REVIEW : theHunter: Call of the Wild (PC)
Many years ago, in a small village in Halkidiki, I had a friend. Rushing by his father, my friend started hunting. In his case, the prey was in 99% of cases, birds. He was the one who gave me the first time to hold a gun in my hands. The first was an airgun and a little later a plough. Chips and so on do not ask, I have no idea. He showed me how to fill them, how to arm and finally how to mark. The idea was simple, we will return silently to a grove and we will not leave flying for flying. I dare say that for the first two or three days I followed him. Without much success, basically without any success at all, but I followed him. The next few days, my excitement was so great that I would drop it under a tree, look at another tree, put a bag under the gun and wait. If no bird came to sit on the tree I was marking, there was no way I could shoot.
The theHunter: Call of the Wild was advertised as the best simulator hunting ever released for PC with most real conditions. To tell the truth, his conditions are still very real and this can make them casual discourage players, but to audiences who are fans of real-life hunting, it can offer an experience they will love. The game gives us the option to visit two beautiful areas, huge and with the ability to move as we want in them. So in both areas, there is a rudimentary scenario, without any particular interest which, however, if follow it, it will lead us through the map from area to area, it will give us the money needed to upgrade our equipment while the first missions also act as a tutorial.
Some go in a herd, others prefer the lonely road, others graze early in the morning while others prefer the afternoon hours, some move only in dense vegetation, some in open areas and so on. All of these, however, correspond to reality while we can learn about them in the game as well. What is certain is that by playing, you will gain the right experience so that you know how to deal with each animal. How close you can get before he catches you and runs to save himself scared, how much noise you can make before he hears you or even how far he can smell you.
Suppose we found our potential prey. There is nothing left but to manage to kill it. And here, things are not at all simple. Shots of the “I mark my head and we’re done” style do not pass as the hunt does not work that way. This does not mean that a good blow between the eyes will not be decisive but the game urges us to mark the heart if we want to achieve an instant death. But believe me, it will not be easy to achieve a heart. With a little research, I found that the deer heart is just behind the front legs so I started to mark this point. I may not have had a heart yet but there are other vital organs around like the lungs, which means that a blow there, means almost certain death. Not instantaneous but almost certain. So in case, we hit something but it does not die instantly, we have nothing to do but follow in its footsteps. We may have to throw it back, but with one blow, the animal may die in a little while and we may find it dead a little further away. Traces of blood, depending on the amount of blood, can give us information about how wounded the animal is. If one of its vital organs has been hit, we will see enough blood on the ground, which means that sooner or later it will fall dead. But if we see a few drops, there may be a superficial wound and a second shot may be needed. We may have to throw it back, but with one blow, the animal may die in a little while and we may find it dead a little further away. Traces of blood, depending on the amount of blood, can give us information about how wounded the animal is.
By completing missions of the game but also by killing animals or discovering points of interest, we collect experience points to increase the level of our character. In each level up, we will get a skill point or a perk point. With the skill points, we will be strengthened in areas that have to do mainly with our hunting or character, such as becoming quieter or recognizing traces from a distance, while with the perks we will improve our performance in the use of weapons, depending on the where we will put these points.
Finally, there is the possibility of multiplayer hunting trips with your friends. While there are some rudimentary elements of competition, its magic is co-op.
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