Recently, New Gamer Nation had the opportunity to take a closer look at Cabela’s African Adventures. The game is being developed by Activision and it is a continuation of the Cabela’s hunting game series. This time, the game takes place on the African Savannah where you’ll go against the dangerous “Big Five” – Lions, Elephants, Cape Buffaloes, Leopards, and Rhinos. However, there are more changes to the game than just the setting.
African Adventures takes a more open-world approach to gameplay where you will be able to jump into your jeep from the beginning of the game. You can then explore the map, survey the land and take missions at will. We saw two different mission types; stealth and action. In the stealth mission, we had to clear a heard of zebras without spooking them to get to a water buffalo on the other side of the canyon. The stealth mechanics were solid as we slid between patches of wild long grass. Once we cleared the herd, we took our shot and earned our kill. The mission was quick and rewarding, two hallmarks of a solid mission.
The other mission we played was an action mission where buffaloes were changing us from all directions. We had to get our gun ready and master a jump-roll to pass the mission. Again, the missions were quick and rewarding. The final game will feature more than just these missions described and you can play them in any sequence you wish. Along the way, you can upgrade your gear, get more powerful weapons and hunt even bigger game.
Finally, there is support for the light gun and even a local two player mode that features a score chase. All you have to do is grab a friend and work your way through a short stage shooting everything that moves. While you are progressing through the level, you can switch weapons which will earn you bonus points.
All in all, African Adventures definitely looks like the best Cabela’s game in the series and the new open world format suits the source material well. If you are looking for a new-and-improved Cabela’s game, this one will definitely fit the bill.
African Adventures hits Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC this fall.