Cabela's Deer Hunt 2005 Season

The little bridge leads across the narrow creek in the valley in the heavily forested Oregon wilderness. There are blacktail on the other side, and close.

Easing around the path, using the trees and brush to mask the approach, you spot the deer standing in a small clearing. You swing the .30-06 B.A. rifle into play, scoping the deer, then squeezing the trigger.

The camera tracks the bullet, following the shot as it zooms toward its target. There is a quick cutaway as the bullet nails the deer dead center in the front of the chest and the buck drops quickly to the ground. A 55-yard shot and the reward is a 4x5 point buck. One down, one buck and two does remaining until you have reached your bag limit on this hunt.

Activision Value and Fun Labs are behind the Xbox release of Cabela’s Deer Hunt 2005 Season.

This is a title that looks good and plays well. Little wonder – with the revamped deer models and lush environments, Activision Value is billing this a more than merely a sequel in the Cabela line of hunting titles.

This is a game that is very similar to the PS2 build. Like that other console build, GameZone received an early previewable build of the Xbox version and so booted it up for a trek through the wilderness in search of fleet-footed deer.

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. There are 14 weapons available, including a .44 handgun and bows.

You can auto-equip or you can go through a very intuitive interface and load out your own supplies for your hunt.

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. There is also a limit to the amount you can carry. This comes into play during the hunting loadout.

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. Between the two consoles, the Xbox seemed easier to target, but only marginally.

The environments do have some invisible barriers that prohibit you from going everywhere. If you try to traverse down a steep hill, or cross water other than at designated areas, you will have to be rescued – meaning that hunt is over and you can restart.

But with its terrific environments and intuitive interface, Cabela’s Deer Hunter 2005 Season is one of the best in the hunting series. The game allows players to tailor the experience and will go easy on the novice while challenging the more experienced cyber-hunter. If hunting games are your bailiwick, then target this one.