Game Reviews

Deer Hunter 3D

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Deer Hunter 3D

Hunting deer is one of the oldest human activities, stretching back far into the BC years across the world, and forming the basis of early civilisations’ entertainment on the walls of many a cave.

The Deer Hunter series feels like its been around for almost as long as the real thing, having been a staple of low-budget PC gaming since the '90s and having produced a whopping 20 different games on every platform under the sun since then.

Deer Hunter 3D is the first to arrive on WP7, after a short stint in iOS and Android country, and while it hasn’t changed that much since it first appeared back in 2009 it's still a decent game.

They are the trees

Your task, as deer hunter extraordinaire Chuck McTavis (not really your name), is to shoot creatures in locations across the world in an effort to beat arbitrary points targets and unlock bigger, better and more powerful weaponry.

Each hunt starts at 6am and involves tapping on a map so that your dot moves into position, with every movement costing precious time.

Should animal tracks be sighted within your circular radius, a quick tap brings up a 3D view of the surroundings, complete with said animal grazing peacefully, just waiting to have a bullet forced through its cranium.

Steady, steady

Once in the 3D view, control switches to a crosshair that you can move around the screen by dragging, and you can shift the view by scrolling to the sides of the screen.

When you have a meaty-looking critter in your sights, you can tap a ‘steady’ button below the crosshair to reduce barrel sway for a limited amount of time, while a 'fire' button in the bottom-corner pulls the trigger.

This 'fire' button is, by default, turned off in favour of a ‘tap anywhere to shoot’ mechanic. It’s a surprising choice as the starting control scheme, considering it’s utterly woeful.

Some things that can’t be changed are the scope controls, which sound great in theory (you zoom in and out by sliding your finger across the magnification dial) but end up being far too picky about where you can place you digits.

Clever girl

These control issues are made all the more frustrating thanks to the rest of the game being generally very enjoyable.

While the hunting aspect lacks the attention to realism that the series’ bigger brothers have - it really is more an arcade game than a simulation - the pace of upgrades and the variety of scenery on offer do much to keep interest high.

So too do the achievements and the trophy room, with the former almost perfectly encapsulating how to use XBL properly (except the stupid ‘All Year Round’ achievement that requires you to play 365 times), and the latter offering up gruesomely detailed recreations of your biggest trophies - bullet entry and exit as standard.

Deer Hunter 3D isn’t going to win any trophies for originality, but it should satisfy those commuters yearning to sample a slice of the great outdoors.

Deer Hunter 3D

Deer Hunter 3D is a solid first outing for the hunting veteran, even if the controls can be a little fiddly at times
Score
Will Wilson
Will Wilson
Will's obsession with gaming started off with sketching Laser Squad levels on pads of paper, but recently grew into violently shouting "Tango Down!" at random strangers on the street. He now directs that positive energy into his writing (due in no small part to a binding court order).