 compass features a silver body with red and blue arrows. The '05 compass features a gold and black body with bolder red and blue arrows.
• The cursor in the '04 is an arrowhead, while the cursor in the '05 is a bronze object, most resembling an arrow or pair of feathers.
• The movie library in the '04 contains no demos until the career hunt has been completed. The '05 contains two pre-loaded demos, one of a developer's hunt in South Dakota, the other in Nevada. No additional movies are added after completion of the career hunt.
• Although both games allow the player to choose their starting points, the '04 positions the spawn point next to one of the four cabins. Each area is also marked with a sign bearing the area's name. The '05 does not spawn the player next to any buildings in any of the maps, and the regions are not named along the trails or terrain. The regions can be viewed in both games at the pause menu. <Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2004 Season></Activision>