Open Season (video game)

Open Season is a video game, based on the movie of the same name. It was released for Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Advance, Xbox 360, Xbox, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo GameCube. The Nintendo DS version supports the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

While Patrick Warburton, Matthew W. Taylor, Nika Futterman and Danny Mann reprise their roles from the movie, most of the original voice actors were replaced (for example, Chris Williams and Matthew W. Taylor are the voices of Boog and Elliot in this game).

Plot
Boog (Chris Williams) is a 900-pound grizzly who is the star of the town Timberline's nature show (using the nickname "The Mighty Grizzly"). In a dream, Boog chases after a giant version of his teddy bear Dinkleman, but he soon wakes up and he's woken by Beth (Kari Wahlgren), who takes him to the town center for Boog's performance. But Beth finds that Shaw, the town's nastiest hunter, has already hunted a buck (open season is about 3 days away) and she goes in Sheriff Gordy's police department to confront Shaw. The buck (Matthew W. Taylor) wakes up and introduces himself, his name being Elliot. Boog reluctantly frees him, and Shaw (Darryl Kurylo) vows revenge on Boog after Sheriff Gordy (Carlos Alazraqui) tells him he's been living in the woods too long. That night, Elliot decides to "free" Boog in return. He manages to lure him to the convenience store, where they finish all the chocolate bars (which Elliot calls Woo-Hoos) there, but they're discovered by the police and knocked down with a tranquilizer gun by Beth and brought to the Timberline National Forest until the start of open season. There, Elliot claims that he knows how to get back to Timberline, and Boog reluctantly follows him.

They encounter a squirrel called McSquizzy (Michael Gough) and his team of squirrels called the Furry Tail Clan (Carlos Alazraqui), who bash them with nuts. Boog meets a few members of Elliot's herd: Giselle (Kari Wahlgren), a doe whom Elliot has a crush on, and Ian (Patrick Warburton), the head of the herd who's always bullying Elliot. It's revealed that during this time of year, the Deer Games are held, with only one sport: Running. Elliot competes with Ian and wins the race, but he's kicked away by an angry Ian as punishment (which Ian calls "Both Barrels"). In the Timberline National Forest, Boog and Elliot help all kinds of animals with their tasks. The two meet McSquizzy again, who directs them to a shortcut: A mine. After riding through the mine in a minecart, Boog and Elliot continue their journey across a valley, and climb up a mountain, only to encounter Shaw, and they get scared and roll down the hill in a big snow ball. They get to a beaver's dam, which Elliot claims is the way home. Not letting them cross, the two help the beavers find a missing piece for the dam: An outhouse. They find Boswell (Maurice LaMarche), trying to push the outhouse down from a hunting camp. Boog and Elliot jump onto it, and it quickly breaks and they ride it down the river rapids until they reach the dam. Boog quickly realizes that Elliot had never known how to go to Timberline because he'd asked some moles (since they're blind) for directions. Boog's weight makes the dam break up, and he's washed up onto land, and finds that everyone's gone, and he goes to look for shelter for the night. Boog enters Shaw's house, only to be confronted by Shaw himself. Boog escapes, and encounters McSquizzy on a sign, who threatens to not show him the way back home if he doesn't help the animals during open season. Boog goes the right way, but he decides to go back and help the animals, suggesting to the wilds that they fight.

Agreeing to this, Serge (Danny Mann), Deni, and the rest of the ducks fly around the Timberline National Forest, dropping propane tanks everywhere, while the other animals collect items helpful for the fight, and finally, Boog, Elliot, and the wilds win. But while they're celebrating, Shaw appears and tries to shoot Boog and use him as a bear rug. But Elliot jumps in front of Boog and takes the shot instead, which angers Boog and scares Shaw (since he knows he's done for). Boog defeats Shaw after throwing a skunk, a rabbit, and a squirrel at him, roars him, and then he ties Shaw up with his gun. The game then closes as the wilds celebrate their victory by tackling Shaw and beating him up.

Gameplay
The game's genre is action-adventure. Boog can do many actions, such as throwing skunks through a hunter's chimney to scare them, or looking for berries to heal himself by smelling them. Many skills can be upgraded to 3rd level. Players can also decide what to do with the hunter: Sneak up and scare him or run up and throw him. In the game, the player must do many tasks for the forest animals, and when players do the max tasks for that species, they become their companions, and let players throw them at hunters as well. When players beat the game, they can play the mini-games they unlocked in single and multiplayer.

Reception
According to Metacritic, the game received “mixed or average” reviews on all platforms except the Wii version, which received “generally unfavorable” reviews.