Bag 'em and tag 'em!
There's a decent amount of games in the Deer Hunter series of hunting sims and they're all much of a muchness when it comes to this sort of thing, so if you've played one, you've pretty much played them all. Having said that, if you enjoyed earlier installments, then you're likely to enjoy this one, despite the lack of advancement that the series has made. As ever, the goal of the game is to gear up and then head out into the wilderness in order to bag yourself some deer. You've got a number of North American locations to visit this time around, including Kansas, Oregon and Kentucky, each of which presents its own challenges and visual differences. Also as usual, prior to setting out on your hunt, you've got a range of guns and gear to choose from to increase your chances of success, with items like camouflage on the shopping list. There are a number of species to take out too, with whitetails, blacktails and mule deer on the potential metaphorical menu, which again feature pretty realistic behavior patterns. As far as hunting games go, this is probably one of the better ones on the market. It's got some fairly impressive environments to explore, which look lush and detailed, while the range of animals to hunt certainly adds challenge and variety to the game, thanks to the solid AI system. The gear and weapon choices also add depth, but if you're not a hunting fan, then there's little to interest you here, as the gameplay is likely to be too pedestrian and considered for you. Hunting fans though are likely to lap this up.
