For Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3

Rating: Two Gucci bags and a pair of moose testicles

 I have to hand it to the folks at Cabela’s for pushing into virgin territory with their most recent big game hunter sim, and I don’t say that just because everyone involved in the project is heavily armed. No, I commend them for the political courage it took to remain steadfast in the face of the legal challenges that were brought recently by ex-Governor Palin, when it was discovered that Hotpile Games had made the colossal error of turning the hunter into the hunted. Certainly the liberal media elite will set aside their disdain of guns for the opportunity to track Alaska’s former chief executive through the rocky terrain of the St. Elias Mountains. And I can imagine their smug expressions when they finally get a bead on the marathon-running hockey mom and ex Vice Presidential candidate.

But this game isn’t about pay back and it certainly wasn’t made for the amusement of John Stewart and his ilk. This game is a lovingly crafted testament to the efforts of all the men and women at Hotpile who believed in the project and in their own dedication and abilities. To wit, every twitch of Sarah’s dark mane, every aching, hungry glance she casts over her power-suit clad shoulder, every word of patriotic fervor uttered from atop a stump in a clearing demonstrates the love the dev team had for their subject. Never mind that the deal Palin struck with Cabela’s was for her to be the trigger-mom in the game instead of the noble prey. Hotpile Games, in mistaking which cougar was which, truly imagined something unique, although to be fair it must also be said that the team seems to be a few sticks short of a campfire.

A cougar was here! Hunting the ex-Gov in the wilds of Alaska is no bush-league adventure.

But I don’t grade games on the intentions of their creators, and although I was mesmerized by the photo-realistic motions of Mrs. Palin scampering about in the wild, much of the rest of the game gave me pause. For instance, luring the wily Palin into the open by playing worn Democratic platitudes through a bullhorn was rather silly. And the game over sequence in which the ex-Gov springs fully back to life after having been presumably blown away by an elephant gun borders on the ludicrous. Still, it took balls for Cabela’s to back the dev team’s bold creative direction and the production values are much higher than what one would normally expect from such a CILF-fired fantasy. I don’t know that I ever wish to play something like this again, but I feel oddly empowered now that I have explored Cougar Hunt, and even more startling to me is the new found respect I have for that wild and spirited political she-beast known as Sarah.  –Gideon Chazwit-Stoop