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As a fan of light gun style games, I’m at the point where I’ll take whatever I can get. They’re not as abundant as say typical first-person shooters, where there’s seemingly a new game released every day. The Wii is a great system for light gun style games and I think I’ve played most of the well known titles for the system, many of which are arcade game ports. So now I’m basically scavenging for ones that may not be as well known or slipped under the radar. And my search led me to a more niche genre, hunting games, and up until recently, I had never played one. But I found that many of them support light gun style gameplay. Ultimately, I just want to point a piece of plastic at my TV, shoot what’s on the screen, and I don’t care what I’m shooting at as long as I’m having a good time.
My first hunting game was Remington Super Slam Hunting: North America for Wii, a game published by Mastiff. They also brought us Reload, a target shooter for Wii and PC. Both of these titles don’t have very high production values but are simple, easy to pick up and play, and offer good arcade light gun style fun for up to four players. You don’t need to know anything about hunting to enjoy Remington Super Slam Hunting: North America, and it’s certainly not aiming for an ultra realistic experience. I found it to be addictive and it definitely has a unique charm and personality. After I was done wiping out all the animals in North America, I decided it was time to cause mass extinction in a different continent like Africa.
Developed by EV Interactive LLC and published by Mastiff, Remington Super Slam Hunting: Africa was released for Wii and PC in November, 2010. For this review, I played the Wii version on a Wii U. I do own the PC version as well but haven’t played it. I looked at the manual and as expected, you can use a mouse to aim but I don’t find that as enjoyable as using a light gun or in this case, the Wii Remote and the plastic gun accessories that house it. I didn’t dig too deep into it but there may be a way to get a light gun configured to work with the PC version because I think that would be the ideal way to experience the game. For me, it’s just easier to pop in the Wii version.
There is no plot or narrative here but going into this, I really hoped that none of the North American animals survived to get the word out to the innocent defenseless creatures of Africa that they’re next on my hit list. The last thing we need is for them to arm themselves and start a revolution. Yeah, I saw Planet of the Apes. The next thing you know, they’re making video games about hunting humans. Oh, the horror. Anyway, just like the previous game, the goal here is to score as many points as possible by killing animals. Only this time, you’re in Africa and instead of tournaments, you go on safaris. There are multiple safaris, each with seven rounds of animal killing fun. Remington Super Slam Hunting: Africa can be considered a rail shooter. Your character does move around a lot more than that of the previous game but it’s all automatic. All you have to do is aim, shoot, and reload and I did play using the Wii Zapper. In addition to the single player portion are multiplayer modes like co-op and versus and the game does support up to four players.
If you’ve played the previous game you might be thinking this is more of the same. It certainly looks that way on the surface but there are significant changes or differences here. Yes, the core gameplay is basically identical. Shoot the animals that appear for points. For big scores, you want to increase your chain by killing multiple animals in succession. Hunter Vision is now Wiley Vision and killing animals does fill up your Wiley Vision meter. When full, you can activate Wiley Vision to slow down time, making it easier to kill animals. Animal scores are also increased during Wiley Vision. Instead of acquiring weapons and bonus items by killing specific animals, you now unlock weapons and accessories that can be equipped before starting hunts. There are masks in each stage that can be shot for trophies. The manual states the masks are “hidden” in each stage but the reality is they’re all in plain sight and it would be hard to miss them. I found and shot every mask on my first run through each stage. You can also earn Animal Head trophies which are awarded to you when you bag a certain number of each animal.
Remington Super Slam Hunting: Africa seems like its trying to immerse the player more into its brand of hunting. There is what the game refers to as a Hunting Lodge which is where your Trophy Room and Armory are located. This is where you can view all your trophies and unlocked weapons and accessories. It’s not hard to actually unlock weapons and accessories. You just need to finish certain stages. Instead of only bringing one weapon with you on hunts, you now bring two, a long gun and handgun and you can switch between them at the press of a button. Accessories include scents, gloves, camo, glasses, and scopes and they all provide different benefits. Scents provide protection against certain animals, gloves increase your reload speed, camo gives you extra health, glasses increase the effects of your Wiley Vision and some will increase the rate at which the Wiley Vision meter fills up, and scopes let you zoom in on distant targets.
