Like ‘em or not, hunting simulations have proven to be one of the hottest game genres of the past year or two - so successful, in fact, that the market appears almost impervious to oversaturation. You‘d have thought that big-name sports sim publishers, namely Sierra Sports and EA Sports, would have leaped on this trend right away, but instead, both companies entered the fray for hunting-sim supremacy fairly late in the game. Judging from Deer Hunt Challenge, it appears that EA Sports used that time to try to create something better than just another run-of-the-mill hunting sim - and in many ways it‘s succeeded.

A deer-hunting simulation can be no better than its basic components - hunting locations, weapons, ammo, gear, and types of prey - and Deer Hunt Challenge disappoints in none of these categories. You won‘t find manufacturer names like Remington or Winchester when it‘s time to pick a weapon, nor will you have the option to carry a hand cannon or black-powder rifle to bring down that prize buck - but don‘t think that means the selections are unsatisfying. Deer Hunt Challenge includes three rifle types (bolt-action, lever-action, and semiautomatic), four kinds of shotguns (pump, semiautomatic, side-by-side, and over-under), and three bows (composite, recurve, and longbow), then beefs up your choices by offering eight types of bullets and three gauges of shotgun shells. Options to change your gun‘s appearance (black steel or camouflage, in addition to wood grain) are pleasing to the eye but have little impact on the hunt.

No self-respecting deer-hunting sim would be complete without all the accoutrements necessary to lure your quarry into range, and here again, Deer Hunt Challenge covers all the bases. Scents, calls, antlers, decoys, tree stands, and binoculars can all be carried into the field in the game‘s hunting-trip mode - fortunately, your virtual hunter‘s aim isn‘t affected by carrying so much stuff. All items can be activated with a hotkey, but beware when using scents, calls, or antlers: Instead of being used on a one-time basis, they remain active until you deselect them. Outerwear comes in a variety of colors, but for some reason the game defaults to a blazing orange in hunting-trip mode - and there‘s no way to change it before the hunt begins. Instead, you have to pause the game and pick the most appropriate outfit, which your character is presumably carrying all bundled up with that other stuff.