This is part of the DeeperBlue.com Freediving App Review Series – a collection of reviews of Freediving related mobile apps. Each app has been reviewed based on a standardized set of criteria you can see here. In this article we review the Freediving Hunter App.
When we started reviewing Apps for freedivers, we knew we wanted to try Freediving Hunter. Surface intervals can be long and boring at times, and a good game seems like the thing to have handy. The promotional literature says
“Master the electrifying art of free dive spearfishing! Discover the thrill and challenge of relying on your own virtual breath-holding ability as you patrol reefs, shipwrecks, and other marine environments in an exciting hunt for prized saltwater fish.”
It sounded so easy for an experienced Spearo! So, we downloaded Freediving Hunter from the App Store, prepared to easily slip into the depths and bag a monster fish…20 minutes later, we finally “killed” our first one.
In all fairness to the developer, the App sports stunning graphics and some very cool FPS (First Person Shooter) and third-person scenarios; the fault lays with this user. It may be an age factor, or one too many deep dives, but the coordination it took to use both hands simultaneously in a “3-D” environment took a lot of practice. In the spirit of full disclosure, we put the App into the hands of the 9 year old son of our spearfishing partner and he mastered it in about 2 minutes!
When you open Freediving Hunter, a catchy tune plays in the background. You are presented with a menu screen that gives you six tabs: tutorial, play game, settings, gear, fish tank and quit game. There are also six “levels”, with a 7th that can be purchased separately called the “Beast’s Lair”. We never got proficient enough to justify buying the additional level, but our more nimble users may find it worth the extra cost.
When you go to “Tutorial”, the App takes you to a swimming pool where your avatar floats in a camouflage wetsuit and long fins, speargun in hand…and a pleasant voice starts to instruct you on the various controls!  The voice prompts you to try the maneuver controls, the dive and shoot functions, swimming and reeling in your line. It is great for younger users of Freediving Hunter, novice gamers and for those who stumble upon this game with no dive background.
So, there is a little “lungs” icon in the top , left corner…and you have 15 seconds of air as you start out as a novice diver. You have to surface within the time or you will “black out: and the screen locks for 1 minute. As you progress, your lung capacity, speargun power, sighting reticle, fins and abilities increase. With time, you will be bagging larger fish and racking up points!
Created by a former professional spearfisherman, Freediving Hunter is the first freediving spearfishing game available as an App. The initial purchase price of $0.99 gives you access to everything in the game, without pop up ads or “In-App” purchases. We were very pleased with the App and think that anyone who is accustomed to playing game son their portable devices will master this in no time.
So, let’s see what we found:
Price: It’s $.99 cents, not quite free, but a pretty low price.
Functionality: So, this App works well…and there are a lot of really cool navigation and user features. There is a steep learning curve for novices to portable device gaming, but the navigation buttons do become easier to use as you progress.
Relevance/Usefulness: If you are looking for a fun, surface-interval time-killer, then this is the App for you. Anyone who is a Spearo will appreciate this App for rainy days and it will bring out the competitiveness in the user.
Graphics/Appearance: Awesome…very sophisticated graphics…this isn’t “Angry Birds” and their is a lot of info on the screens, but the imagery is very sharp.
The Apple iPhone version is available on the Mac App Store for devices that run the iOS 8.3 or later operating system. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus. This App can be downloaded at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/freediving-hunter/id861561089?mt=8
