I have killed thousands of digital people while playing various games, but I’ve never really killed many animals. At first, Deer Hunter made me uncomfortable. The game is a hunting simulation. During the first levels the prey stood still, so there wasn’t much of a challenge. However, as the game progressed, it became challenging. Sometimes you have to hit a certain body part like the lungs or the heart, and eventually the animals react to your attack, running towards you or away, making getting the shot more difficult.

Deer Hunter 2014 has a simple interface. Tap on the crosshairs to look down the scope, and tap on the bullet hole to shoot. There are a variety of guns, and you have to upgrade your weapons as the game gets tougher. The game has six regions; to unlock a region you have to complete the hunting series and the trophy hunt. There are other challenges as well, such as rare hunts, contract hunts, and series requiring a specific weapon.

I have to admit that my uneasiness wore off rather quickly as I kept playing. Just like I don’t have the urge to kill masses of humans, I don’t want to hunt large animals, but video games allow us to do things we know we can’t do in real life, so I ended up letting myself have fun.

The game is free, but you can buy the in-game currency of gold to get special weapons or speed up the importing of upgrades. Deer Hunter 2014 is by Glu Games, Inc., is rated 12+ for violence, can be played on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, and requires iOS 5.1.