Duck Season is straight out of my childhood!
Honestly, I’m not sure how the team at Stress Level Zero were able to pull off nailing that nostalgic feeling oh so well. The intro to the game starts off with a little glimpse of you helping your mom unload the groceries from the car. Once you discover she got a one-night rental of the new Duck Season game, you can hear the joy in your voice! You take your spot in the center of the living room with your gaming mags and game cartridges all strewn about and get ready to play Duck Season!!
We all remember the joy the Nintendo console brought to our living rooms as a kid. The game that started it all- Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt. This game from SLZ is a take on the old classic Duck Hunt, but with a very dark twist. Things seem quite normal at first. The actual duck hunting aspect of the game is fun. You start out in a living room, that as I keep saying, is straight out of my childhood. The rug, carpet, VHS player, cat clock, everything about the look of the inside of the house itself, is all so reminiscent of my younger years. I was actually hesitant to get right into the game because I enjoyed my surroundings so much. It really felt like I was back in 1990!
To get started on Duck Season you have to grab the gun that looks like the old NES Zapper and it works like a laser pointer on the television screen in the living room. Once you select your game type, you are transported into the TV. This is kind of neat. You can actually turn around and see yourself as the kid, sitting in front of the TV with the Zapper in hand. All of your motions and movements are mimicked through the little boy back in the living room. This doesn’t really play a role in the game, just something that I noticed and had fun with for a second.
Grabbing more ammo is as easy as reaching your hand out and summoning more shotgun shells and feeding them magically to your gun.
Shooting guns in VR is a heck of a lot of fun. The shotgun you’re equipped with in this game is no exception. Really cool concept. The developers of this game love guns. Their first VR game for the HTC Vive (Hover Junkers) was a game based on gun fights with other players. So in this game, they tried to make it somewhat realistic, while keeping it fun. The aiming and actually holding the shotgun is pretty accurate feeling. Grabbing more ammo is as easy as reaching your hand out and summoning more shotgun shells and feeding them magically to your gun.
…I will say at one point in the game I was legitimately a little freaked out.
As you play the levels and shoot through rounds of ducks, the day progresses and time passes, your space in the living room fills up with more magazines and game cartridges. You even at one point end up in what seems to be a dream during a mid day nap. Eventually the sun starts to set, and a dark twist to the story starts to unfold and things escalate rather quickly. Without giving too much away, I will say at one point in the game I was legitimately a little freaked out. With 7 different endings to Duck Season, its worth playing at least a few different times. Not to mention all the easter eggs you can find just by exploring.
Stress Level Zero did a great job putting a dark twist on this old classic and bringing it to VR. If you have an Oculus or HTC Vive, this game is a lot of fun. You can get Duck Season for $20 bucks on Steam.
