It’s deer hunting season on your DS. Deer Drive is a fast action shooting gallery style touch screen hunting game. It’s very similar to the classic title Deer Hunter, except with a quicker pace.

You’ll hunt game in different locations around the world, from the deer and grizzly inhabited forests in the US, jungles in Africa, and snowy northern regions. Each area has different animals to hunt. Every stage is timed, and you must reach an allocated score in that time. Careful not to shoot does, though. If you do, you’ll get a score penalty and if you shoot too many you’ll have to start the stage over again. It can be hard to tell the does from the bucks in the game, unfortunately.

You’ll also have to watch out for predators like grizzly bears. You’ll hear and see a warning when they get near. Take them down before they get too close and start attacking. If they drain your energy, you’ll have to start the stage over again.

Sometimes, downed deer will drop a power up and you’ll get it if you shoot it. These give bonus points, let you reload faster, etc. Once it’s ready, you can also activate Hunter Vision which slows down the animals movements and lets you see game easier temporarily. Earn money by bagging deer and other game and use the dough to buy upgrades. You can keep the money even if you fail the stage.

Controls are simple and use the touch screen, L button, and D-pad. Or the R-button and face button if you’re left-handed. Drag the stylus around to aim and the L-Button to fire. Tap on the icons on the touch screen to reload, use your aiming scope, or activate hunter vision. Move left and right with the D-pad and up and down to zoom in and out with your scope. Play control is decent, but I kind of wish you could just tap on the deer to fire at them, as that would be easier and keep true to the fast action styled gameplay.

If you have a nearby friend with a DS and copy of the game, you can even do some multiplayer modes. Also view the different kinds of animals you’ve bagged in the museum. There are several selectable difficulty levels, but even on Very Easy, I found Deer Drive to be extremely challenging. So it’s a pretty tough hunting game. At least the price is right at only 20 bucks.

Kid Factor:

Deer Drive is rated T for Teen with an ESRB descriptor of Violence. When you shoot an animal, they just fall down and disappear, no blood or anything. I’d be OK with kids younger than teens playing this. Reading skill is helpful for the tutorial, but it’s pretty easy to figure out how to play. The high challenge may frustrate younger gamers, though.

Tags: Game Reviews