Open Season

Kids certainly didn’t have anything to complain about this summer seeing as this year the big screen was filled with a large number of animated features that ranged from Disney’s Cars to the nutty antics of Over the Hedge with the voices of Bruce Willis heading a cast of furry critters. These dozen or so animated movies also means games based on said movies and we’ve seen quite a few that haven’t lived up to the source material. Joining the list is Open Season, a game that takes us into the wild as likeable Boog the bear with his pal Eliot the deer in tow. Unfortunately, this is another game that just doesn’t live up to the movie’s fun antics.

Open Season follows Boog, a bear Ranger Beth has taken under her protection since Boog was a cub. It isn’t until the kindly bear frees a zany deer named Eliot that he is talked into storming into a convenience store to take as many chocolate treats that Boog and Eliot are forced out into the wild. Being the housetrained bear that he is, Boog is determined to get back to the town of Timberline and back to his friend Ranger Beth. Of course, this isn’t going to be easy since hunting season is about to begin and there are hunters already lined up to take out a 900-.lbs bear and the nutty deer that follows him.

Sadly, even with the movie’s story and characters intact, the console version just falls flat in the gameplay department. You get to control Boog and Eliot in a platform game with all the usual platform game elements like collectible items scattered throughout the area and while he doesn’t jump Boog has a surprising number of moves. He can, for example, grab Eliot and toss him to get a hard to reach item or use his incredible sense of smell to locate hidden items. Meanwhile, Eliot can jump and has a knack for taunting enemies within range. Oh, and he can even grab wily rabbits to fling at enemies.

The game is composed of bite-sized levels with load times in between them so once you’re finished with your main objective you move on to the next short level with yet another objective to complete. The main objectives are fairly simple and easy to complete. In one level, you’re asked to get past McSquizzy, a surly Scottish squirrel who orders a team of squirrels to hurl acorns at you. In another level, you are asked to find a skunk’s kids as well as some grubs to feed the hungry pack of kids. The majority of the game is going on a series of fetch quests. In fact, the opening dream sequence level has Boog trying to catch his favorite teddy. While there are short side quests scattered throughout the game, the lack of diversity in this game will bore even the youngest gamer. You can’t expect gamers to go hunt down items throughout the whole game without adding new or different gameplay elements.

While there are some challenges tossed at players and open season hunters that make their appearance later in the game, Open Season is a fairly easy game. When a hunter is about, Boog can go into a Hide and Sneak mode where Boog comically attempts to sneak past a hunter without being spotted. He can even use a hunter’s trap against them. Really, there is nothing here that will make stump gamers young or old so if you’re looking for a deeply challenging game you’ll be greatly disappointed. 

The good news is that there are seven mini-game challenges you can play apart from the game’s main story mode and you can even play them with up to three friends. The mini-games, while not completely innovative, are fun distractions worth playing. There’s Rabbits Everywhere, a game where you have to grab as many rabbits as possible and toss them into a burrow. Then there’s Flowers for my Deer where you have to collect flowers of corresponding colors you must give different female deer. The real fun game mode comes in the form of Log Challenge (jump from log to log trying to unbalance the other player).

Visually speaking, Open Season manages to bring the movie’s characters to life and it does so excellently. Boog’s fur actually stands out nicely throughout the game and not just in the various animated cutscenes. Speaking of cutscenes, they run as smoothly as watching an animated feature. The big letdown, however, comes in the form of the backgrounds that occasionally matches the backgrounds in the movie but then again you’ll find the forest isn’t as nicely rendered as the game’s characters. It’s not bad, really, but it could have been better on the Xbox.

The game’s sound fairs a bit worse, mainly because Boog and Eliot aren’t voiced by the movie’s actors that give both animals their proper personalities. The voice talent for Eliot does do a good job of delivering his lines a lot like Ashton Kutcher does (and to tell you the truth, I don’t know if that’s a good thing). As for the rest of the voice cast, they manage to do a good job. Even the soundtrack is likeable and the good thing is that it plays throughout the game without getting old. Unfortunately, the sound effects aren’t as nicely detailed as the character models. At best, they’re decent but it’s missing that animated movie touch.

Open Season fails to capture the fun and adventure seen on the big screen and offers a simplistic platform game that becomes boring way too quickly. Even for the game’s target audience the game will get too repetitive and the novelty of playing a big loveable bear just isn’t enough to save the game from its stale gameplay. While the multiplayer mode and the tons of collectibles will keep fans busy, there isn’t much here to warrant the purchase price. Rent this one if you liked the movie but if you absolutely want a good game version of Open Season, I suggest you buy far superior Nintendo DS version instead.

Gameplay: 6.0
It’s a good story that makes for a good animated movie but most of what is presented here falls a bit flat thanks to the boring fetch quests. Boog and Eliot do go through some fun moments but kids will find the constant load times and the backtracking boring really quickly. Well, at least Boog controls nicely on the Xbox and he has enough moves to set him apart from Eliot.

Graphics: 7.0
While not as gorgeous as Conker’s amazing fur, Boog’s bear hide looks great on the Xbox. In fact, the game does manage to capture the look of each of the characters from the movie, although the environments aren’t as beautifully detailed. At least the animation runs smoothly during the cutscenes.

Sound: 6.5
The voice acting lacks the talents of the film’s main characters, although the voice talent for Eliot the deer comes dangerously close to mimicking Ashton Kutcher’s goofy delivery. The game’s soundtrack is actually very good but it doesn’t make up for a lack of good sound effects.

Difficulty: Easy
Open Season is a fairly easy game even for the younger gamers in your family. There are challenges tossed at you and some of them are even timed but you get enough time to complete them and you can always restart a challenge you happen to fail.

Concept: 6.0
Boog is a fun character who possesses enough skills to make him a worthwhile character to play but sadly the majority of the time he is forced to fetch items just to move on to the next level. There are mini-game challenges and you can share them with a group of friends. You can even unlock an art gallery.

Multiplayer: 6.5
Let’s face it, with an ensemble of cute characters and a fun premise like this it’s great to find a multiplayer mode you can share with up to four friends. There are seven mini-games and good portions of them are actually fun to play like the memory game or the Log Challenge.

Overall: 6.0
Not as fun as it could have been considering the film’s fun subject matter, Open Season is a rather dull and repetitive platform game with not much going for it. It’s great to take control of the movie’s characters but gamers of all ages will find the countless fetch quests way too tiresome way too quickly. Sorry, Ubisoft, but this isn’t the Xbox platform game worth our time or money.