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Outdoor Life: Sportsman’s Challenge
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Graphics & Sound:
Outdoor Life: Sportsman’s Challenge is, what I can only call, an outdoor recreation simulation where you play the owner of a large parcel of wilderness that profits from hunting, touring, and camping grounds.
Few simulation games are bastions of graphical prowess, and Sportsman’s Challenge is no exception. They could have been a lot worse however, and when you zoom in close enough, the animals are actually fairly entertaining to watch. It’s a shame the human beings aren’t as interesting. The terrain, water, and buildings are surprisingly attractive when you zoom in close, though they don’t even approach the quality seen on the box. I dunno what game those are screenshots of, but it’s definitely not in the box I received.
This is also the first game I’ve ever played where both the volume of the sound and the music defaulted to off. They clearly didn’t have very much faith in the quality of the audio aspects of their game. The music sounded pretty good to me, even if it didn’t approach anything resembling diversity. The sound effects were sparse and frequently annoying. The clicks all had an edge that made me shudder, and all the people would respond in these grating hick/red-neck voices that were never amusing and always irritating.
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Gameplay:
There are two ways you can play the game. One is a sandbox mode called Instant Action that starts you off with a block of wilderness and just the basics. You build your campgrounds from the ground up with whatever goals you want. Like any other simulation of this type, the majority of your time is spent deciding what to build and where. The other mode is called Challenges and is similar to other scenario modes found in sim games. You’re given a campground pre-built to a certain degree, and expected to reach some goal in a time limit.
There’s a huge assortment of structures and services you can provide to your customers in Sportsman’s Challenge. Guests will need places to stay like campgrounds, lodges, and cabins. You can build places of entertainment like bars, tours, and boat rentals. You’ll need materials and labor to build these things, so you’ll need construction yards and lumber mills. I’m only scratching the surface here. There are even things like licensing and tagging shops, ranger stations, first-aid outposts, and that’s just buildings; you also have staff to worry about.
One drawback is many of these structures and staff members have very complicated and web-like prerequisites. To build a large campground you’ll need a lumber mill, which may require two other structures, which themselves may have prerequisites. Of course, in the midst of all this, you also have to be measuring profit vs. cost and actually be making some money. |
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Difficulty:
Making money and further developing your lands is the name of the game. Unhappy parents, expensive animals, dissatisfied hunters, poachers, children being eaten by the rabid bears... these are all problems you may face. Okay, well, maybe the rabid bears don’t eat children, but they should! Sometimes the game throws some terminology and mechanics at you that will be unfamiliar unless you are already an experienced outdoorsman. I had to end up looking some stuff up to understand what was going on. This ultimately shouldn’t be a big issue since the majority of people who will play this game will be outdoor enthusiasts. The game does include a tutorial, but it’s a laughable series of still pictures with text bubbles that offers very little real insight into what’s going on.
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Game Mechanics:
Sportsman’s Challenge also has a few other curves to throw you. Satisfying customers isn’t as easy as it sounds. You see, there are many different types of customers, such as hunters, tourists, and families. Each one expects different services, and you’ll have to balance your “attractions” to make everyone happy if you want to make the big bucks. Also, since this is a business based on the outdoors and nature, you’ll have to be careful not to kill all the trees and wildlife. You need to balance profit with maintaining the ecosystem. Make deer hunting season too long and all the deer will die.
The game also sports some nifty extras in the form of articles, covers, and history of Outdoor Life magazine. This is nice since the only people who will like this game are the same folks who would like this magazine. If camping and the outdoors just isn’t your thing, this game isn’t for you.
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-Alucard, GameVortex Communications AKA Stephen Triche |
Minimum System Requirements:
Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, Pentiums III 800 MHz, 128 MB RAM, 900 MB hard drive space, DirectX 9.0, 32MB video card |
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Test System:
Windows XP, Pentium IV 2.8 GHz, 1024 MB RAM, DirectX 9.0c, Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB |
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