Lucky there's no night mode, because like Jurassic Park this game would be frightening in the dark . . .
From this game's main menu you have four choices, the first of which is called "Hunt", where the one and only game mode is located. Upon choosing it you will be presented with the location selection screen. There are five different regions you can hunt in, including Delphaeus Hills (0), Fort Ciskin (50), Vengar Fjords (100), Manya Jungle (150) and Mount Ravan (200). As you highlight the region in question you will be given a brief description of it's topography as well as it's difficulty level (mild, intermediate or advanced). After selecting your region you then choose which type of dinosaur you want to hunt, from amongst Parasaurolophus (10), Ankylosaurus (15), Stegosaurus (20), Allosaurus (30), Chasmosaurus (50), Velociraptor (100), Spinosaurus (250), Ceratosaurus (300) and Tyrannosaurus (500). When you highlight the dino of your choice you will be given a brief description of it, a summary of it's abilities/characteristics, as well as how many points you earn for each successful capture. Once this decision is made the last step is to pick your weapon of choice. The weapons available include the Pistol (20), Shotgun (100), Double-Barelled Shotgun (150), X-Bow (50), Rifle (100), Sniper Rifle (200) and Laser Rifle (700). As you highlight each weapon you can read a description of it and view a summary of it's capabilities. At this screen you can also toggle on/off a few extra functions, such as Camouflage (-15%), Radar (-30%), Cover Scent (-20%) and Tranquilizer (+25%).
At this point it's important to talk about the points system in this game. The numbers in brackets beside the various regions, dinosaurs and weapons indicate how many points you must have accrued in order to use them. The point total compounds as you add each item selection. So, if you wanted to hunt a Spinosaurus at Vengar Fjords, using a X-Bow, you would need to have earned at least 400 points in order to do so. You begin the game with a minimal amount of points, just enough to allow you to get out and hunt the small game. But as you bag animals and gain points, more options will open up to you. When you hunt and bring down a dinosaur, you receive the base point total associated with that particular animal. However, there are factors involved that can affect the final point total you'll receive for that takedown. The extra functions you toggle during the weapon selection screen increase or decrease your total score by a certain percentage value, if they are indeed toggled to the on position. The various amounts they affect your score I have put in brackets in the above paragraph. Anyways, back to the gist of things, once you've chosen your region, prey, and weapon, you launch the hunt and are taken out in to the wild to try your luck . . . and hopefully not get killed.
Back at the main menu the second option we find is "Trophy". When you select it you will be taken to a large outdoor stone structure that has spots for up to 24 stuffed dinosaur carcasses. In order to fill it, just bring down an animal during a hunt and it will then appear in this trophy room afterwards, it's as simple as that. When inside the trophy room just approach the animal of your choice and you'll receive a description of it's type and size, as well as details on how you brought it down.
The third option on the main menu is "Options", where you can adjust a small number of gameplay elements. You can toggle the Measurement (between Imperial and Metric), adjust the Sound Volume (on a slider), adjust the control Sensitivity (on a slider), Invert Camera Horizontal (on/off) and Invert Camera Vertical (on/off).
The fourth and final main menu option is called "Help", when you bring it up it simply gives you an overview of the game controls in diagram form.
When you are out amongst the game environments there is nothing to look out for in terms of items or pickups, it's just you, the land . . . and the beasts! One thing you will notice is that when you kill a dinosaur, eventually a futuristic space ship looking thing will show up and drop down an attachment that'll pick your dinosaur up and fly it away to your trophy room.
Similarly the game screen is quite simple and uncluttered. In the bottom left corner you'll find a compass icon that rotates along with your movements. The wind direction is also noted here, indicated by the arrow within said compass. In the bottom right corner of the screen you'll see an icon representing the weapon you are equipped with, while the number above it lets you know how much ammunition is remaining (each weapon starts with varying amounts of ammo, when you get down to a critical level the ammo number will turn a red colour to alert you). When you bring an animal down in this game a description of the dinosaur in question, as well as the details of the kill/capture, will temporarily pop up in the lower right hand corner of the screen overtop the weapon indicator icon. Lastly, when you have the map function engaged it appears right in the middle of the screen.
