Cabela's Outdoor Adventures (2009 video game)
Encyclopedia
Cabela's Outdoor Adventures is a hunting
video game released only in North America on September 8, 2009 by Activision
for home consoles, and on October 13, 2009 for the PC
. It is the first game in the series to be released on the seventh-generation console
s, as well as on PlayStation 2
and PC.
The game was announced by Activision in a press release in July 2009. There are over 50 hunting
and fishing
adventures and intensive use of gear and tactics. Emphasis is placed on moments that are instinctively associated with hunting and fishing. New to the series is a reworked shooting system known as VITALS (Visually Integrated Targeting and Lock-on System) that allows the player to focus on delivering an accurate shot to the prey's vitals. The game received favorable reviews from critics, with praise given for improvement from previous installments of the series.
and fishing
adventures and intensive use of gear and tactics, such as animal calls and stealth skills. Emphasis is placed on moments that are instinctively associated with hunting and fishing, like deer stalking
, squeezing the trigger, hooking a fish
or snap-shooting a flushed bird
, all while respecting real life hunting rules and regulations. Players can also upgrade their hunting gear with authentically branded real life equipment. It features fishing, bird hunting, and hunting for bigger game
. In the 50 planned outings that are available for play, virtual outdoorsmen
and women can set their sights on great variety of a herd
animals, predators, and game birds, or cast a line for several species of fresh and saltwater
fish. Multiple difficulty levels are available, with a tutorial
mode for less experienced hunters and gamers.
New to the series is a reworked shooting system known as VITALS (Visually Integrated Targeting and Lock-on System) that allows the player to focus on delivering an accurate shot to the prey's vitals, while also creating a closer and more personal view of the animals as they react realistically to being hunted.
. Your guide, Ricky, tells you to first practice your wing-shooting skills on some Ring-necked Pheasants. Then you stalk up to a meadow where you see a 10 pt. buck. Your guide tells you to hike up to a ridge that overlooks the meadow. When you get up there, he tells you to aim at the doe to practice the VITALS. After that, your guide spooks the deer towards you and you kill the 10 pt buck. You are told by your guide to hike to a mossy boulder across the ridge to get a view of some deer he spotted in the valley below. You hike through a forest, hunting Black-tailed Prairie Dog
in the process, and get to the valley and shoot the buck from a lower ridge, then your guide tells you to head over the next ridge to get to another deer herd. You hike up and hunt more pheasants in a meadow on top of the ridge, you make it to a narrow valley where your guide scares the deer into you. You shoot a 6. point buck on the run. You are told to hike through a narrow canyon to another meadow your guide spotted. When you arrive, there is a 8. point buck grazing and deaf because of the waterfall. You take the advantage and stalk up and shoot it. Then you hunt Blue Grouse
and hike through another ravine to get to a forest clearing where your guide put scent spots to attract the deer, you take your recurve bow and hike to this outcropping to wait, you see a 6. point buck and shoot it. You are in a blind and you are told to hunt some Mallard Ducks and then you go to fish for White Bass
, Crappie
, Largemouth Bass
and Striped Bass
. You are stalking a group of deer but when you shoot one buck, the other runs away. Your guide tells you to hike up to a mountain ridge to get a view of the other side. To get there, you have to go past a canyon where your guide spotted some Eastern Turkey
. After you shoot a couple, you hike up the mountain and shoot the other buck in the forest below. You are told by your guide that he saw a monster 15. point buck in a valley and that you should take it, after you hunt cottontail rabbit
s. After some hiking, you stumble across a battle site and spook the trophy, you shoot him on the run. You are in Idaho where your guide tells you that you are going to hunt Rocky Mountain Elk
. You first have to find a few elk signs to make sure that the elk are in the area. After you find them, you hike up a slope where your guide set up a blind to hunt Merriam's Turkey while he calls them in. After you hunt one, you go to a lone tree to set up a tree stand and call in the elk. You shoot a 5 pt. bull. You are on a forest slope when your guide tells you to practice your shooting on some Yellow-bellied Marmot
s. After that, your guide tells you that he spotted a Mule Deer
herd in a clearing up the slope. You hike up there and shoot a doe. After that, your guide makes a deal with a rancher.
game had so much variety. We went back to the drawing board with the folks at Cabela's and listened closely to the serious enthusiasts of each of these disciplines to make sure Cabela's Outdoor Adventures is the most complete game ever for sportsmen". Bryan Stave of Cabela's commented "I commend Activision for their commitment to simulating the outdoor sports in a challenging, fun and exciting format. Cabela's Outdoor Adventures gives real enthusiasts their fix when they can't be in a forest or on a lake".
noted "It's got a few issues and the fishing's mostly phoned in, but Outdoor Adventures may well be a decent option for aspiring woodsmen this season". While Official Xbox Magazine
called the game "A decent hunting adventure". PSX Extreme editor Ben Dutka commented "Cabela's Outdoor Adventures is an okay production that has some nice elements and makes a valiant effort to be well worth the $40 price tag. It falls just a little shy".
