Carnivores Review

The only thing more boring than Carnivores is Vegetarians II, the Revenge.

Turok need not fear, Carnivores is here. Guaranteed to turn you into oil just like the dead dinosaurs that have captured our hearts and imaginations...

First things first. Although Carnivores is a slow experience and an exercise in the virtue of patience, it is actually a well put-together game, or at least "simulation." WizardWorks set out to create a simulation that would incorporate what we presently know about dinosaur behavior and combine it with a Deer Hunter-esque experience. After all, WizardWorks is responsible for the best-selling Deer Hunter.

In other words, they were going for the 'realistic' approach to discovering a planet of dinosaurs 200 years into the future, and the following commercial exploitation of this scientific discovery by DinoHunt Corp., a company that buys the rights to the planet and turns it into a hunting reserve. Go figure.

Now, keep in mind that I have never met a dinosaur. Nor have I any clear reference points with which I can gauge dinosaur intelligence quotas, save for the big-budget Hollywood dramatizations of men playing god with dinosaur DNA. I must say though, that Wizard Works did a good job at making me believe that they had done their fair share of reading Paleontological America's latest studies on the skeletal remains of the big lizards and insights into their behavior. As best I could tell, the dinosaurs behaved realistically according to their type and territorial nature. I believed it.

You'll experience killing or being killed by 7 species of dinosaurs, all of which have their own unique characteristics. As a beginner, you'll hunt plant-eating dinosaurs and slowly move your way up to the ever-popular T-Rex. Each dinosaur you hunt has varying degrees of sight, smell and hearing. Because of this, you can't just run up with guns blazing, screaming a Klingon battle cry as you jump into the fray. They'll either run away or turn you into dinosaur chow. Instead, you have to wait, careful not to leave a trace, making sure you travel upwind so they can't smell you and then pounce upon your victim only when the time is right.

Hence, you'll notice long periods of boredom and tedium, broken only by the act of long awaited blood shed. Blam!! Damn, I missed again. Eventually, the reward is your very own dinosaur trophy in your own authentic dinosaur trophy room. Not much of a rush.

The totally immersive environment not only looks beautiful, but also goes on forever. I tried finding the edge or border of each level just to determine the size of the maps, and this was no easy task. You can go just about everywhere in any direction for days.

The dinosaurs look awesome and their movements are very realistic. Tthe graphics are pure eye candy with or without 3Dfx. There are no special light shows or explosions, since your weaponry consists of either a shotgun, tranquilizer rifle or crossbow. We're going for blatant realism here, fellas. I have used a BFG, I have killed indiscriminately with a BFG, and there is no BFG to be used in Carnivores.

Carnivores is not for everyone. If you play Unreal and Shogo, you'll hate the slow pace of Carnivores. If you're a hunting fan and enjoyed Deer Hunter, then you'll enjoy this. The environments are massive, beautifully rendered and peaceful to travel through. The hunting experience is as realistic as they could make it (presumably). I'm just not sold on the whole concept of a dinosaur huntin', futuristic, space travel game.