We’d be lying if we said we didn’t get a little buzz out of seeing a duck tumble from the sky in a cloud of feathers or a buck buckle from a neat lung shot. There is a thrill in the kill, but the final act of a hunt is often not the one that sticks in your memory. Some of the most gripping moments in games like DH2005 come when you’re hot on the trail of a wounded animal. Jogging along, scanning the ground for prints and blood stains, your head buzzes with questions. Where did we hit it? Why didn’t we get closer before firing? What if it runs for miles and dies slowly in agony in the middle of some anonymous thicket? The guilt mingled with the annoyance of letting a prize get away gnaws at you like a starving timber wolf.

There are gentler attractions too. DH2005 in particular really makes you feel like you’re out in the fresh air. Even if you find the idea of slaughtering simulated wildlife appalling we’d recommend the game purely as a relaxation aid. Twenty minutes spent among the swaying Illinois maples, the towering Oregon firs, or the slightly-too-black Black Forest spruces certainly soothes us.

Well, it soothes us right up until the point we realize we’ve daydreamed our way to within spitting-distance of a resting stag and that stag has just got up and dashed off into the undergrowth. Realistic beast behaviors are obviously crucial in this field/thicket/forest and DH2005 sets the standard here too. In Hunting Unlimited, spooked animals have a tendency to circle aimlessly before heading for the hills. In Southlogic’s offerings, frightened fauna is much less obliging.