When you pause the game there are three options presented that you can utilize. These options include Relocate (if there are no dinos around you can relocate to a different, hopefully more plentiful area of the region), Options (the same as what you get from the main menu) and Escape! (when you are finished with your hunt, that is if you haven't been killed, choose this option to quit the hunt and save your progress). When you do finish a hunt and escape the region, you are then presented with another game screen. At the top of it is listed statistics on your performance during said hunt, including distance traveled, shots fired, kills, accuracy %, and points earned. Below this summary three options are presented, including Trophy (go to your trophy room and view any new additions), Exit Game (head out to the main menu) and Restart (partake in the exact same type of hunt again).
For being such a simple game the control scheme is actually quite full, although easy to get used to and use. To move your character around the screen press and hold the Triangle button to move forwards, or the X button to move backwards. The Square button lets you strafe to the left, while the O button lets you strafe to the right. To look around your environment while stationary, steer your character while moving, or aim your weapon when it is equipped, use the analog button. As for the L button, it is used to equip your weapon, or similarly to put it away after you're done using it. The R button is what fires said weapon. The directional buttons perform a number of functions. Pressing either left or right will make your character perform a dinosaur call, hopefully helping to draw some creatures to you. Pressing up equips your binoculars, allowing you to see the details of what's further away a little more clearly. And pressing down brings up the region map (which can be engaged any time, while standing still or while moving). This map provides an overhead view of the topography of the region you are in, detailing valleys, mountains, crags, beaches, bodies of water, etc. Your character's icon appears as a blue dot, with radiating waves indicating which direction you are facing. If you have toggled the Radar function on, the dinosaurs will appear on this map as red dots. Lastly, the Start button is what pauses the game.
The presentation behind Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter is pretty decent. Although a good deal of extra polish and filling out could have been used with the dinosaurs and especially the environments, the graphics are at worst slightly above average. The game environments are vast and varied, the only thing I found lacking in the graphics department was how my character interacted with environmental object like trees and bushes, they'd appear and disappear when you got close to them, they really seem to lack substance and consistency. But other than that things look pretty good, and there are a good number of dinosaurs that appear in the game (not just on the hunt list either, there are some other extra minor ones that appear too). As for sound, there really isn't much of it involved in this game at all. There is no game music, just sound effects. The sounds of you forging through your environment, the call of the various dinosaurs, and of course the sound of combat when it eventually erupts! What sound there is in this game was done pretty well though, it seems pretty realistic. The controls in this game are very intuitive, I really like the scheme they laid out, it becomes second nature very quickly. This helps make the gameplay very easy going.
The pros certainly rank higher than the cons for this title. What I like most about this game is the whole concept. You get to head out in to the wild and hunt down the biggest, most ferocious creatures mother Earth has ever seen. I felt like that bald guy from Jurassic Park: The Lost World!! The number of locations and dinosaurs involved in the game certainly help keep it fresh, and the points system keeps you going and striving to unlock everything the game has to offer. I also really enjoy the interactive trophy room, I thought that was a pretty cool idea. As for cons, I found sometimes the camera angles to be a bit limiting. Like when you're at the edge of a rise with a dinosaur down below you, you can't look over the edge and get a cheap shot in on it. The views are kind of limited in such a manner. The only other thing I didn't like is how slow the character moves his weapon from side to side, it's like molasses! When one of the meat eaters picks up your presence and attacks, coming at you in that zig zag pattern, it's just a matter of time before you become it's next meal. You are not nearly fast enough in your ability to track it with your weapon in order to successfully bring it down at the last second.
I do have a few tips and tricks to offer future players of this game. First of all, when choosing your weapon make sure to equip the Radar, Camouflage, and even Cover Scent if you want to. It's going to cost you some points, but when you have all this stuff in your favour, sneaking up on animals and bringing them down becomes so much easier. With these extras equipped you can get in to a hunt, find your dinos, take them down, and then escape all within a matter of minutes. But if you don't have them equipped you either a) end up as the main course, or b) scare off all the animals before you are even in range, then having to run all over God's green acre to find them again! Also, the various weapons all sight and fire a little bit differently. Be sure to experiment with the weapons and find the few that you really like, and then get to know how they fire as well as you can. Finally, don't be afraid to use the Relocate function. If there are no dinosaurs in the immediate area don't waste time chasing them down, just try out a new area and hope you get a bit luckier.
In summary, although not visually outstanding, the whole concept behind this game and the execution of it's gameplay are what really draw you in. There aren't many games which let you hunt dinosaurs in any realistic sort of way, which makes Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter a pretty essential (not to mention cheap!) pickup in my opinion.