If a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound?
If a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound?
April 26th, 2012 | By: Michael Vaillancourt (http:www.smashedcontroller.com)
I have been playing games for a very long time, and I can personally say that I never have heard of the developer Scientifically Proven/F84 Games. This game was a commendable effort, trust me when I say this, we have all seen bad first impressions.
Presentation - 4/10
If you are a fan of the show, then you have a basic idea of what to expect when you start your journey. The game is laid out in stages, and those stages let you experience everything that Bear Grylls gets to go through in the real world. The overall look and feel of the game leads you through very rudimentary menus, standard chapter select screens that lets you go through, and replay levels to pick up on things you have either missed or neglected to collect during your adventure.
Graphics & Sound - 4/10
There are minimal screen tearing issues and minor popping in and out graphical issues. The game is big in scale with each level of the game you go through. You are able to see the sheer size of the mountains, forest and desert.
Other things that come into play that effects the score is the actual textures that the game puts out. The animals are very plain, and basic there are no textures in the trees, the main character Beat Grylls looks awesome though in his detail. The face is a little boring, but looking at the ground textures and the water textures it is just very boring. If you are a player that just loves elemental straight forward games then you will love Man vs. Wild, because its fun just needs a makeover.
I wish I could separate this category and give sound its unique number, because if I did it would be a low one. The sound design is very basic, and the sounds of nature are not very well engineered. The only whole thing is that music and sound effects do sync up well with the feel of the game. Having that sense of tension escalate to the level it does is amazing. There is one seen in the game when you are "tubing" down a snowy mountain, and an avalanche is quickly gaining on you. During this section, you get that sense you could die at any given moment. Sound is a huge thing for me in a game, honestly going into reviewing this game I wasn't holding my breath. In closing, they did a decent job with the sound design, I just feel that with a little more polish, the game would have been on point and would have possibly received a better overall score.
Gameplay - 4/10
This is the fun part, imagine yourself lost in the woods and imagine yourself trying to find a way out. This is how this game is I cannot tell you how many times I found myself lost, and walking around aimlessly looking for the yellow points of interests that we should be heading. Other than feeling lost and acquiring tunnel vision in the process, I thoroughly enjoyed the gameplay.
Another fun and interesting thing involved in the game was the cool but often boring and repetitive mini games, these mini games allowed you the chance to collect resources like meal-worms to eat to recover your strength when you are missing vital nutrients. Then you can find broken trees and stumps and set up traps, so you can defend yourself from wild animals like cougars and bears.
Speaking of animals you come across quite a few of dangerous animals in the game and when I say a few I mean three. When these animals come across your path in the game you have to start up these quick time events that will help you win against the snake, bear or cougar that you come across. It's funny how it works when you win the mini game against the wild animal. When you kill the snake, you skin it and use his skin as a canteen to pee into and drink when you are getting low on being hydrated. It's a little gross, but you certainly have to understand it’s a survival game; you must do what it takes to survive. Also during most chapters of the game you will have to do these other mini games that allow you to build shelters to sleep in and build fires to keep warm, because you do not get to a fire quick enough you will freeze to death, literally!
Overall - 4/10
Man vs Wild is a good game to use to pass the time between the main blockbusters. Also if, you are a survival game specialist and can become one with mother nature, then Man vs Wild is the game for you!
