Publisher/Developer: Super Happy Fun Fun, Inc.
Genre: Hunting simulation
Price: $0.99 (sale price)
Verdict: It’s the arcade hunting game minus the light gun.
Pros: Near-exact replica of America’s favorite barroom game.
Cons: Single-player. Must provide own alcohol.

“Big Buck Hunter Pro” is an iPhone port of the classic arcade hunting game–and, for what it does, it does very well. Essentially, you’re on a hunting trip and your goal is to bag as many antlered deer as possible without taking down any innocent doe.

The concept is simple, and so is the gameplay: Eschewing the complexity of other hunting simulations, Big Buck Hunter Pro focuses everything on a simple touch-to-shoot gameplay mechanic. Tap to fire, tap to reload. The app also includes a handful of mini-games, including a duck hunt and a whack-a-mole style game.

That said, don’t let the simplicity of the game mechanic fool you. Like other hunting simulations, you need to account somewhat for time, distance, velocity, and the movement of the targets themselves. The scattering doe also complicate shots–because if you take out one of them accidentally, there will be hell to pay with the game warden.

The graphics in Big Buck Hunter Pro are impressive, with nicely rendered backgrounds and fairly convincing animation for the deer as they go about their deer business… and run for their lives. When shot, the deer fall gently to the ground; the shots are “clean” and, thankfully, absent of blood.

Fans of hunting simulations, and certainly fans of the original arcade game, will feel right at home. The game is single-player with online leaderboards. However, if you want to get social, the app includes a bonus Arcade Game Locator to help you find the nearest Big Buck Hunter arcade machine through the iPhone’s GPS.