izigame.me

I have been playing this game for a while now and while it has had it's moments I can't in good faith give it a positive review, I will still come back from time to time when I'm bored but it isn't the best hunting game out there.
My main issue is the mentality of the developers, instead of making quality of life improvements they seem to be more concerned with selling new maps and cosmetics. Most of these issues I've had have been there since the game release. To keep it simple in point terms, in no specific order;
- Glass quality is stupid, there is hardly any reason to use any optic with "basic" or "standard" quality, all the time you end up using the same couple of scopes because everything else sucks and is too dark. Overall they need to be improved to realistic levels of light transmission and have some benefit that makes them useful, like a faster ADS speed or wider FOV. They also need to add period correct scopes for older rifles like the M1903 or Marlin 336.
- Ballistics are off, the bullet drop, speed, and wind effects seem exaggerated for gameplay purposes. The wind also seems too high in most places. It isn't realistic at all, which is kinda sad because ballistic charts are very easily available. Secondly the energy foot pounds and penetration of weapons are under realistic values. The .30-30 for example really under performs.
- Breathing is COD like, the guy inhales to hold breath, which is not realistic. You exhale and pause at the bottom of your breath.
- Measurements need to be fixed, if you choose imperial it still gives you ranges increments in 100 meters instead of 100 yard increments, so you end up with odd values like 220 yards or 330 yards. Secondly the increments are too big, you should be able to dial in 25 yard or 50 increments. Also in reality not all scopes have the ability to dial in a range on the fly, this should be reflected in scope choice. Secondly wind is displayed in feet/second, when it should be in miles per hour. This is most common for shooters.
- There is no ability to choose ammo, which really hinders shotguns as they are locked into mostly bird shot, so they don't work well for small critters like rabbits, hares and foxes. There are also way to many shotguns in odd calibres like 20 and 16 gauge, most should be 12. For rifles it would be good to choose different types of ammo so you can change bullet weight or projectile choice.
- Many people have already commented on the stealth mechanic, it doesn't feel like the animals have a realistic sense of hearing and it feels like they can see through terrain. This is super annoying on ridge lines, pretty much you can't get close if they are on the other side. Also contrary to game mechanics, in real life it is easier to be quieter when standing, crawling you break too many twigs because more of you is in contact with the ground. Stance is good for lowering your profile to make it less likely to be seen but it shouldn't be tied to how much sound you make.
- There needs to be some form of speed indicator with the stance indicator. It is super easy to forget what speed you are set at and take off at a sprint when you don't intend to. A slider for speed would be even better, as the wheel selection for items is annoying. You tend to accidentally switch equipment when adjusting zoom quickly.
- Weapon animations downright suck, every weapon is kept in a low ready, which is uncomfortable with long rifles and tends to get caught on brush, most hunters keep the muzzle up in a high ready stance. This also presents the rifle better in the shoulder. The reloads also are identical for every bolt action that has an internal magazine, there needs to be a bit of flair between the guns so they feel a little different. They also feel very robotic and are too fast. The animations in general are very robotic, especially the 3rd person ones.
- Damage model of animals isn't correctly used, you can shoot an animal in the leg and shatter the bone yet it will still run off. They also don't bleed out unless it is a heart/lung, you can put multiple rounds into an animal stomach and it will still be fine, there isn't really a realistic damage model.
- Physics of movement need work, if you go down a steep hill it will literally throw you into the air and then you will kind of bounce down until you fall unconscious. This isn't how falls or physics work. They need to implement a slip and slide mechanic or something instead, and only have the fall damage if you literally jump off a cliff.
- There is a huge lack of gear, currently there are two binos, one of those has "deluxe" glass and a range finder so once you unlock it there is no reason to use the other one. The second piece of gear you can get is the hunting stand which was added recently. So now there is two items to choose and 3 gear slots, so one of your slots is constantly unused. There needs to be more items like shooting sticks, spotting scopes, GPS, trail cameras, wind indicators, decoys, blinds or other such hunting gear you can take with you. This would make the game more interesting as well.
- Tracking indicators need to be different for blood, when tracking an animal into an area with other signs it is really to loose the trail. Secondly tracks don't seem to show animals trails but only where they have been, it would be nice to find tracks and follow them to an animal.
- I commend the developers for trying to stick with real manufactures but it really hampers weapon and scope selection. You basically have multiple different flavours of the same Steyr rifle and a few Remingtons. For scopes there are a Leupold and Burris. This is cool but you don't really have much to choose from, and the only reason to select a different rifle is because of calibre. It would be better to have more rifle options and the ability to select what calibre for those weapons, if it doesn't have the real manufactures name on it that's fine, it can come later if you wish but it isn't that big of a deal. I'd rather have more variety of weapons than correct names for them.
These small things could be improved rather easily, but it is the fact that this has been persistent since the start is what bothers me about this game, I don't really have any faith that they will fix it considering any news updates is always about new maps or cosmetics.