theHunter Call of the Wild Review

TheHunter Call of the Wild is Avalanche’s sequel to their 2009 release theHunter and in my opinion, it’s a solid follow-up title. As the title implies, theHunter Call of the Wild is a chance for an avid hunter and hunter wannabes such as myself to experience hunting wild game. Provided with 50 square miles of open area, theHunter Call of the Wild immerses you in the environment. From birds chirping to grass crunching under your feet and the sporadic calls of wild game, you feel like you are there and excited to start out on your trek for that elusive game.

The APEX Engine makes the graphics in theHunter Call of the Wild outstanding with vast landscapes set before you, including high mountain peaks and large lakes. Avalanche studios introduced a dynamic weather system and it’s amazing. One minute you are traversing under beautiful skies and the next you see the sky darken and rain begin to softly fall onto the land. It’s actually quite soothing. I found myself just stopping for a moment to listen to the rain. The weather also is advantageous when hunting. The rain falling drowns out the sound of you walking through the land helping you inch closer to your target. However, the highlight for me was one evening when I was tracking a deer near a lake. Evening arrived and fog started to roll in around me. It looked very realistic to me and as you might expect, I didn’t catch the deer.

The realism factor is present in theHunter Call of the Wild. You can’t just start walking towards an animal and not expect it to know you are there. There is a sound meter indicating how loud you are as you walk. If it shows you making a lot of noise, you can crouch or even drop to the ground and crawl to reduce the sound. Another factor to consider is wind. If the animal you are hunting is downwind of you, it’s likely they will get your scent well before they are inside the range of your weapon. Speaking of weapons, theHunter Call of the Wild provides a number of rifles, shotguns, and bows to use to kill your prey. The original theHunter game used micro-transactions to help you purchase weapons and unlock certain areas. This was not well received by the community and so the model was shifted in the sequel. Weapons can now be unlocked using in-game currency.

Final thoughts on TheHunter Call of the Wild:

Overall, I really enjoyed playing theHunter Call of the Wild. I found myself lose track of time as I explored the region looking for deer, bear and any other wildlife. You can pick up theHunter Call of the Wild for $29.99 on Steam and I think it’s a fair price for this game.