When the first Deer Hunter came out, everyone laughed. Especially the folks at WizardWorks... all the way to the bank, that is. But, for all the money it made, Deer Hunter was still a large step below almost every other game out there, at least in terms of gameplay and technology. Sure, you could hunt semi-3D deer in a semi-3D environment, but you couldn't even walk around, for Pete's sake. I mean, you could do that in Doom back in 1993. And don't get me started on the crappy map screen. Still, Deer Hunter only cost $20.
Well, in Deer Hunter II, you can walk around, the horrible map screen has been replaced by a cool GPS device, and the game looks a lot better, albeit not to the quality of most 3D shooters out there.
One new addition to Deer Hunter II is the hunter screen, where you create a hunting identity that keeps track of your hit ratio, gun settings (you have to manually sight in each weapon you want to use), number of hunts, hours played (so you can see just how badly you need to get a life), and your personal trophy room. You can create several different hunters, so you and other family members can each have your own. (Which will keep little Johnny from screwing up your hit ratio while you're at work.)
There are 12 new places to hunt, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Washington, and Georgia, among others. You can hunt in rut, pre-rut, or post-rut, and you can use one of nine weapons, including a crossbow, a lever-action rifle, a compound bow, a muzzle loader, a .44 magnum revolver (with scope), a pump shotgun (with buckshot or a slug), a semiautomatic shotgun, a bolt-action rifle, and a longbow. All of the weapons are pretty good, but I still prefer the standard bolt-action rifle. The game's inventory list has expanded to include a deer decoy, fleece jacket, and the GPS positioning device (which displays your longitude/latitude, shows a localized map of the area, and gives the time of day and elevation). You can also still use cover scent, two types of attractant scents, a deer decoy, a scrape dripper, a grunt call, a doe bleat call, a rutting-buck brunt call, a tree stand, and rattling antlers (which, by the way, sound fake). Since you can now walk around in the game, it makes sense to be able to better track the deer, especially wounded deer. The game does a great job of showing tracks, scrapes, rubs, and droppings. When you do hit and injure a deer, you can follow bloodstains on the ground to round up your quarry. This is one of the best features of the game, and it realistically mimics real life.
The game's graphic detail is somewhat mediocre, even with the new face-lift. Terrain is still pretty blocky, and trees stand out in the middle of nowhere, rather than being formed into convincing forests. The deer animations, on the other hand, can be quite realistic, especially when seen from a distance. Close up they're only so-so.
Deer Hunter II is much more realistic than the first game. As I stated earlier, you must sight in your weapons before going on the hunt, which can be tedious but is completely realistic: If your gun's sights are off, you won't hit the broad side of a barn, much less a deer. Also adding to the game's realism is that, although your hunter can run, if he runs too far, he gets out of breath and starts to slow down - a nice touch. However, this higher level of realism comes back to bite the game when it comes to waiting around for a deer to show up. I had several hunts that seemed as though they would never end, and, in fact, after waiting 15 minutes or more for a deer to show (and yes, I did use the calls and attractants), I had to quit the hunt and start another. This has happened to me on real hunts, too, but when I'm playing a computer game, by golly, I want to kill something. Basically, this tedium drops the game's fun factor by a lot.
Overall, though, Deer Hunter II is a solid, fun game and is definitely an improvement over its predecessor. Another plus is that, despite all of the enhancements, the game still costs $20. Deer Hunter II is a game that, while it won't appeal to the non-hunting, hard-core gaming crowd, is just right for real-life hunters who want to hunt out of season or anyone who wants a fun diversion between work assignments.
