This really is the "Ultimate Hunt"...
First off, Deer Hunter features 8 different locations, each having their own specific game animals to hunt in them. You can go to Montana, British Columbia, Maine, Idaho, Mexico, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Colorado ( there's even a target range in the Maine forest) and you can hunt all sorts of animals, including Whitetail Buck, Blacktail Buck, Couse Deer, Pronghorn, Mule Deer, Moose, Mountain Goats, Mountain Lions, Bighorn Sheep, Elk, and Black, Brown, and Grizzly Bear. And although they are not game animals, there are also wild turkey, hare, armadillo, jackrabbit, marmot, rabbit, red fox, sqirrel, woodchuck, raccoon, opossum and even wolves!
The back of the game box says that the game is rated "T" for teen because of blood and violence. The violence part clearly makes sense, but the only blood you'll be seeing in this game is a few patches of blood that a wounded animal will leave in its trail so that you can track it down after it's been shot (not much at all).
The forests and graphics in this game are, for the most part, very good. There is a fair amount of pop-up in the levels, probably due to the fact that each forest is massive, but it doesn't generally interfere with the gameplay in any significant way.
As I just mentioned above, the forests are huge, and to help you get around you'll have your choice of either a horse, ATV (in snowy weather the ATV is replaced by a snowmobile), or in some levels, an inflatable boat. I should also mention that the game features animal calls, animal scents, blinds, and many other hunting tools should you choose to use them. The game also features 17 different weapons, including a muzzleloader, two shotguns, many bolt-action rifles, a few semi-automatic rifles, three different types of bows including a crossbow, and even a 9mm pistol. Another interesting fact is that the game can be played from your choice of views, either 3rd-person or 1st person.
Every game animal that you bag will get placed in your trophy room (until you get more then 5 of a particular animal, then only the top 5 will be kept) for you to admire and brag about to your liking. Deer Hunter does feature online play for up to 4 players, though I've never used it. But what I have used is the game's split-screen 2 player multi-player mode, which is extremely fun, believe me.
Among a few other things that I'd like to mention is the fact that when you hit an animal in a critical location (abdomen, neck, head, etc.) it may be a one-shot kill, in which case to game will stop and, in slow motion, follow your bullit to the animal. This may not seem like much, but it's a very cool effect, especially when you really want to bag the animal you're shooting at. Animals, for the most part, behave quite accurately. Sure, there may be the occasional time when an animal, after being shot, won't budge for 5 seconds, and when it does it just runs in a circle, but that never really bothered me or took away from the enjoyment that I got from the game.
One last thing that I feel needs mentioning before I wrap it up: On lower difficulty levels, the player is provided with a compass and, more importantly, a bullit-pointer. What is a bullit-pointer you say? The bullit-pointer is a little directional pointer in the form of a bullit that points you towards the nearest game animal. It's great if you don't want to spend an hour in the forest, mindlessly wandering around in search of animals, but when it's on the game seems to fly by because I just went from one animal to the next until I had reached the 3-animal-per-hunting-trip limit. In short, the bullit-pointer is nice, but if you turn the difficulty anywhere past the halfway mark in the game's difficulty meter it goes away, making it just like real hunting.
I hope this review helps your decision on whether or not to buy Deer Hunter, because I strongly recommend it to any hunter or shooter game fan.
Sincerely, RedHawk4.
NOTE: When you first start the game, you will have access to only 2 hunting locations, and the rest you have to unlock during Season Mode. Thankfully, there is a cheat code that unlocks them all right away, just go to Gamefaqs.com to find it. Oh, and in case you're wondering, yes, you can create your own hunter in the game.