Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2006 Trophy Season
| Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2006 Trophy Season | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Magic Wand Productions |
| Publisher(s) |
Activision Value |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2006 Trophy Season is the ninth sequel to the original Cabela's Big Game Hunter. It was developed by Magic Wand Productions and released on October 25, 2005. The game was published by Activision in conjunction with hunting supply company Cabela's.
Gameplay
This game is similar to its forerunners Cabela's Big Game Hunter: 2004 Season and Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2005 Adventures. However, this game featured more missions, competitions with NPCs, multiple restrictions and hindrances in the game, and even a small story line. Unlike its predecessors, the game does not feature specific locations, but rather more general landscapes and biomes, each with smaller regions and areas which are given names. The player must traverse through desert, forest, grassland, marsh, mountains, and tundra to complete the game. However, there are no breaking points in between each major region, as if the player is physically traversing the entirety of the North American landscape.
Unlike the previous two games, the player has no freedom of their advancement in the game. There is a set chain of locations that the player must complete in order to push the game along. In each major region, there are small locations and landscapes the player must trek through and hunt. There are only a few different passages in each major region. At the beginning of each region, the player can equip weapons, supplies, buy tags, rent the ATV, truck, or snowmobile, rest, and sight their weapons at the lodge. Failing to not sight the weapon will result in poor accuracy and a misplaced crosshair. As the player progress through each map, a different species is prevalent in one area. By the end of the region, all of the player's tags should be fulfilled.
Throughout the regions, there are NPCs that ask the player to do small missions for them for cash bonuses. Missions include, killing prairie dogs on a man's property, saving a woman in a gorge, and even killing a sickly musk ox. There are also hunting competitions against NPCs, for the first person to kill a species of certain sex and of a minimal point value.
The game is also more adventurous. Points in the game include but are not limited to: crossing over a gorge on a thin rope bridge, entering a cave and entering another region via waterfall, trekking through underground mining tunnels to enter the next area, and even abandoning the vehicle to climb up mountains and steppes. This received some poor feedback from players, who felt that the side-missions and hindrances took away from the core game. For example, one map requires the player to find the entrance to the next area, with the only conceivable point being the river, which is too deep to cross. The only hint the player is given as to where the entrance is a screenshot of an abandoned mining tunnel at the loading screen of the map. The player must find this tunnel, walk through it, and continue to the next location. This takes away entirely from the point of hunting the wolves in this location, and there is no way to circumvent the hunt.
Graphics and Animation
The game features similar graphics to its forerunners, although many movements, shading, textures, assets, and terrain generation are much different. Some of the graphics in this game are much smoother than its predecessors, but are slightly less realistic in terms of the overall design and appeal. The animal movement is also very machine-like and not as smooth as the animals from the previous titles.
Voice Acting
The only voice-overs in the previous two titles came in the form a warden (who's gender and accent were determined by the location) when the player violated hunting area rules. No NPCs were actually visible. In this game, however, multiple NPCs can be seen throughout all regions, some of whom do not speak. The same voices are recycled between several characters, and only basic gesturing animations accompany the mediocre voice acting.
Story
Although the story does not contain much detail or in-depth plot, there is one nonetheless, differing greatly from the previous games. Unlike this game, the other Cabela's titles allowed the player complete freedom of where and how they hunted, what tags and equipment they purchased, and in what order they completed the locations and levels. This game forces the player to take the one route that is enforced by the slim story. The player is the son of a legendary hunter who is too old and frail to continue hunting to win the regional competition. The player takes it upon himself to earn the trophy for his father. The story is not mentioned or implied until the very end, when the player exits the final region. A small cutscene is played and the son is seen giving his father the cup. Poor voice acting accompanies the scene and the game ends. The story idea was unpopular and was not reintroduced until the Dangerous Hunts titles began again in 2009.
Notable Features
- This is the first Cabela's game to feature bison, wolverine, and several other species, as well as subspecies of previous game mammals.
- Similar sounds, animations, and even the cross hair are borrowed from the previous two titles.
- While the previous two games featured red dots and blue dots to indicate the life status and location of each game mammal, this game features red and blue triangles with the same indications. This game introduced sick or injured mammals that the player is often required to hunt before progressing to the next location. These triangles are a light-purple colour.
- The player must rent ATVs, trucks, cars, and snowmobiles for $200 at the start of each region. Not renting the vehicle, losing or damaging it during a hunt, or abandoning it during a hunt will force the player to progress to the next level without it. The previous titles did not require the player to rent the vehicles for their location. Rather, the player spawned next to it and could only loose it if they drove it into deep water.
- Unlike the previous games, the player can go into buildings in the areas, most of which are cabins they are required to enter in order to purchase tags and equipment to progress.
- The player can only sleep in cabins (where they can choose for how long they sleep) and designated camping spots on the map.
- Unlike the other games, moose are hostile
- Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2005 Adventures for consoles is exactly the same game as the 2006 Trophy Season for PC. The PC version of the 2005 Adventures is not available on consoles. <Cabela's 2006 Trophy Season></Activision>