Hunting is not one of my favorite sports, and that might have something to do with being born and raised in the north. Nonetheless, I still managed to have some fun when I played Bass Pro Shop Wii. Wii The Hunt is a game that seems to interpret how it feels to really track and hunt an animal in real life, and it is almost completely fun. The Wii version, however, has a few more technical faults than its 360 counterpart.
Similar to The Strike, The Hunt offers tutorial missions to guide you in how to use your equipment, and then you get shoved into the wild to hunt game all on your own. Luckily, the mechanics to succeeding in this game are not nearly as repetitive as Bass Pro Shop’s other game. That is not to say that The Hunt is without problems, though.
For example, crazy physics and poor viewing distance make the otherwise open backgrounds of the locations in the game feel much more constrained than they could have been. In fact, it ended up making the environment seem incredibly foggy when it was not appropriate. Driving the ATV also felt clunky and even led to points where I would wind up clipping trees, forcing me to walk to my next marker.
Outside from these lengthy adventures that will alone take several hours to finish, you can also indulge in a few mini-games to further extend gameplay. These are basic mini-games, involving races and a shooting range in which you and a friend can competitively play against one another. If you want to have a dose of nostalgia, I definitely recommend the Duck Hunt shooting range mini-game.
Is The Hunt a game everyone can enjoy? No, but if you enjoy hunting and don’t care for an ugly environment, you will probably get some enjoyment out of it. After all, the gameplay does function better than The Strike, and it is generally more rewarding. Despite the graphical flaws, I particularly enjoyed the game’s attempt at mixing blind stealth with tracking capabilities.
The vast amount of equipment is something that hunting aficionados will heavily enjoy, especially when indulging in danger moments. There are frustrating moments, yes, but despite problems with the hunts, some people will find that the fun found in the mini-games and in bringing down that ultra-sized game will more than make up for any graphical and technical flaws.
Stand alone game:
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