Carnivores 2

Carnivores 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Action Forms and published by WizardWorks in North America on October 31, 1999.[1][2] It is the sequel to the 1998 video game Carnivores and is the second in the Carnivores series.

Carnivores 2
Developer(s)Action Forms
Publisher(s)WizardWorks, Infogrames
SeriesCarnivores series
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Release
  • NA: October 31, 1999
Genre(s)Sport (hunting), first-person shooter
Mode(s)Single-player

The source code became available on Assembla in 2013.[3] Around 2017 the source code was also released via Mod DB.[4]

Gameplay

The DinoHunt Corporation continues to allow people to hunt dinosaurs on the planet FMM UV-32. After further exploration of the dinosaur planet, more islands have been opened to a growing number of customers.[5][6]

Gameplay is similar to the original Carnivores, with some changes. At the start of the game, the player must register a hunter or continue with a saved hunter. The point of the game is similar to the previous Carnivores game: the player must hunt dinosaurs to get trophies and accumulate credits. A new hunter is given 100 credits. The player uses credits to select a hunting area, a dinosaur to hunt and a weapon to use. Levels include a forest, a jungle and a swamp; weapons include a pistol, a shotgun, a crossbow, and a sniper rifle. Each dinosaur, area, and weapon has its own cost; the player's remaining credits determine what the player can and cannot bring on the hunt. The dinosaurs that are available to hunt, from the lowest to the highest price, are the Parasaurolophus, Ankylosaurus, Stegosaurus, Allosaurus, Chasmosaurus, Velociraptor, Spinosaurus, Ceratosaurus, and Tyrannosaurus rex. When the player chooses an item from the menu, other selections may become unavailable depending on the amount of remaining credits. Available selections are highlighted in blue, selected items are yellow and unavailable items are gray.

The player can easily have several dinosaurs to hunt, with several weapons selected at the same time as he advances in his hunting skills. As the player hunts the selected dinosaurs, each successful kill will result in a number of credits added to the player's account. The player can kill more than one dinosaur per hunting expedition, allowing him to earn enough credits to move into more advanced areas with more expensive weapons and more dangerous dinosaurs. However, if the player is killed by a dinosaur, all credits accumulated on the specific hunt are forfeited. The player must be evacuated by DinoHunt and survive the hunt to keep the credits he earned. There are various methods of increasing or decreasing the credits per dinosaur.

When the player kills or tranquilizes a dinosaur, he receives credits that are dependent on the type of dinosaur and on his selected equipment usage. For example, killing a dinosaur that was not selected in the menu will give only half of that dinosaur's total available credits. Tranquilizing rather than killing a dinosaur will increase the player's credits per hunt by 25 percent. Hunting accessories such as camouflage and a dinosaur-detecting radar can be used during hunting, but will deduct points if utilized. First time hunters can use the Observation Mode to familiarize themselves with dinosaur behavior and different terrain.

Each dinosaur will react to a hunter differently depending on its nature. Some are more adept at detecting the player's scent, while others may see him in the distance, or hear his footsteps. Once a dinosaur takes note of the player, a number of reactions can happen. Herbivores may run away or attack the player if they feel cornered. Carnivores may attack the player head on, or gather in an organized pack to flank the player and take him out. Regardless of which dinosaur the player is hunting, there are others that do not appear on the radar that can launch a surprise attack. Harmless, ambient animals such as appear on every hunt but cannot be selected from the main hunting menu. These are the Moschops, Gallimimus, Dimetrodon, Dimorphodon, Pteranodon, and Brachiosaurus. They are worth zero points and can be killed with a single shot, excluding the Brachiosaurus, which cannot be killed.

Reception

According to GameRankings, Carnivores 2 has a rating of 66.5 percent.[7] Greg Kasavin of GameSpot praised its "carefully detailed and almost disturbingly lifelike" dinosaurs, as well as the creatures' convincing, hypothetical noises.[1] Bernard Dy of Daily Radar praised the game's artificial intelligence (A.I.), but criticized the "abundance of mundane walking and waiting while looking for dinosaurs. Some might consider this a realistic part of hunting, but it's also a realistic part of boredom. A player who doesn't use the radar to help find prey is in for some very long afternoons." However, Dy noted that the game's walking was not "terrible" thanks to its "beautiful" scenery. Dy concluded, "The majority of gamers will still prefer a traditional title with gobs of combat, and for most of us, it's because those games will be more fun. Carnivores 2 has some quirks and boring segments, but we have to give it credit for doing well what it intended to do."[13]

Marc Saltzman, writing for IGN and The Electric Playground, praised its dinosaur animation and realistic environments,[5][11] but criticized the A.I. as one of the game's major weaknesses: "Very rarely did I feel like I was being hunted by the beasts themselves – one of the main reasons why you'd play this game instead of another. Even while constantly running and not using any camouflage, carnivore attacks were extremely rare. I would've liked the option to hunt smarter, tougher beasts."[5] Andrew S. Bub of Gamecenter praised the improved graphics and additional features in the sequel, but criticized the A.I. and stated that the game could have been better. Bub also wrote that it takes too long to gain the ability to hunt larger dinosaurs such as the T. rex, stating that this "feels like an artificial attempt to extend the game's longevity and results only in frustration."[12]

Benjamin Sones of Computer Games Magazine praised the large environments but was critical of the dinosaur A.I. Sones concluded that the game was fun for a while but he believed that players would likely become tired of the game long before they gain sufficient points to hunt larger animals.[10] Li Kuo of PC Gamer praised the graphics, atmosphere and dinosaurs, but noted some graphical glitches and criticized the limited weapon choices. Kuo concluded that it was one of the better hunting games available at the time.[9]

Christopher Michael Baker of AllGame stated that Carnivores 2 was "almost exactly the same" as its predecessor aside from new weapons, landscapes and dinosaurs, writing, "If you were to look at screenshots of the two side by side, actually, you might not even be able to tell the difference. And WizardWorks didn't even bother to change the opening menu screen! [...] In essence, Carnivores 2 is more of an expansion disc than a sequel." Baker considered the game's sound to be the most impressive part of the game. He also praised the graphics but noted that they were nearly identical to the game's predecessor.[8]

References
  1. Kasavin, Greg (November 12, 1999). "Carnivores 2 review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on June 26, 2003.
  2. Fudge, James (October 22, 1999). "Carnivores 2 ships". Computer Games Magazine. Archived from the original on July 9, 2003. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  3. carnivores_2
  4. carnivores 2/ice age source code on moddb.com
  5. Saltzman, Marc (January 25, 2000). "Carnivores II review". IGN.com. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  6. "Carnivores 2 instruction manual". ReplacementDocs.com. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  7. "Carnivores 2". GameRankings. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  8. Baker, Christopher Michael. "Carnivores 2 Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 17, 2014.
  9. Kuo, Li (August 2000). "Carnivores 2". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on December 31, 2002. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  10. Sones, Benjamin E. (November 23, 1999). "Carnivores 2: Open season on Velociraptors". Computer Games Magazine. Archived from the original on June 30, 2003. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  11. Saltzman, Marc (January 14, 2000). "Carnivores 2". The Electric Playground. Archived from the original on November 24, 2003. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  12. Bub, Andrew S. (November 23, 1999). "Carnivores 2". Gamecenter. Archived from the original on November 17, 2000.
  13. Dy, Bernard. "Carnivores II Review". Daily Radar. Archived from the original on January 19, 2001. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
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