Trophy Hunter

Trophy Hunter lets you experience the thrill of the hunt as you track the biggest North American game.

Trophy Hunter is a hunting simulation that lets you track game across North America. In fact, it features six locations as far south as New Mexico and as far north as Alaska. Each area is brought to life with realistic touches, such as native flora and fauna. These off-limits animals and the foliage can even provide cues that help you locate your game.

The game offers a number of premade hunters to choose from. These presets have unique looks as well as unique weapon and equipment loadouts. There’s at least one predefined hunter for each area. Using these presets is the easiest way to jump in and play. Players who want more control can opt for the Be the Hunter mode instead. This mode gives you a great deal of control over how you look and what equipment you have on hand.

There are numerous weapons to choose from, and there are four base weapon classes: rifle, shotgun, bow and crossbow. Some weapons will be unavailable at first, but you’ll earn cash as you progress and be able to upgrade through purchases. There’s also a wide selection of game to hunt, including bighorn sheep, caribou, elk, grizzly bears, moose and mountain lions. Animals have realistic AI, including behavior sets that are unique to each species.

Trophy Hunter also gives you the option to hunt at different times of day and in various weather conditions. You can choose weather or set it to random. You can also let time tick naturally as you hunt. Adverse weather changes the landscape both literally and figuratively. Snow, for instance, can make it easier to track prints but harder to see and progress.

The biggest problem with Trophy Hunter is a problem that every 3D video game faces: 3D graphics just don’t age well. This game was first published in 2003, and it shows. If you can overlook that, however, the gameplay still holds up impressively well. Another issue, one that was present even at release, is that individual species lack variety. If you hunt deer, for instance, you’ll track the same deer each and every time, and factors like rack point count aren’t present.

Pros

• Be the Hunter mode
• Wide selection of weapons and game
• Adverse weather conditions

Cons

• Graphics are dated now
• Species lack variety