Browsing the eclectic list of games available for the taking during the steam summer sale and a promising title passed my gaze. theHunter: Primal a $30 realistic dinosaur hunting simulator on sale for the low low price of $8, is this game a fluke? Or is it a gem? Let's discuss.
To start let's focus on a few factoids about this game, when they say "dinosaur hunting simulator" what they are really referring to is the Cretaceous period, between 145 million and 65 million years ago, which means a lot of our favorite beasts like the pterodactyls or stegosaurus which are two of my favorite Jurassic period dinosaurs, aren't in the game. Instead we have Triceratops, tyrannosaurus, and Utah raptors. All well and good but... those are the only three in this game. Which really leaves quite a bit to the imagination, if we're going to simulate a fantasy world give me Jurassic period dinosaurs, give me Triassic period dinosaurs, it's a "realistic" game based in fantasy, so just give me fantasy.
That's just some nit picking I guess on my behalf, but the fact there are just three dinosaurs, seriously only three? No flying dinosaurs when they could've added a Pteranodon? Or super awesome spinosaurus? Not even the popular Stygimoloch? Once again I know this is nit picking but come on a game about a grand total of three dinosaurs listed as a "dinosaur hunting simulator" just feels like a hot rip off. But let's not overlook the point of the game, pointlessly murdering dinosaurs into extinction which... are already endangered species? Awesome what next the Panda murder sim? Or the bald eagle poaching adventure? The premise sucks on top of the horrible lack of actual dinosaurs to hunt. And I guess its really an alien planet and not our local universe so... they may not be really endangered... just had me thinking at one point... and trolling some players online.
Game Play
Now that I've whined a bit about the premise of the game and lack of actual dinosaurs, lets actually talk about the game itself. You start the game and... yep no instructions. Let's verify something real quick, you're in a giant open world game with the predetermined goal of murdering dinosaurs and there is no instruction on what to do. You have a GPS PDA in your left hand, health and stamina bar in the lower right corner as well as some goofy little icons and no idea of what to do next. There seems to be a giant pod in front of you but with no instruction the first few minutes are confusing as can be. After a little bit of looking around, walking, and just all around options menu looking up controls you'll eventually discover that somewhere on that pod you can open a door and acquire a GPS location of... something... and a "make shift machete". To highlight where we are, distant space planet with a GPS PDA that somehow works, advanced technology to make this venture possible and we have a "make shift machete." Already off to a roaring first impression aren't we?
To make things so much more fun the GPS location tells you where you need to go, no big deal that's a good thing right? Well there is a small problem with this, the island you're on is GIANT!! My first GPS location was 9 kilometers away, the island is roughly 24 square kilometers. Ok guess I'm going to have to walk, which as previously stated there are zero instructions so... guess I'm walking a long way.
The Trek
On that venture I crossed through a few, something I can only describe as a purple farting bush, that somehow damages you for no reason, which with lack of instructions gets kind of annoying. Closer and closer I am getting to that 9 KM mark when I encounter a body of water, well guess what turns out you can't swim, instead if you let your ankles soak for long enough you take damage... farting purple bushes and ankle high water... not getting too happy about walking twenty minutes to reach a point where I have to turn and find another route. Up stream seems to be a smart route, and there are these glowing red bumps which... I don't know what those are, turns out they are poop and foot prints. According to another player if you have your GPS PDA open and left click on them you can track your prey... well that would've been nice to know before the upcoming events, but what comes next happened first.
First Encounter
There is a weird squawking noise coming from the tree's, um... machete out yes please. Side stepping up the river another weird squawk but nothing... after about three minutes of nothing I gave up and just thought "it is nothing" turns out I was wrong. instead a giant utahraptor comes from nowhere and starts to eviscerate my face, which quickly kills me. The stamina used to run is also used to swing your "make shift butter knife" as far as I'm concerned at this point. First real dinosaur of the game, took me twenty minutes to find and I'm dead within fifteen seconds with a respawn counter clicking by. This is a horrible first half hour of a game I've ever had the "luxury" of playing. Luckily for me my brother and an experienced player joined my game and he explained the PDA thing to me.
On the respawn screen you have the ability to preemptively purchase weapons for your pod, to obtain money you need to get pictures of your trophy winning kills... ok? Once I get angry and say I can't buy anything I click respawn and it gives you a few tips "best weapon against a utahraptor is the machete." Really? I don't think I hurt the guy at all, which lets not forget the travel in packs, should've been able to kill one of them at least. I respawn and seek to meet up with my brother who is five kilometers away, the spawning points seem to be randomized leaving a long trek moving forward, and if one of you dies it does another randomized spawn point leaving you with another long twenty minute trek to meet up assuming you don't get crossed by another beast of prey. Which that never transpired, after an hour of playing I was able to meet up with my brother just once, and a guy we nick named Tom Cruise always spawned near me which was weird.
Two guys with machetes going to take on the world right? We died against every Utahraptor they threw at us, how is this the best weapon if I can't kill a single one of these four foot tall angry carnivorous chickens yet the "hint" says I can.
First Blood
After long enough running around getting angry I was FINALLY ABLE TO KILL SOMETHING!!! A baby utahraptor with a single hit from my make shift nerf knife, a baby little ankle biter raptor, take my snap shots, kill the whole family, and I obtain money and experience that MAY help me in the future right? Upon my next death thanks to a tyrannosaurs eating me without me even knowing it was there I was able to spawn but this time I had enough money to buy a bow and some arrows. This is off to a good start. Engage stalk mode, follow some raptor poop, get out my bow and there are no cross hairs... this arrow shot is going to be based on faith? The character oh so pleasantly moves extraordinarily slow at the sight of death, and seeing as my first arrow missed... then my second arrow missed... finally made contact with the third and fourth I had to go chop happy with my machete to HOPE for a kill and somehow... I did. Got my snap shot before the next utah came and murdered me, but hey had enough money for another bow upon my next rebirth. Which I spawned under a t-rex...Conclusion
I am TRYING to like this game, I really am, the world is just way to empty, the instructions don't exist, there is no story or explanation to anything, the enemies are OP, there are too few actual dinosaurs to hunt, the spawn points are too far apart and random, the weapons are underwhelming. My final score on this game? Buy Ark instead, although I haven't played Ark yet, the reviews seem to favor it better, the game play I've seen looks better, the premise seems to work better, and its a survival hunting game, not just a bad hunting game. If you want to try it and try to like it, join games in progress with lots of people, hosting a game and being one or maybe a few people results in a less than desirable game.
To just verify I know there are people who are fans of this game, and this review isn't meant to offend, but as a new player this game just isn't fun. If you have a whole group of friends playing and a little experience and guidance it gets better, but if you're not in that group of people it just isn't fun at all.
Anyone else buy this game during the summer sale? If you did let me know what you think in the comments below, just hoping I'm not the only one who isn't a fan. Maybe I'm missing something.
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