"The Hunter: Call of the Wild" Video Game - From a REAL Hunter's Perspective

I got The Hunter: Call of The Wild on Playstation 4 almost 8 months ago. I was having hunting withdrawals after filling my deer tag and was hoping it might help “bridge the gap” between seasons; especially since my wife and I due to have our third child this summer. Games like these can often receive good feedback from a exclusive video game enthusiast; yet may come up short when in the hands of a “real” hunter. Below I will break the game down a few different ways and give my thoughts on it at this time.

Realism

The game has mostly really realistic looking animals. As for how animals behave; that can be a totally different issue. Ducks and geese rarely act like they should. They fly weird and do not react to decoys or calls the way the real ones do. I’ve found Mule Deer, Whitetail Deer, and Blacktail deer all over react to game calls and come into them far more than surely any hunter has ever seen in real life, but they do also run away from sounds in the same over exaggerated way, so it kind of balances out. Elk and Moose are also really responsive to calls, which seems to be pretty realistic.

Animals can only be seen at a max distance of 440 meters, so it really makes “sneaking up” on animals tough because they mostly will see you and react before you ever have a chance. The game limits you to hunting animals while they are eating or drinking, and taking shots from about 200 meters must be frequently done.

Animals are given a class based on their size and how hard they are to kill. When hunting an animal, you have to kill it with a weapon rated for the class of the animal to get a maximum game score, which was really hard for me to understand for the longest time. For example, a lot people would say the 300 Canning Magnum is the best gun in the game, but it is rated for class 7-9 animals only. So, this means it’s too big to use on deer, wolves, mountain lions, and a bunch of other animals you would normally use a 300 Winchester Magnum for. This can get tough to remember, as you need to carry a smaller rated gun for deer and similar game to get the best score. Shotguns are also very hard to shoot birds with; much harder than in real life.

One thing that really does add a lot of realism are the two different types of ammo for most of the rifles and handguns. Polymer-tip has high penetration and low expansion, while the other ammo is soft point which has lower penetration and higher expansion. Both can be helpful for different animals. Polymer-tip ammo is more expensive and is usually more helpful. The .243 soft point ammo is free, so it’s best to stock up on it and use it for a while to start the game until you can buy some better weapons.

Map Options

There are currently 11 different maps on 6 continents in the game. Only 2 of the maps are included in the base game; which are Layton Lake District and Hirschfelden Hunting Reserve. The other 9 are all around $9 each, plus tax. 4 maps are in the USA, and those are Yukon (Alaska), Layton Lake (Washington State), Silver Ridge Peaks (Colorado), and Mississippi Acres Preserve (Mississippi). It has 1 map in Mexico Rancho del Arroyo, 1 map in South America Parque Fernando (Argentina), 2 maps in Europe Cuatro Colinas Game Reserve (Spain) and Hirschfelden Hunting Reserve (Central Europe), 1 map in Africa Vurhonga Savanna Reserve (South Africa), 1 map in New Zealand Te Awaroa National Park, and last but not least, one map in Asia Medved Taiga National Park (Russia).

Layton Lake District and Hirschfelden Hunting Reserve are both much bigger than any of the DLC maps. I would say 3-4 times larger, which is great if you just buy the base game as they are big enough to keep you busy for a long time. If you do want to buy any extra maps, I would recommend the Silver Ridge Peaks most of all. Silver Ridge Peaks has so many animals and it really is an awesome experience. Vurhonga Savanaa Reserve and Ranco del Arroyo are tied for number 2 in my opinion, and both have great game play, amazing animals, and just awesome environments. Vurhonga really feels like a safari!

With each extra map you get a firearm that is really useful on that map, but also will help with other maps. I think Yukon gives you the best gun, which is the 300 Canning Magnum; primarily utilized for moose, elk, bears, bison, and other class 8 / 9 animals. Te Awaroa National Park gives you the 2nd best, which is a 303 Sporter. It’s the best class 4-8 rifle that is not in a weapons pack. My other favorite map gun is the 22 Hornet you get from Mississippi Acres. It is very helpful with turkeys, rabbits, foxes, and raccoons.

My Opinion

The game is super immersive and detailed, and will keep any hunter/gamer happy for hours as long as they can get past the initial difficultly of having no money and crappy gear. I would say it takes about 15 hours of game play to get past this point and figure the game out. If you are willing to spend real money on a weapons pack (About $4 each) it can make a huge difference. I would recommend weapons pack 2 because of the Grelck Drilling Gun and Solohin M1890. The Drilling is a double barrel 16 gauge shotgun with a bonus rifle barrel in 9.3x74R and has a scope. This gun can kill any animal in the game as long you get the ammo. The rifle is rated for 5-9 class animals, and the shotgun can be 1 class, 2-4 class, or 4-7 class depending what ammo you buy. The M1890, Mosin is rated 3-7 class and really does a great job on those animals. The other best weapons pack in my opinion is the Smoking Barrels Weapon Pack just because of the M1 Iwaniec (M1 Garand), which is a 30-06 rated 4-8 and is also a semi auto; making follow up shots are really quick. It is my current favorite gun. The biggest downside to this game is you can go through a lot of ammo trying to shoot animals on the run.

I would highly recommend this game to anyone that enjoys video games which are time consuming and challenging, whether you are a hunter or not. A lot of time can be put into this game, and it keeps getting better and better. Maybe it can help you bridge the gap between seasons too!

-Tim Berges, Fall Obsession Pro Staff