• Games
• Wii

by TheDCD on 03.23.11

Hunting games go either one of two ways.  Either you have the super-serious ones that put you in a Call of Duty-style situation, where it’s you against wild animals (see Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2011), and you have the arcade-style affairs where you simply shoot at animals for the fun of it (see Deer Drive and any given Big Buck Hunter arcade game).  Top Shot Arcade falls in the latter category, an arcade-style fest with 75 different shooting galleries spread across 15 North American locations, which have you shooting everything from moose to deer.

Original, this game is not.  It follows the basic arcade principles, pitting you in quick timed contests where you have to shoot as many target animals as you can to achieve high score glory.  That’s really about it.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that in general, but Top Shot Arcade has a couple of flaws.

First, the Top Shot Elite peripheral is decent, but hardly a commendable replacement for the Wii Zapper.  It’s too difficult to look through the aiming scope at times, and it’s really unnecessary for the most part, as you can see where you’re aiming in clear view.  It’s acceptable, but not necessary for purchase.  In fact, the game’s $20 cheaper without it.

Secondly, some of the goals aren’t quite so clear.  You’re told to shoot certain animals on the course, but others come running across the screen and you’re penalized for taking them out.  Who says we can’t shoot a cow?  We didn’t see any park rangers making the rounds.  Plus, it’s an ARCADE game.  We’re not supposed to abide by completely realistic rules, remember?  Do NBA Jam players stay standing on the floor?  No, of course not.  THEY FLY.  Activision should’ve loosened up on this rule, so we wouldn’t have to keep such a close eye on animals that run by before we can shoot them.

Maybe it’s just us, but we didn’t really spot all 75 shooting galleries in this game.  There are some arcade games that are supposed to be located on the menu, but they never really pop up.  We sent a question sheet to Activision looking for answers, but none as of yet.  Regardless, the ones we did locate in the game’s menu are great locales, perfect for perching and setting up shots on prey.

The game does support multiplayer, up to four players in one crazy shooting fest, and this is where you’re bound to have the most fun with the game, competing with others for a high score.  Top Shot Arcade also supports online leaderboards through the Wi-Fi Connection, though the scores weren’t quite stacking up from the last time we checked.  We’re sure business will pick up soon enough…hopefully.

The presentation for Top Shot Arcade is okay, with some good locales and animal animation.  However, our “guide” is a complete pain in the tookus, telling us when we don’t hit an animal (yes, WE KNOW, idiot) or what we can’t shoot.  Hey, hillbilly, zip it.  I’m trying to HUNT HERE.  The twangy music is okay, but nothing worth writing home about.

Top Shot Arcade doesn’t really excel the hunting genre as Dangerous Hunts 2011 did, and the accessory it comes packed with isn’t quite as efficient as we were hoping.  That said, this is still a decent party game if you’ve got fellow hunters looking for a scoring challenge.  You could do far worse…like Deer Drive.

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