Developed by Cradle Games alongside Play Mechanix and published by GameMill Entertainment, Big Buck Hunter: Ultimate Trophy is the brand-new title in this iconic arcade hunting series. Starting its journey back in 2000 on arcade machines, Big Buck Hunter is a well-known arcade game that you may have played in your favourite fast-food restaurant. Picking up on its immense success and addictive shooting mechanics, the game received its first-ever console release in 2018 by GameMill Entertainment. Following the 2018 release, Big Buck Hunter: Ultimate Trophy is the first proper title in the franchise designed for PC and consoles while still keeping its arcade soul alive. This is our review of the PS5 version of Big Buck Hunter: Ultimate Trophy, in which we hunt some iconic animals and try not to shoot the females.
Big Buck Hunter: Ultimate Trophy is an arcade hunting game, which means that it shoots any simulation mechanics out the door with its simple-to-understand but hard to master mechanics. The game offers two different modes: one is the main Big Buck Hunter: Ultimate Trophy, which allows you to play solo and take on different adventures by hunting unique animals all around the world. The second mode is the Bonus Games where you can jump into a large number of unique mini games which range from shooting down Triceratops poop to cowboys trying to rob a train. Both modes can be played solo or two-player multiplayer on the same screen. If you want to hunt with other players from around the world, you can head over to Versus to battle for the highscore against friends or random players from around the world.
The Classic mode is your no-nonsense shooting experience, where you can pick any animal that you like to hunt and start shooting. Big Buck Hunter: Ultimate Trophy offers the classic shotgun along with a brand-new weapon, the bow. The bow is slower and requires more precision, but in most cases, it ensures a one-hit kill. On the other hand, you can never go wrong with the shotgun. It has a faster reload and is much easier to handle. You will need a steady aim because shooting is no easy feat on the controller, especially if you are not a hardcore shooter fan on consoles. The game can be a little difficult because the animals are running here and there, and you need to land enough shots to bring them down before they run away. You only get a short window for this.
The controls for Big Buck Hunter: Ultimate Trophy are rather simple. You aim with your left joystick, and you cannot move around. Your position is stationary for each hunt. You can only aim around the screen to shoot animals. Pressing L2 allows you to reload, while R2 is for shooting. To make shooting a little easier, you can also press X to activate aim assist, which slows down the game and glues the aim at the animal so you can fine-tune your shot and bring it down. The game is still running, so you still need to hurry up or else the animal will run away. These are all of the controls that you need to practice and master to ace the game.
Each animal takes you to an adventure that is set in the location where that particular animal is found in the real world. Each animal has three unique treks based on the location, and each trek offers five further sites to hunt each animal. Out of these five sites, one features a Dangerous Trophy as well, which is added to your Trophy Case if you manage to bring it down. These range from dangerous animals such as Warthogs, Lions, Bears, or even some prehistoric ones such as Saber-tooth cats and Woolly Mammoths. Depending on the location, you will also find some smaller animals, which give you some bonus points. If you are lucky, you will find some cool animals thrown in the mix, such as dodos, lizards, penguins, and others. These do not count towards the trophies, but they give you bonus points. Each site has three male animals that must be taken down, but you need to avoid the females. Upon entering the screen, each male animal will give you a small time during which you must take it down. You must take them out while avoiding the females because if you shoot a female, the hunt is instantly over.
Big Buck Hunter: Ultimate Trophy has a diverse selection of animals to choose from. There are nine unique animals, including species from Africa’s deserts to Canada’s highlands. The selection includes some iconic animals like Kudo, Wildebeest, Whitetail Deer, Moose, Elk, Caribou, and some fantasy ones as well, like the Zombie Deer, which can only be killed by headshots or the Buckzilla. Each animal is highly detailed, complete with movement animations and sounds. Each animal has its own unique levels, and these levels are themed around the animal’s habitats. Some animals are found in more than one habitat type, and each trek will represent a different one if the animal is found in different habitats.
If you want to take a break from shooting animals, you can head into the Bonus Games section and start a playlist of different cool mini-games. These are unlocked through the main Adventure, but once you have unlocked a few, you can create a playlist and jump straight into them. These bonus games are fun but challenging at the same time. You will need a quick hand to shoot and reload while aiming to complete them. These fun games range from shooting fireballs at villages to shooting cockroaches inside a kitchen. You have a selection of 27 of the craziest mini-games that you can think of. Similar to the Adventure mode, the Bonus Games also track your score, and you can try to aim for the highest score that you can achieve in that particular mini-game.
Big Buck Hunter: Ultimate Trophy’s gameplay is highly addictive, and it is exactly what you would expect to find in an arcade machine. It is a high-stakes shooting game based on the time available to shoot the animals and how challenging certain scenarios can become. The males are surrounded by females, and when spooked, they will start running around frantically. In a few situations, we literally had 1 or 2 seconds to shoot a male before it went off-screen, and these windows were even tighter because females were running beside the male as well. Once you master the art of reloading after every shot and keep your cool during those frantic sections, you will start to get good and aim for some serious highscores. Accompanying you during each hunt are your Trial Guides. These sultry females are limited to just dancing during menu screens. It is another feature that was mostly common in arcade games during their peak.
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Final Verdict:
Big Buck Hunter: Ultimate Trophy is an arcade shooter, but for the consoles. It brings the frantic action and challenge that you expect from arcade shooters, but it is also manageable. It features cool visuals, solid shooting mechanics, and a large amount of content that will keep you busy for a long time. If you are looking for a simulation hunting game, this is not the title for you, but it is still a challenging game, nonetheless. If you love playing Big Buck Hunter on arcade machines or any other shooters, or if you are into hunting games, Big Buck Hunter: Ultimate Trophy is a must-have title for you to try and add to your library.
Final Score: 8.5/10
