Carnivores 2

The Good
While I admire just about everything about this game, its sheer elegance and simplicity are perhaps what awe me the most. It is very much like DOOM in that respect: the mechanics of it are easy, the controls a snap, which puts the emphasis squarely on the exceedingly straightforward matter at hand: hunting dinos. Make no mistake, this is as close to a real hunting experience as you're ever likely to get short of the real thing, and if you allow yourself to really take it seriously as a simulation, the whole experience feels real enough that you'll find yourself reacting physically to the events on the screen. In other words, don't play if you have a weak heart. Seriously.

The Bad
I know this makes me sound like a cheering squad for the game, but I really can't think of anything I don't like about Carnivores 2, other than the fact that the dinos don't interact with each other (which isn't critical by any means, but nevertheless would have been nice). Just about everything about this title betrays a level of skill and craftsmanship far exceeding the fame of its creators. This is one game that has never left my hard drive since the day I installed it and likely never will.

The Bottom Line
For casual gamers, I would describe Carnivores 2 as the ultimate hunting sim, with an emphasis on "sim" for its fidelity to the actual art of hunting. For game buffs, I would describe it as a brilliant game design, worth a look if only to see an archetypal formula that may one day be heralded as ushering in a new gaming genre: the wilderness action title.