Game Reviews

Carnivores: Ice Age

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Carnivores: Ice Age

If you had the ability to travel back into the mists of time then chances are you’d probably revisit a moment of great importance.

The signing of the Declaration of Independence, perhaps? Maybe something more personal, like the moment your parents met?

Or perhaps you’d be more akin to the protagonist of Carnivores: Ice Age, who instead of deciding to dip into history and be part of a truly epic moment, chooses to risk his life by going big game hunting during the Ice Age.

Like its predecessor Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter, this frosty sequel sees you mercilessly stalking various beasts from Earth’s past, ranging from the placid Brontoteriy to the deadly Smilodon – better known as the sabre-toothed tiger.

The bigger they are...

The more dangerous the prey, the more credits you earn when you successfully take one down. Although doing so requires patience, a steady hand and more than a little good fortune.

Landing a successful shot on a relatively weak animal is challenging, mainly because they bolt as soon as they catch sight of you or hear your movements. You can give yourself an advantage by cloaking your scent or donning camouflage, but in doing so you reduce your reward of credit at the end of a mission.

When dealing with the more dangerous animals, you’ve got your own safety to consider as well. Should you get too close to a mammoth and fail to land a fatal shot, you’re trampled to death within seconds.

Tools of the trade

The weapons range from basic handguns to powerful sniper rifles that allow you to strike from a safe distance. Naturally, the more powerful and accurate items cost more credits - it also costs credits to select the valuable beasts as targets.

As you can appreciate, there’s a lot of hard slot involved in Carnivores: Ice Age – you have to start small and build up your cash reserves hunting weaker animals before dropping credits on the more profitable ones.

Much of what made the previous game engaging carries over to this sequel. The environments are large and packed with detail, and the behaviour of the beasts is incredibly convincing. That all-important rush of elation when you successfully down a particularly troublesome target is present, too.

Familiarity breeds contempt

In fact, the biggest issue with this update is that it’s too similar to its predecessor. Aside from the obvious change in scenery and the prey you’re stalking, the action is practically identical.

You might actually find the new setting to be less enthralling than the Jurassic period, which is understandable. After all, which hunter would seriously pick a wild boar over a T-Rex?

If you’ve already purchased and enjoyed Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter and are hankering for more of the same then this sequel will more than satisfy your needs. However, if you found the slow pace of the first game off-putting you won’t discover anything to alter your perception here.

Carnivores: Ice Age

Although it’s blessed with many of the positive attributes of its predecessor, Carnivores: Ice Age is also doesn't do enough to differentiate itself aside from the change of scenery
Score
Damien  McFerran
Damien McFerran
Damien's mum hoped he would grow out of playing silly video games and gain respectable employment. Perhaps become a teacher or a scientist, that kind of thing. Needless to say she now weeps openly whenever anyone asks how her son's getting on these days.