Deer Hunter 2004 (PC Atari, Rating not available)

Reviewed by PETER ELEY

Herald rating: * * * *

You feel your heart pump as the crosshairs of your rifle line up on the deer's heart. The half-day stalk through the backwoods of Kentucky, one ear listening for duelling banjos, the other for the roar of a stag, has come down to this life-or-death moment.

Your finger tightens on the trigger as the animal sniffs the wind, then -- Omigod, it's Bambi!

Enough joking. Deer Hunter 2004 is a serious piece of software.

It is a thorough simulation of an activity that takes us back to the dawn of mankind, although our Neanderthal ancestors didn't have the all-terrain quad bike, and the serious array of weaponry of Deerhunter 2004, including Dirty Harry-style handguns.

If you like hunting, you will enjoy this game. The settings, in Kentucky, Virginia and Alberta, are superb, and you can almost feel your breath mist on the chill of an autumn morning.

The hunting model seems realistic, in that you can't just bowl up to a beast and turn it into steaks, sausages and antlers in the trophy room.

You have to stalk them on foot, although the quad bike (or horse if you prefer a more environmentally friendly mode of transport) helps to cover the big distances, keeping out of

sight and upwind of your quarry.

Make a mistake, and the deer is off to a safer place. Animals to hunt include whitetail, blacktail and mule deer, but don't shoot the non-playing characters -- in this game they are armadillos, raccoons, roadrunners and trout.

The first part of the game lets you choose your character model, from typical redneck, through to a Lara Croft in camo gear or punky teenager wearing a back-to-front baseball cap.

That's easy enough, but choosing weapons is harder, simply because there are so many. Hmmm, will it be the 7mm single-shot magnum or the 30-06 Springfield auto-loader today?

There are a lot of guns, intriguingly with female nicknames -- the two above are affectionately called Elizabeth and Lacey -- plus a few fearsome-looking bows.

Then there are spray cans of deer scent, horns for imitating animal calls, food to lure deer to an area (is that sporting?), GPS devices, binoculars, telescopic sights and a variety of portable hiding places, including the Rock-a-bye-Baby tree seat, complete with foot massager.

The graphics are much improved over earlier versions of the game, although this means you will need a reasonably powerful system to run it.


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