For the Wii version, IGN's Lucas Thomas stated "Diving into this one is quick and easy, and you can play for short periods of time and still see a lot of action, instead of just sitting around and waiting for hours for bucks and birds to wander by".
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
video game released only in North America on September 8, 2009 by Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
for home consoles, and on October 13, 2009 for the PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
. It is the first game in the series to be released on the seventh-generation console
History of video game consoles (seventh generation)
In the history of video games, the seventh generation of consoles is the current generation , and includes consoles released since late by Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony...
s, as well as on PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
and PC.
The game was announced by Activision in a press release in July 2009. There are over 50 hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
and fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
adventures and intensive use of gear and tactics. Emphasis is placed on moments that are instinctively associated with hunting and fishing. New to the series is a reworked shooting system known as VITALS (Visually Integrated Targeting and Lock-on System) that allows the player to focus on delivering an accurate shot to the prey's vitals. The game received favorable reviews from critics, with praise given for improvement from previous installments of the series.
Gameplay
The game features North America's top outdoor destinations, over 50 huntingHunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
and fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
adventures and intensive use of gear and tactics, such as animal calls and stealth skills. Emphasis is placed on moments that are instinctively associated with hunting and fishing, like deer stalking
Deer stalking
Deer stalking is a British term for the stealthy pursuit of deer for sporting purposes, historically with dogs such as Scottish Deerhounds, or in modern times typically with a high powered rifle fitted with a telescopic sight to hunt them....
, squeezing the trigger, hooking a fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
or snap-shooting a flushed bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
, all while respecting real life hunting rules and regulations. Players can also upgrade their hunting gear with authentically branded real life equipment. It features fishing, bird hunting, and hunting for bigger game
Game (food)
Game is any animal hunted for food or not normally domesticated. Game animals are also hunted for sport.The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world. This will be influenced by climate, animal diversity, local taste and locally accepted view about what can or...
. In the 50 planned outings that are available for play, virtual outdoorsmen
Outdoor enthusiast
An outdoor enthusiast is a person who enjoys sports and activities in nature and wilderness areas. Interests associated with outdoor enthusiasts include hiking, fishing, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, canoeing, climbing and camping. The term outdoorsman has also been used.U.S. president Teddy...
and women can set their sights on great variety of a herd
Herd
Herd refers to a social grouping of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic, and also to the form of collective animal behavior associated with this or as a verb, to herd, to its control by another species such as humans or dogs.The term herd is generally applied to mammals,...
animals, predators, and game birds, or cast a line for several species of fresh and saltwater
Seawater
Seawater is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% . This means that every kilogram of seawater has approximately of dissolved salts . The average density of seawater at the ocean surface is 1.025 g/ml...
fish. Multiple difficulty levels are available, with a tutorial
Tutorial
A tutorial is one method of transferring knowledge and may be used as a part of a learning process. More interactive and specific than a book or a lecture; a tutorial seeks to teach by example and supply the information to complete a certain task....
mode for less experienced hunters and gamers.
New to the series is a reworked shooting system known as VITALS (Visually Integrated Targeting and Lock-on System) that allows the player to focus on delivering an accurate shot to the prey's vitals, while also creating a closer and more personal view of the animals as they react realistically to being hunted.
Plot
In the game you are always an unnamed character. You start out in Kansas to hunt for some trophy White-tailed DeerWhite-tailed Deer
The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
. Your guide, Ricky, tells you to first practice your wing-shooting skills on some Ring-necked Pheasants. Then you stalk up to a meadow where you see a 10 pt. buck. Your guide tells you to hike up to a ridge that overlooks the meadow. When you get up there, he tells you to aim at the doe to practice the VITALS. After that, your guide spooks the deer towards you and you kill the 10 pt buck. You are told by your guide to hike to a mossy boulder across the ridge to get a view of some deer he spotted in the valley below. You hike through a forest, hunting Black-tailed Prairie Dog
Black-tailed Prairie Dog
The black-tailed prairie dog , is a rodent of the family Sciuridae found in the Great Plains of North America from about the USA-Canada border to the USA-Mexico border. Unlike some other prairie dogs, these animals do not truly hibernate. The black-tailed prairie dog can be seen aboveground in...
in the process, and get to the valley and shoot the buck from a lower ridge, then your guide tells you to head over the next ridge to get to another deer herd. You hike up and hunt more pheasants in a meadow on top of the ridge, you make it to a narrow valley where your guide scares the deer into you. You shoot a 6. point buck on the run. You are told to hike through a narrow canyon to another meadow your guide spotted. When you arrive, there is a 8. point buck grazing and deaf because of the waterfall. You take the advantage and stalk up and shoot it. Then you hunt Blue Grouse
Blue Grouse
The genus Dendragapus, contains two closely related species of grouse that have often been treated as a single variable taxon . The two species are the Dusky Grouse and the Sooty Grouse...
and hike through another ravine to get to a forest clearing where your guide put scent spots to attract the deer, you take your recurve bow and hike to this outcropping to wait, you see a 6. point buck and shoot it. You are in a blind and you are told to hunt some Mallard Ducks and then you go to fish for White Bass
White bass
The white bass or sand bass The white bass or sand bass The white bass or sand bass (MoroneIt is the state fish of Oklahoma.- Range :White bass are distributed widely across the United States, particularly in the midwest. They are very abundant in Pennsylvania and the area around Lake Erie...
