Some people on this planet are very disturbed. Included among that group of people are the creators of the newest hunting game to hit the market, Natural Fawn Killers. Obviously created to mock the glut of hunting games that have been released lately, as well as the movie Natural Born Killers, Natural Fawn Killers is overly violent and requires very little skill. You play the part of a deranged kid who appears to have broken into his dad's gun safe. His dad happens to own such great hunting weapons as a sniper rifle, a chaingun and a grenade launcher, among others. His targets are the animals that inhabit the forest near his house such as cute bunnies, deer that have a striking resemblance to Bambi, and large bears that seem fairly peaceful. This game is interesting but not very good. It does not appear to have been professionally done and the gameplay needs a lot of work. If you have a desire to kill everything, no matter how cute it is, then this game is for you.

Graphics:
The graphics are either 3d accelerated (through Glide) or through software. It is impossible to switch between the two without editing the registry so I played in hardware mode only. The graphics are not very good to say the least. The environment is very chunky and the sky is not nearly as good as other hunting games I've played. As you walk around, your weapon does not bob with your stride, even when you run. The gun models are uninspired and textured poorly. The engine does not render shadows or dynamic lighting, further contributing to the unprofessional look of the game. There are only about three textures that are used throughout the entire game and all of them are very poor. The animal models are the best part of the game. All of them are rendered in a very "cute" style. It just makes you want to shoot them all the more. The edge of the levels are clearly defined with large, non passable mountains. It begs the question, "How did I get here in the first place?". The horizon is handled with an annoying fog effect which I grew to hate as I played the game.

Sound:
The sound consists of a couple of gun noises and several speech effects that your character screams when he kills something. There are also a couple of animal call noises but they just sound as if your character is attempting to make the sound of a dying moose. The sounds are poorly recorded and there is an obvious break when a sound effect starts and stops. The stereo imaging is done fairly well and it is possible to tell if an animal is behind or next to you.

Gameplay:
I think gameplay is the heart of any good hunting game. If a game is too complex and too real it quickly becomes boring, however if a game is ludicrously simple then it's too easy. Natural Fawn Killers is way too easy. The hardest thing is killing bears and that's only hard until you find the grenade launcher which is able to blow them into pieces. I know that this game is meant to be a parody but I found it too outlandish to be even that. I was somewhat sickened when I was watching a bunny through my scope to see another bunny come from behind and begin copulating with my target. It was pretty funny but somewhat out of place. The animals don't run from you until you shoot at them and it is very easy to hit them with the first shot. Your character's incessant speech is very annoying and after a while you just want to hunt him. Several important hunting game features are missing as well. I was disappointed to find it impossible to crouch or jump. I also thought that the enemy AI was too calm and unreal. Overall this game has poor gameplay and seems as if it needs just a little more time spent on it.

Fun Factor:
This game is somewhat fun despite the poor graphics, bad sound and simple gameplay. Why is it fun then? Well, it's fun because there is something fun about blowing a third of Bambi's face off. It is also fun to explode rabbits with a grenade launcher and mow down bears with a gattling gun.

Overall impression:
This game is very poor and unpolished. It seems to me that it should have been released as shareware and not as a commercial product. I found the premise funny but the implementation to be very simple. I would have preferred a better graphics engine and gameplay that was actually exciting and not mindless. Overall a pretty bad game that really doesn't need to be picked up.