Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2011

Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2011
Developer	Cauldron
Publisher	Activision
Series	Cabela's
Platforms	Nintendo DS PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 Wii
Release	NA: October 26, 2010 EU: March 23, 2011 (consoles) AU: May 6, 2011 (consoles)
Genres	Hunting action Survival horror simulation
Modes	Single-player, multiplayer

Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2011 is a hunting video game published by Activision in conjunction with Cabela's for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii. It was released in the U.S. for the DS, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 and for the Wii on October 26, 2010; special editions of the game were released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii that same day bundled with the Top Shot Elite wireless hunting controller. It was released in Europe and Australia in 2011. The game's story features the character Cole Rainsford, who, along with his father, are on an African safari to hunt dangerous possessed animals that are terrorizing locals. The plot and script for the game was written by the screenwriter Brad Santos. Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2011 also features shooting galleries as well as multi-level multiplayer modes. This game had an additional re-release for the Nintendo Wii titled Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2011: Special Edition, which included an exclusive optional "cell-shaded animation mode". The game received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

Console versions

In 1982, Samson Rainsford, Mbeki, and his friend are hunting a creature referred to as the "Kaftar" in a cave in Uganda, believed to be a demon that could only be destroyed by fire. During the hunt, Samson is attacked by the Kaftar. Mbeki shoots it, but the bullet takes no effect. Mbeki's friend makes a run for the exit but the Kaftar strikes him.

In 2001, Cole Rainsford is a beginner hunter in Alaska under the instruction of his scarred and weathered father. The Rainsfords find a campsite that has been ransacked by a rogue grizzly bear. As the family tracks the bear, an avalanche separates Cole from Samson and Adrian, who is Cole's brother. He survives the avalanche and continues to track down the bear into the night. Cole fights the grizzly bear in its den and kills it. Adrian shows up and compliments him when a pack ofblack wolves with glowing red eyes attacks them. Adrian is mauled to death and dragged away as Cole watches helplessly.

After ten years of not speaking to his father, who had become embittered towards losing Adrian due to his actions, Cole, now a professional big game hunter, decides to join Samson and Mbeki back in Uganda in search of the Kaftar. A hippo knocks over the boat they are in, separating Cole from Mbeki and Samson. Cole finds Mbeki, who shows him brush fires being set by the villagers in an attempt to drive off what's causing the animals to go rabid; which they believe is the returned Kaftar. Mbeki warns Cole that the Kaftar is thought to be able to control people or shapeshift into a person as a werehyena. Mbeki is then attacked by a leopard that Cole kills. Mbeki tells Cole to find medical help. Cole steals a truck from poachers and picks up Mbeki. Mbeki thanks Cole but pushes him down and leaves him, saying it is for his own good and that he shouldn't have come.

That night, Cole searches for Mbeki during a wildfire, finding him in an abandoned research facility where the "Nightfall Program" studied animal behavior. The program managed to capture the Kaftar and was trying to replicate its ability to control other animals, but it caused a breakout and escaped. The next morning, Mbeki gives Cole the key to the caverns before dying from his injuries. Cole heads for the caves where Samson was attacked years before. After he finds him, Samson tells his son to follow him to the exit not wanting Cole to die like Adrian, but he's killed by a land mine. Cole looks for an exit, but a pack of spotted hyenas attack, at the behest of the Kaftar. Eventually, Cole finds an underground ladder leading to his father's cabin only to find it on fire. He walks in and is attacked by the Kaftar, revealed to be a large, striped hyena-like monster. Cole downs the beast and traps it in the burning house before escaping.

DS version

Hunter Cole Rainsford is hired by his father Samson to eliminate a pride of man-eating lions terrorizing his estate in Uganda. Guided over radio by Mbeki, an old friend of Samson's, Cole learns that his father may be in danger. After surviving several lion attacks in an abandoned village, Cole tracks the pride to a lair near an abandoned mine. With Mbeki's help, Cole exterminates the lions, but Mbeki insists the true danger still remains.

The game periodically flashes back to ten years earlier, when a younger Cole was on a hunting trip with Samson and his brother Adrian in Alaska. After Cole falls into a chasm and is separated from his family, he finds footage of hikers being killed by a grizzly bear. Samson becomes determined to hunt it before nightfall. As Cole tries to catch up to his family, he learns Adrian has split off to track the bear alone. By the time Cole reaches him, Adrian has already been killed. Cole is then set upon by the grizzly, but he manages to kill it. As Cole mourns his brother's death, a mysterious creature watches him from above.

In the present, Mbeki tells Cole the legend of the Kaftar, a demonic werehyena capable of controlling animals. Cole reveals that he has met the creature before. Mbeki explains that he and Samson once attempted to bag the Kaftar for a covert research group, but the creature’s evil corrupted Samson. He warns Cole that Samson can no longer be saved and that death is the only cure.

As Cole journeys towards Samson's lodge, he discovers evidence of ritualistic killings and battles increasingly aggressive, seemingly possessed wildlife. Cole ultimately confronts his father, accusing him of training the grizzly bear responsible for the deaths of Adrian and the hikers. Samson, proud of the hunter Cole has become, urges him to prepare for the Kaftar's arrival. At the lodge, Cole fights through hordes of possessed animals before finally confronting and killing the Kaftar itself. After defeating the creature, Cole sets Samson's lodge ablaze in an attempt to destroy the evil tied to his family's past.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
	PC	PS3	Wii	Xbox 360
Metacritic	N/A	60/100	N/A	55/100

Review scores

Publication	Score
	PC	PS3	Wii	Xbox 360
GameSpot	N/A	6/10	6/10	6/10
Push Square	N/A	7/10	N/A	N/A
TouchArcade	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Destructoid called the game's box art ridiculous. A preview from GameSpot describes the game as "survival game first and a hunting game second", that players must fend off dangerous animals that stalk them as well as face various environmental hazards. A preview from UGO says that the change of numbering in the series from sequel numbers to years makes the series look like it's copying the Madden NFL franchise. However, the preview said that the game was successful in creating terrifying effects which included fearsome animals in dark environments, and that it featured a well-constructed shooting gallery mode. Another preview from Destructoid said that the game had more of a Resident Evil feel with the presence of large wolves. They add that the game's intentionally sensitive controls add to the survival-horror gameplay environment, in which hunters normally need to remain still while surrounded by hordes of beasts. The preview also praises the Top Shot Elite for its smooth handling and for its inclusion of an infrared scope, which it says adds to the level of realism to the gameplay. David Scammell of Gamerzines described the game as 'awesome m8' and cited the Top Shot Elite as the forty third best peripheral of 2011.

This game works with PlayStation Move.