Open Season gets a little something right that many similar games don't. It's nothing special, but it's a solid game.
It seems that you can’t go a week these days without some film/TV to game tie-in being released somewhere in the world. Pretty much every major movie will have a game to go along with it, especially with entertainment targeted at children. In general, they’re not very good, but an exception to this rule might just be Open Season on the Xbox 360.
Open Season is a game which relates to a film of the same name, in which a tame bear named Boog is plunged back into the wild and has to help the animals during the hunting season. Of course you have a big, bad nemesis and a wisecracking sidekick, along with all the other animals who are typically typecast in certain roles. The storyline is all typical child film material.
The game takes a few different approaches to game play. Most of your time will be spent playing as Boog and going through a sneak and scare routine when you come across hunters. When you approach a hunter you will start to sneak and a counter will appear. When this drains, the hunter turns round for a second, meaning you have to hold a bumper to hide with some branches. When you get close, you can roar and scare the hunter away, mission complete.
This is one of only a few game mechanics in main bulk of the game, the rest of the time you will be running around and picking up collectables. Open Season does have some short race style sections. You will often be careering down rapids or rolling down a mountain, having to dodge obstacles when they come at you. It’s simple, but it breaks the monotony. There are also a few sections where you play as the sidekick himself, Elliot, but these are few and far between.
Despite this, there’s a charm to the game that is undeniable. On paper it definitely sounds like a throw away, cheap experience, but when you actually sit down and play the game it draws you in ever so slightly making the game work on a level other than bare bones game play. In short, if I were still 8 years old and had a chance to play this game, I would probably enjoy it and it might just get me into playing games. Open Season definitely has that spark that makes it enjoyable and could perhaps light the fire of gaming into a someone’s heart.
The game’s short, a little shallow and an obvious cash horse tie-in with the film. Despite all this, however, Open Season gets something right that many similar games don’t, and that is making you want to play it. The young-uns will want to play it for Elliot’s quick one liners and those that are a little older might just be drawn by the lure of Achievement Points. Who knows, whatever you motivation, you could do worse.