REVIEW: theHunter: Call of the Wild

First of all, theHunter: Call of the Wild is about hunting wildlife. If you are okay with that, then the game is going to be pretty much what you expected. I played the original Hunter quite a while back and I was not able to get into it for some reason. theHunter: Call of the Wild seems much more streamlined than the previous game which was pretty inviting for me as well as new players to the series.

AUTHOR: Abhigyan (BANNED from SoQ)

STATUS: RELEASED

DEVELOPER: Expansive Worlds

PUBLISHER: Avalanche Studios

GENRE: Hunting

RELEASE DATE: 16TH OF FEB 2017

TYPE: SINGLE-PLAYER, Multi-player

theHunter: Call of the Wild puts you in the boots of a Hunter in a huge open world with the prospect of hunting virtual wildlife. That is pretty much all the story that is present in the game, because even after the narrator telling you a few lines and giving you some quests, it is pretty vague. Do not go in expecting a brilliant narrative adventure out of this game. Now, how does the actual hunting hold up?

For the most part, the hunting in theHunter: Call of the Wild is pretty solid. You get all kinds of tools at your disposal to hunt down the surprisingly less diverse wildlife. From noise maker to sprays to attract your prey towards a location and then putting a bullet through their lungs, that is the game. theHunter: Call of the Wild does falter in the skill tree it uses to unlock all these fancy tools and you really need to grind your way by murdering quite a lot of fauna.

This requires a lot of patience and time and might frustrate some players. You can unlock Far Cry 3 like towers which show you points of interests on that particular part of the map. The gun recoils are nice and feel quite good to use.

Don’t expect to go in all guns blazing though like a Call of Duty game. theHunter: Call of the Wild requires you to be patient and wait for the creature to be at a perfect position when you take the shot. The animal can even run away wounded and you will have to follow its blood trail to track and hunt it down. theHunter: Call of the Wild is at its best in these moments, I remember trailing a rare bear for some time following a blood trail it left and finally catching it at a water body it came near to drink. It keeps you immersed in these moments and truly feels like something special. The wildlife is also very quick to react and they make the world a living breathing one.

But in theHunter: Call of the Wild you’re basically like a god. It is nigh impossible for a creature to kill you unless you stand right in front of a bear. Even the fall damage from a high outpost isn’t enough to actually kill you. I felt bad for these poor creatures who were just waiting to be preyed upon.

There is no food requirement, nothing that can force you to tense up. You can go hunting in the night and there will be literally no other danger. While there is plenty of wildlife to hunt, the diversity is pretty low. More often than not you will run into yet another bear or deer and it gets very repetitive after a while. You also have to walk a lot which is expected but it won’t please most of the audience.

It is not helped by the fact that theHunter: Call of the Wild is extremely buggy. I can’t recall how many times a creature clipped through the trees, my bullets just whizzed past the animal’s lungs without hurting it and the constant crashes are enough to annoy anyone out of their wits. While the multiplayer works fine when playing with friends, it seems that this game is not really made for it. Too many hunters spoil a game and it is very much true here.

Visuals

Visually theHunter: Call of the Wild looks stunning. From the god rays of the sun to the gentle breeze flowing through the forest, it is one of the prettiest games I’ve played. The animal models are also really stunning and the game just takes your breath away sometimes with the beautiful vistas it presents.

There is a fair amount of visual pop and there are some really hilarious visual glitches which might break your immersion sometimes but overall it is pretty beautiful. What is a letdown though are the human models in multiplayer. They look like someone put a bunch of dolls in a jungle and that doesn’t help the game.

Sound

Excellent. From the animal sounds to just the rain pattering on the leaves, everything is done beautifully. The only trouble is when you walk through a water body and your shoes make more sounds than a bear who is ready to mate. But overall it has an excellent sound package.

Overall

I can’t help but like theHunter: Call of the Wild. It has its problems and it does certainly feel like an early access game but if you want a proper hunting game, theHunter: Call of the Wild should be your choice.

It needs some polish and more content but as it stands, it is a solid hunting game which sports outstanding visuals and excellent sound design. It is not for everyone though and you should keep that in mind if you are purchasing this game.

RATING:

(click on the image to see the rating explanation)