Buckmasters Huntin' 2

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Buckmasters Huntin' 2 was made in 2003 by Radica, together with Xavix. I reviewed the first Huntin' system in episode 86. The review here tries to point out differences while keeping repetitions at a minimum.

The Huntin' 2 system uses a gun which is very similar to the first one. The new gun has the same buttons, functions and power options as before. One of the most notable changes is the shape of the reticle. The reticle consists now of two circles which allows for faster aiming and easier focusing while preserving the accuracy. Instead of being painted onto the gun, the rifle stock is now a dedicated part which has a wood like structure on the surface. Furthermore black pigments were added into the plastic in a manner that faint clouds occur which gives the stock an even better resemblance to real wood.

As before the main game can be played in a normal mode and in a tutorial mode. But this time the tutorial mode doesn't restrict the selection of difficulty and the duration. In Huntin' 2 four levels are available as opposed to the three ones of Huntin'. This time however just deer are hunted. Nevertheless from time to time a bear appears in the game, which attacks the player if it isn't shot multiple times. If the player is wounded by the bear the game ends. Like in Huntin' the player may choose to use one of four guns out of a new selection of firearms.

The game offers again three views: A map, a top down view and a first person. However this time, the top down view is more of an isometric view and now shows the player as a hunter, as opposed to the orange arrow before. Fast movement isn't punished anymore which changes the pace of the game quite a bit. Searching for animals doesn't rely on sound anymore. Instead the animals are now located at the traces they leave. In Huntin' 2 animals should be shot from the front as the game considers shooting animals from behind unethical. A new addition are female deer which shouldn't be shot. The weather feature was removed from Huntin' 2 and therefore it's always sunny. The calibration screen was simplified for Huntin' 2 by reducing the six calibration points to just one. Huntin' 2 has its own set of advantages. The menus now play background music and throughout the game digitized voices are used. Furthermore the movement of the animals is more fluent.

Even though the presentation is improved, I like the predecessor much better. Huntin' 2 is no bad game, but for me it lacks the variation and challenge of part one.

The manual reuses images of the first Huntin' gun even though it has a different stock. The box shows Buckmasters founder Jackie Bushman posing with a real rifle. I think it's interesting that he couldn't be bothered to hold the plug n' play and we will continue to see this trend of decreasing involvement of Jackie in the Huntin' series. The shown TVs just have two instead of three RCA input sockets which is pathetic. The shown gameplay screen is faked and looks far better than the actual game. Interestingly the same fake images were reused for the packaging of Huntin' 3.