Bass Pro Shops recently gave UGO a sneak peek at their upcoming game, The Hunt, a peripheral-inspired woodland shooter.
"We wanted to focus on peripherals that change the game," Chip Pedersen, Director of Game Publishing told us. "[For The Hunt] We actually designed the peripheral first and then created the game around it."
The peripheral is the figure-8 shaped hunting controller, which blows the Wii Zapper out of the water in terms of comfort and usability.
The Hunt is cleverly designed around this peripheral that allows for small improvements over the Wiimote, such as having a stable crosshair. "With the peripheral, there's no need to have the crosshair waver within the scope because you'll be naturally doing that to your rifle automatically with your own hands," says Pedersen.
You'll be able to hunt all types of wildlife, including white tail deer, moose, bears, wolves - even alligators. "We have what we call dangerous animals, which you must kill fast enough when you encounter them or they will kill you," states Pendersen. In addition to the game's regular animals, you can also take on legendary, more harmful beasts and a special type of deer that Bass Pro Shops calls the King of Bucks.
"The legendary animals have random spawn points and can randomly appear in certain levels," mentions Pedersen. He told me this as I slayed a deer that turned out to be the King of Bucks. "These animals grant extra points and a trophy that appears in your personal trophy room in the game."
In addition to its regular campaign, The Hunt includes a Quick Hunt mode and a few mini-games. Blindfire, which Pedersen described as a "Horde Mode with deer," places the player in a stationary blind while wild animals run by at high speeds. Th goal: rack up the points before wild boars destroy your fort. There's also an ATV racing mode and a Duck Hunt mode.
Unfortunately, The Hunt doesn't support Wii Motion Plus. "There wasn't much need for it as the gun was already extremely responsive," comments Chip. The Xbox 360 and PC versions will feature redefined graphics but no plans for peripherals for these platforms are in the works. For an authentic hunting feel, sacrifice some of the flashy graphics for a badass hunting rifle.
Bass Pro Shops: The Hunt ships in June at $39.99 and $49.99 for the bundled peripheral.
