Hunting is perhaps not a sport for everyone, but the pastime has carved and sustained a niche for itself in the realm of video games for quite some time now. With the advent of the Wii and its piper’s march for the casual gamer, it’s sub-genres, such as this one, are cropping up to take a big bite of the sales pie. Activision now brings us their latest in a line of Cabela’s-branded games set for Wii, but will motion-controlled hunting build a bridge for general audiences, or is this strictly a moose call?
Legendary Adventures takes place in the wilds of North America, and you relive the great hunts of Walter Graham, beginning from 1933. You’ll travel through time, experiencing re-creations of some of the most glorious areas of the continent, manning various new weapons and tools as you progress through generations. The story, though little more than a greeting card, is surprisingly satisfying and fitting with what the rest of the game has to offer.
You’ll begin your adventure in Ricketts Glen State Park (Pennsylvania), with a 30-06 rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun, a 44-revolver handgun, a long bow, and a couple of other hunting accessories. The game plays as a first-person shooter (FPS), with movement of your character controlled via the analog stick on the Nunchuk and aiming done with the Wii Remote. Almost all the buttons on both controllers will serve in some capacity throughout the game, and there’s an option to use the Wii Zapper peripheral.
One of the first things you’ll notice about the game is it doesn’t hold your hand. Legendary Adventures drops you in a location, and it’s up to you to hunt down your prey. You do get a quick, text-only rundown of the controls and objectives, but after that, you’re on your own. Luckily, the objectives are fairly simple, and the game allows you to take your time. So, getting over the learning curve isn’t terribly difficult, but patience is required.
The second thing you’ll notice is that the controls are fixed, and there are no options to customize them to your liking. On the upside, the aiming is pretty good, though not terribly steady when shooting from long distances. However, the bounding box (the parameter of the screen that determines frame movement, based upon how far you move the aiming reticule from the center of the screen) is huge, and the vertical and horizontal movement while aiming is a tad slow. It’s not difficult, though, to gain your bearings and come to terms with the controls, and, overall, it’s an FPS set-up for Wii that works fairly well.
Each portion of your adventure tasks you with a main goal – some species of big game to bring down. Deer, elk, moose – they’re all on the agenda – though it’s the secondary objectives that will lead you there. As you survey the wilds, you’ll come across animal skulls, which contain challenges. By successfully completing challenges, your “Hunter IQ” will go up. You will have to reach at least a level-three IQ before you’re afforded any opportunity of coming across your main objective. All challenges consist of shooting various game – sometimes within a certain amount of time, sometimes with a certain weapon. Small game are always okay to hunt, and taking them down will help level up your Hunter IQ. But, you’re only allowed to hunt the larger game when tasked to do so by the skull challenges, lest you bring down your IQ and set yourself further apart from your ultimate goal. It’s a simple system, but one that helps to keep things fun and interesting.
When you first set out on an adventure, you’ll be tracking your prey by following its footprints. You’ll also gain Hunter IQ during this process, and finding an animal’s main stomping grounds will aid you in making that final kill. Generally speaking, there are three areas of each mission, with load times in between. The areas aren’t terribly large, nor are they terribly different in appearance. Some of the bluffs and vistas in the game are impressive, but it’s a shame you never really gain access to them. For the most part, you’re relegated to hunting in more wide-open spaces. You’ll wander around each area, pick up challenges, level up your Hunter IQ, and then bring down the big game. It’s the same for each mission. For those who enjoy the hunting process, it’s a routine that can be enjoyable.
Visually, Legendary Adventures is quite impressive. Some of the grey filters used to express an autumn haze can become a bit of a downer, but the texture work and water effects are often beautiful to behold. The game’s presentation is more than what one might expect from a pseudo-budget hunting game, and it lends a lot to the overall experience. However, there isn’t a ton of variety, and many of the areas you’ll traverse look very much alike.
The framerate is steady but seems somewhat slow. Additionally, trees and other objects exhibit something of a blur when viewed from a distance. Rocky outcropping look great up close; leaves and foliage, not so much. On the whole, however, it’s an aesthetically pleasing presentation, and hunting fans should get a kick out of what they see and experience.
Sound effects are ambient and realistic, taking center stage in the audio department. The only time you’ll hear music is during cutscenes or when completing or failing challenges. The music is short but appropriate, and it’s recorded in relatively high fidelity. There’s also a narrator (cast as the main character’s son) who tells Graham’s story, and the narrator has a Sam Elliot-like vibrato that fits especially well with this package.
Legendary Adventures offers a full story mode, with a healthy number of locales to experience and big game to hunt; an “Adventure” mode, which allows you to go back and play through past events you’ve completed; challenges that offer a quick bit of target shooting; and a hot-seat mode for up to four players (locally, in which you compete in target-shooting events from the challenge mode). There’s an area to view your trophies and stats (acquired through your main hunts), as well as an options menu for customizing various elements of the game.
It’s a nice-sized package with plenty to do, but you’ll be doing mostly the same things throughout. For diehard hunters, that’s likely a good fit; for the average gamer, the game might grow old fast. Regardless of your taste in games, however, Legendary Adventures seems somewhat lacking. It’s mostly slow-moving, as perhaps a hunting experience should be, but in the end, this is a video game. It’s impossible to recreate the smells, feel, and overall aesthetic of being outdoors in the wild, and in the absence of all that, a video game still has to be entertaining. Legendary Adventures tries a little too hard to be an accurate take on the big-game, hunting experience, and in doing so, it feels a bit flat and the gameplay is often plodding. Still, considering its intended audience, Legendary Adventures offers a decent package with solid gameplay. It’s also surprisingly engaging for the gamer who otherwise has little to no interest in hunting, and, at $40, it’s not a terrible deal.
RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.0 Graphics
There are a few rough spots and little variety per mission, but each mission has a unique look and feel. Textures are impressive, and water effects and some views are actually breathtaking. 3.0 Control
The controls work, for the most part, but the lack of customization is sorely missed. 3.5 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Ambient sounds add a lot to the overall experience; music is sparse but appropriate, and the voice work suits the presentation nicely. 3.4
Play Value
There’s a lot of game (no pun intended) here, though you’ll be doing mostly the same things throughout the adventure. For hunters, Legendary Adventures might justify a purchase. For everyone else – if interested – it’s perhaps worth a rent.
3.5 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.
Game Features: