Kim Rhode's Outdoor Shooting

I always assumed that those fond of a spot of shooting did so for the rush, feasting on the thrill that comes with tracking down prey unawares.

Knowing your target could flee if you even so much as blink is the kind of on-edge feeling scores of games attempt to tap into.

Kim Rhode's Outdoor Shooting - a standard safari style hunt simulator with an Olympic silver medalist's name tagged on for good measure - attempts to recapture that same thrill but ends up missing the mark.

You're given free rein of five locales to take down anything that moves. From the first-person, navigation is a question of using a virtual thumbstick to move and accelerometer to look around - not that there's much to look at given the tranquil surroundings rarely serving up much to divert your attention.

The levels do have a great sense of scale that helps the game eclipse most of its rivals. Such a grand set-up doesn't necessarily makes it a more enjoyable experience.

The boundless levels are rather lifeless playgrounds that are as flat physically as they are in terms of interactivity. To be fair, such barren environments makes running across wildlife all the more an event.

With a target in sight, a 'zoom' button helps you line up the shot. When you're content with aiming, a tap of the 'fire' button unloads the shot. Each fallen animal puts points in the bank, new levels and more advanced weaponry unlocked as you go.

It's the larger targets, however, that dominate the levels: pigs, moose, and bears usually require repeated fire to be felled.

They even have a knack for fighting back: your first shot usually riles them up enough to send them charging toward you. Should they manage to make contact, then it's you that then becomes the prey, the screen turning red with your blood.

The likes of unlockable rocket launchers and AK-47s helps spice things up to a certain degree, but they don't prevent Kim Rhode's Outdoor Shooting from being an especially streamlined, almost apathetic take on the sport. So streamlined, in fact, that you're lucky if your heart rate rises during even the closest of encounters.

The game's sterility is likely to please as many as it perturbs. Though rarely exciting, it may well be that it's our perception of a successful hunt that's out of step with reality, rather than the game itself.

As a game, however, Kim Rhode's Outdoor Shooting fails to tick many boxes and is ultimately forgettable. Though no doubt a fine way of practising your aiming skills for a real field trip, it never gets the blood pumping.