For the faint of heart and the supremely liberal, let me just say that this may not be the game for you. BUT, if you like to have a good time hunting/tracking big game animals in the African wilderness, then step right up cause Cabela’s is the game for you.

For those who are familiar with the Cabela’s series you will remember the recent release of Cabela’s Alaskan Adventure. The Alaskan game took you through the North Country in snowy terrain hunting various animals as well as ice fishing and lake trout fishing. While the Alaskan game was fun, it had some problems with gameplay that could not be cured by taking down a Trophy Grizzly Bear. When the African Safari game was announced I eagerly anticipated the title and hoped for a really involved hunting expedition for Elephants, Rhinos, Lions and fast moving animals like the cheetah and leopard. Shush…..be vewwwwy, vewwwwy quiet……weeere hunting “dik-dik”!




When you load the game it will take you to a video sequence that shows off the landscape and graphic capabilities which look really good. The animals look very realistic and the trees, rocks, grass and water all look near perfect. You then get the option of choosing from 4 different hunters who pretty much all look the same except for different outfits. Not much variety at all and the choices they give aren’t spectacular. There are no options to customize the appearance or clothing after, so what you see is what you get. Ignore the tutorial mode because it’s a giant waste of time. The whole 4-6 lesson tutorial is nothing more than an open environment with a running presentation at the top of the screen showing what you can read in the manual in about 5 minutes. It’s very long and unless you want the quick achievement points, just move along.

Gameplay
A big change from last year is the 3rd person mode which is much better than the first person last year in that it gives you a better view of everything around you. It’s hard enough to hunt for animals and avoid predators without having half of your vision taken away. All of the controls follow the Call of Duty outlay with buttons for crouch, weapon select (right directional quick pistol select), map menus, and quick rifle changes in case you just cant take the animal down with the standard rifle. No longer will you have to go back to the lodge and buy different rifles because now you can just go to a menu and select the different weapon to use. This saves a ton of time and frees up the gameplay for more important things like killing innocent creatures.


The story mode (“Safari”) is all mission based and tasks are assigned for number of specific animals or “Trophy” animals (largest on the map). You no longer have to go to the lodge before each hunt to buy an animal license because each day there are special hunts set up for you to complete. It’s much easier and less tedious than before so just go talk to the guide and start hunting. Everything in this game revolves around your ability to effectively track an animal across large but not outrageously sized maps. Keep in mind this game is very, very basic so almost anyone can play no matter previous experience with shooting games. There is an annoying African guy who keeps telling you what to do before and during each mission as well as reminding you that your timed mission is running out. I say put on some music from your 360 and tune out the bushman guide.

There are a few different levels of gameplay depending on your familiarity with hunting so I would start with the normal setting and work up to the expert, or at least try a few quick hunt missions first. Each level takes away a certain training wheel to make the game harder to find and kill the animals. There is a compass in the upper left hand corner of the screen that shows which direction you are facing and some surrounding terrain. With the lower difficulty levels of the game it will show a white circle around the animals close to you while the expert difficulty makes you track the animals by skill and trial and error. In addition to the compass there is a crosshair or reticule in the middle of the screen which is used not only for aiming but for sensing animals and specifically the animal in your objectives. It turns red when there is an animal close by and will flash yellow when your target is in the area. Very easy to pick up and use after only one mission which will get you through missions pretty quick.


The animal movements are pretty nice to watch and especially after a kill. You get bonuses for perfect trophy kills (certain areas of the body and one shot kills) and during those one shot kill moments it will start a slow motion capture of the event so you can see it happen in “bullet-time”. Most of the good kills and high powered rifle shots will knock the animal senseless and cause them to flip over or tumble end over end. Very funny and entertaining although at times it seems some of the smaller animals appear to be bullet proof. You find that shooting a Zebra with a .500 rifle in the butt doesn’t take him down even after repeated shots. I know they want you to take the animal down clean but when you are chasing it through the brush all I want to do is pop off some rounds and hear the thud. The smaller animals are fast and very hard to track so stealth is important as well as perfect shot selection. To make things a little easier they included something called “Adrenaline-Mode” which has two parts. If you have an animal in your cross-hairs you can hold down right bumper to enter a slow motion kill zone which gives you more time to get a good shot but only for a limited time. Another use is for when a predator is chasing you and you need to put them down with one bullet or you will die. Very effective when Mama Lion is not too happy you took their “GemsBuck” dinner. To activate the predator mode you hit left bumper (when the meter is full) and you have a certain amount of time to move the cross-hairs into the kill circle for the take down. It works and works well.



There are ride along missions (jeep) and boat duck hunting missions (aluminum boat) all with their added fun to keep your interest through the story mode. As you can expect it does get a tad repetitious at times with the major changes being the animals you hunt. One thing I can say is the environments have gotten much better and more complex and the visual presentation of the scenery is very nice and changes from mission to mission. The one thing missing is the fishing mode which was a major disappointment to me. As my friend constantly reminds me, “It’s friggin Africa bro, there aren’t that many fishing spots!”. That said I would have liked a continuation with maybe an ocean fishing mode for big game fishing or shark fishing……something cool could have been added to carry over the fishing for the fans of that mode.





Needed Improvements
-They absolutely, without a doubt need to add Co-Op hunting over Xbox live and to me there is no excuse not to have it these days. Without this feature there is zero replayability factor for this game. Split screen hunting on the same Xbox is ok with me too.
-Character development for unique creation of hunters. Just minor tweaks would be cool so your guy doesn’t look like a douchebag.
-There is serious room for improvement with the people interaction between missions. Right now you walk up to three different guys who stand in exactly the same position on each new map doing the same exact thing. One guy (your guide) is constantly working on his jeep under the hood. This does not exude confidence that his ride is going to make it out to the hunting area and back. Not saying they have to go overboard but something to break up the game a little would be nice.
-Bring back the use of decoys and scents because they were taken out of the game this time. Nothing like putting a salt lick down and camping in the bushes for a perfect kill.


Technical Details
-In game Dolby Digital
-HDTV 480p, 720p and 1080i
-1 Player Only
-Learning Curve = 10 minutes
-Very easy achievement points even the Expert Acheivements (for you point junkies)

It’s pretty much what I expected from this game and considering how basic it is, you really can’t complain unless you pay $35+ dollars for it. You will learn about some of the animals of Africa as well as some new guns and various African countries. There is just something missing to make this a classic and I am not sure what it is. I think with a lot more work and creativity plus some interest from gamers this has the potential to be a very good title. For now it’s a really good and fun rental game but don’t buy it.

For a fishing game we will have to wait for Rapala Tournament Fishing……oh yeah it’s on my list.

I apologize for my presumptions, however i trust the legitemacy of freshguy's appraisal of cabelas african safari. I just cant quite focus on the text right now through these damned blurry contacts!!!!! All i know is watching an African Wild Dog perform a forced face first desert sweeping is quite entertaining!. I apreciate the site, but where are the Martha Stewart HD's?

probably the most entertaining part of the game i agree.......the animal deaths are quite fun.

Alaskin was aright The graphics are good though!

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