, Crappie
Crappie
Crappie is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. The type species is P. annularis, the white crappie...
, Largemouth Bass
Largemouth bass
The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...
and Striped Bass
Striped bass
The striped bass is the state fish of Maryland, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and the state saltwater fish of New York, Virginia, and New Hampshire...
. You are stalking a group of deer but when you shoot one buck, the other runs away. Your guide tells you to hike up to a mountain ridge to get a view of the other side. To get there, you have to go past a canyon where your guide spotted some Eastern Turkey
Turkey (bird)
A turkey is a large bird in the genus Meleagris. One species, Meleagris gallopavo, commonly known as the Wild Turkey, is native to the forests of North America. The domestic turkey is a descendant of this species...
. After you shoot a couple, you hike up the mountain and shoot the other buck in the forest below. You are told by your guide that he saw a monster 15. point buck in a valley and that you should take it, after you hunt cottontail rabbit
Cottontail rabbit
The cottontail rabbits are among the 16 lagomorph species in the genus Sylvilagus, found in the Americas.In appearance, most cottontail rabbits closely resemble the wild European Rabbit...
s. After some hiking, you stumble across a battle site and spook the trophy, you shoot him on the run. You are in Idaho where your guide tells you that you are going to hunt Rocky Mountain Elk
Rocky Mountain Elk
The Rocky Mountain Elk is a subspecies of elk found in the Rocky Mountains and adjacent ranges of Western North America. The winter ranges are most common in open forests and floodplain marshes in the lower elevations. In the summer it migrates to the subalpine forests and alpine basins...
. You first have to find a few elk signs to make sure that the elk are in the area. After you find them, you hike up a slope where your guide set up a blind to hunt Merriam's Turkey while he calls them in. After you hunt one, you go to a lone tree to set up a tree stand and call in the elk. You shoot a 5 pt. bull. You are on a forest slope when your guide tells you to practice your shooting on some Yellow-bellied Marmot
Yellow-bellied Marmot
The yellow-bellied marmot , also known as the rock chuck, is a ground squirrel in the marmot genus.-Description:...
s. After that, your guide tells you that he spotted a Mule Deer
Mule Deer
The mule deer is a deer indigenous to western North America. The Mule Deer gets its name from its large mule-like ears. There are believed to be several subspecies, including the black-tailed deer...
herd in a clearing up the slope. You hike up there and shoot a doe. After that, your guide makes a deal with a rancher.
Development
In a press release in July 2009, Activision announced that the game was going to be released in Fall 2009 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii and PC. It was going to feature "a simulation-style, seamlessly integrated experience that includes big game hunting, fishing and bird shooting". David Oxford of Activision Publishing stated "Never before has a Cabela'sCabela's
Cabela's is a direct marketer and specialty retailer of hunting, fishing, camping and related outdoor recreation merchandise, based in Sidney, Nebraska. It also has "Trophy Properties LLC , "Outdoor Adventures" , and the "Gun Library"...
game had so much variety. We went back to the drawing board with the folks at Cabela's and listened closely to the serious enthusiasts of each of these disciplines to make sure Cabela's Outdoor Adventures is the most complete game ever for sportsmen". Bryan Stave of Cabela's commented "I commend Activision for their commitment to simulating the outdoor sports in a challenging, fun and exciting format. Cabela's Outdoor Adventures gives real enthusiasts their fix when they can't be in a forest or on a lake".
Reception
The game received favorable reviews from critics. For the Xbox 360 version, GameFocus stated that it "was able to see an improvement from most of past Cabela games". Lucas Thomas from IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
noted "It's got a few issues and the fishing's mostly phoned in, but Outdoor Adventures may well be a decent option for aspiring woodsmen this season". While Official Xbox Magazine
Official Xbox Magazine
Official Xbox Magazine is a monthly video game magazine which started in November 2001 around the launch of the original Xbox. A preview issue was released for E3 2001, with another preview issue for November 2001. The magazine is bundled with a disc that includes game demos, preview videos and...
called the game "A decent hunting adventure". PSX Extreme editor Ben Dutka commented "Cabela's Outdoor Adventures is an okay production that has some nice elements and makes a valiant effort to be well worth the $40 price tag. It falls just a little shy".
For the Wii version, IGN's Lucas Thomas stated "Diving into this one is quick and easy, and you can play for short periods of time and still see a lot of action, instead of just sitting around and waiting for hours for bucks and birds to wander by".