Hunting Unlimited

Hunting games are so common that many people tend to roll their eyes when yet another one rolls out. Luckily, Hunting Unlimited is working hard to break the mold and bring something new to the gaming community. In Hunting Unlimited, you are given a series of missions in which your goal is to hunt a specific animal. You are refreshingly placed close to the animal at the beginning of the game, meaning you don’t have to spend a lot of time examining bear poop and following footprints to find your prey.

The goal of Hunting Unlimited is to kill the target animal as quickly and cleanly as possible. Spine or head shots for example, are worth more than less lethal shots. Even though many of the animals are close (or even in view of the hunter) at the start of the mission, they still often require patience to complete.

No NPCs or Multiplayer

One of the first things you notice in the game is the complete and utter lack of other players in it. There is no multiplayer option, and while you see evidence of humans—cabins and planes—you can’t meet with or interact with anyone else. This feels just a little odd, but if you don’t care for interaction and just want to get straight to the hunt, it could be a refreshing change.

Hundreds of different missions

There are 5 huntable animals in the game. These animals are white tail deer, mule deer, elk, moose and bear. Each animal has about 40 different missions related to them, and there’s a huge variety of things you can do in them.

In one mission, you might be asked to sneak up close to an animal so you can take a shot with a bow, and in another you may find yourself tracking the animal over long distances. All of the missions are open at the very beginning of the game, so if you find one too difficult you can move on to something less frustrating and go back to the harder one later.

Realistic animal behavior

When hunted, animals behave more or less as expected to. When hunting bear or moose, these more aggressive animals are likely to charge at you rather than run away. More passive animals like the mule deer and white tail deer will run away instead. The AI controlling these animals is fairly realistic, and you’ll have to be quiet, and move upwind to avoid detection by them. While Hunting Unlimited isn’t quite as immersive as The Hunter: Call of the Wild, its AI is definitely comparable.

Some weapons feel issues

While the guns all fire as expected and feel realistic to use, the bows are another story. They feel weightless, and behave oddly enough in the same way as guns. If you fire an arrow into one animal’s head, it’s just as likely to go through the head of one animal and into the one standing behind it. While it’s potentially possible for one bullet to kill two animals, this is much less likely with a bow, and feels very unrealistic.

Pros:

• Hundreds of missions
• Up close animals
• Realistic AI

Cons:

• Some unrealistic aspects