Submarine sims aren’t usually criticized for being unfair, despite the fact that the main prey species - the red-bellied freighter - is unarmed. The likes of DH2005 are more vulnerable, lacking as they do equalizers like corvettes and aircraft. Unsympathetic game critics seem to relish pointing out that digital deer are “defenseless” as if that fact completely invalidated the genre.
What’s rarely mentioned is that most weaponless whitetails are much harder to hurt than most armed-to-the-teeth Nazis and tangos. Deer can smell lynx (and Lynx) at two hundred paces, they don’t stand where they’re told to, and they don’t stick around when the bullets start buzzing. Sure, they can’t harm you, but what does death really mean in the average FPS? A quickload, a tweaked tactic and you’re on your way again. Knowing you might have to spend 20 minutes re-stalking a spooked stag (that’s assuming you ever find it again) furrows the brow every bit as effectively as thoughts of an inconsequential demise.