The different weapons do actually feel different and the game will equip you with whatever weapons and accessories you unlock immediately. The manual states “The key to hunting success is using the right weapon for the right job”, implying you should switch out weapons for different hunts. However, for the most part, every weapon I unlocked felt more efficient than the last so I never really felt the need to equip anything else as I progressed. If anything, you should revisit earlier hunts with the better weapons you’ve unlocked. Shooting animals does award you points and you are awarded different amounts of points for different skill shots like chain shots, long shots, and vital shots. Animals can drop coins when killed and you can shoot these for extra points. You can even shoot a coin multiple times and shooting a mask will result in a ton of coins dropping. There are no round or stage requirements like there is in Remington Super Slam Hunting: North America so the only thing you need to focus on in each stage is your score.
Many of the animals you come across are running or flying around and most are just minding their own business, ripe for shooting. Wildebeests, meerkats, leopards, buffalo, elephants, geese, lions, and many more. Some are dangerous and will come after you and if you can’t put them down before they attack, you’ll get to hear some pretty satisfying screams of agony. You do have to be mindful of females because you will be penalized for shooting them. When compared to Remington Super Slam Hunting: North America, this game does have a lot more going on. Your character will move more, you’ll fall down a waterfall in one stage, ride in vehicles, even a helicopter, sometimes it appears as if certain animals are chasing others, you can see planes flying overhead in the background of one stage, and another puts you in an area engulfed in flames. The game even gives you the illusion of objectives like one stage that tells you to protect a camp. All of this is to say Remington Super Slam Hunting: Africa features more variety and more interesting environments.
In the end, Remington Super Slam Hunting: Africa is a simple game, and just like its predecessor, it feels like it was designed for a specific audience. For hunters and those that don’t play many video games. It’s not super challenging, doesn’t require too much from the player, and is easy to pick up and play. There’s not much to it but it proves to be a lot of fun and should appeal to anyone that likes to shoot stuff. You need to earn at least a bronze medal in each stage to progress and that’s not very hard to do, although trying for all gold medals will take practice and should keep you occupied for a while. There’s a lot of replay value here. Whether it’s trying for better scores and medals or multiplayer, the game provides hours of entertainment. The hunting is accompanied by someone who encourages you much like Mr. Enthusiastic guy in the last game. Except this guy doesn’t sound American and is more calm.
The visual presentation is certainly not the best. I think it looks better than its predecessor, the environments are diverse and I think the gunplay feels a bit better. Mainly because of the muzzle flashes. It’s still not great, mind you, weapons don’t sound particularly amazing, but I feel the lackluster gunplay is made up for by the light gun style gameplay and its addictive nature. Ultimately, the production values aren’t great and I expected as much. But I’m not playing this for incredible graphics and audio. I’m playing it because I like to shoot things. Unfortunately, Remington Super Slam Hunting: Africa is not as smooth as its predecessor. The frame rate noticeably dips often and I found it actually messed with my aim a few times. It doesn’t ruin the experience but it can be annoying.
When I started playing Remington Super Slam Hunting: Africa, I knew nothing about hunting and I left it still knowing nothing about hunting. This game is not going to teach you much about the sport that you probably don’t already know but it is going to show you a good time. I had a blast with this game and I do think it’s better than its predecessor. To be clear, it’s not the best or my favorite light gun style game out there, but it is entertaining and somewhat relaxing. It’s accessible and easy to just zone out and have fun. There is an addictive quality to it and it has a lot of replay value. As I said about the last game, they could replace the animals with anything else like aliens, robots, and zombies and it would still be just as fun. You don’t need to know anything about hunting or be good at light gun style games to enjoy it and it’s not super challenging or intense. It’s a simple game that anyone of any skill level can pick up and have fun with and it can even be enjoyed with buddies.
I absolutely recommend Remington Super Slam Hunting: Africa. It’s an arcade style shooting gallery with light gun style gameplay dressed up as a hunting game. That’s the best way to describe it. But most importantly, it’s a lot of fun. It’s easy to pick up and play, can be enjoyed solo or with friends, and can keep you coming back for a while. It’s the kind of game you may find in the bargain bin at the store but now you know this one is actually worth playing and as of this review you can find copies for pretty cheap online so definitely check it out.