DEEEER Simulator: Your Average Everyday Deer Game (PlayStation 4) review "Oh Deer..."

You died before the game begins.

As you traversed a crosswalk, a speeding car roared closer with no intention of slowing down. Aware of this, you instinctively pushed a deer out of its path... and your life was extinguished in the process. But all is not lost, because you have been reincarnated! As your life fades back into existence, you have been transported to a very small island city... and inside the body of a deer. Your immediate surroundings make even less sense: to your left is a row of arcade cabinets hugging the exterior wall of a police station and to your forward horizon is a ginormous cow standing on the ocean surface. And when you try "conversing" with a nearby human, you have a brief dance-off.

This is your life now.

After a quick tutorial going over basic movements like hopping and running, exploration begins. Right behind you is a destroyed aircraft with a person inside, and upon closer inspection, you spot and grab an item: two pistols with infinite ammo. Now equipped with weapons, you can now go on a rampage where humans, vehicles, and even buildings can be taken down when shot enough times. But say you don't want to take a "brisk" walk over to any of these spots. Fret not, because holding the L2 trigger will make your deer burst through the city streets and shallow waters on two hind legs! Or, if you don't like walking, you can hijack a car or scooter and plow through traffic.

However, all this destruction comes at a price. Whenever you knock over trees, crumble structures, and whatnot, your Deersaster Level meter, which starts at E, continues to rise. When E and every subsequent letter is completely filled in, each "fill-in" prompts a response from the police. Obviously with the degree of mayhem caused, you're anticipating major push back, and with that said, your first battle is with... sheep. After murdering the flock with all the weapons collected from demolished buildings, such as grenades and rifles, the cycle continues: you destroy stuff, build meter, and confront another police opponent like bunny snipers or polar bear cars.

If you haven't pick up on it by now, DEEEER Simulator: Your Average Everyday Deer Game is silly. The city itself is tiny, but there's several goofy things crammed into it if you do a bit of actual exploring; at the center of town, you'll spot a giant koala hugging an apartment complex, which then turns into a one-hit-and-you're-dead boss fight if you decide to attack the animal; one corner of the city has a Reversi minigame with cows; you can even unlock and pilot a mecha suit named Metal Deer, with each of its arm and leg components made of whole animals. If none of those grab your interest, you can pretend you're Spider-Man and ragdoll swing around the city with your stretchy neck.

So, here's what you should ask yourself: do you want to play a video game or a joke?



That's a trick question, because DEEEER Simulator isn't good at either. The quirkiness runs out of steam very quickly, and the biggest reason for this is that a lot of the gags don't leave the "that sounds like a neat idea" phase, never being properly executed in-game. Your deer neck can stretch and attach to things? That's it, that's the whole execution, and it never ties into a moment that could make it fun. The dance-off move? Instead of being a throwaway joke, this could have been used as a hilarious concept for an actual segment or boss fight. There's also a giant horse you can ride that does zero damage to anything it bumps into; it's literally just "haha, you ride a giant horse as a deer."

A lot of these issues could have been "improved" by taking them out of their sandbox environment and placed into a linear, contained setting, such as a minigame or a stage that goes from point A to B.

When you've had enough with the jokes and actually play it as a traditional video game, completing main objectives with the intention of seeing an end goal, the gameplay is just redundant. Basically, you have to raise the Deersaster Level each time to confront the police until a new location pops up... then repeat this procedure in the second location. The repetitiveness comes from police battles just being boring; whether it's the sheep, polar bears, bunnies, or a combination of all three, they pose no threat as you perform basic circle strafing maneuvers while shooting them. DEEEER Simulator touts itself as whimsically destructive when in action, so it's a massive fumble when the "action pieces" are tedious to get through.



You know what's really aggravating? The best part happens during the climax. Here, the game renounces its main structure, which is the sandbox, and actually goes for back-to-back-to-back linear segments. In doing so, the gameplay and humor are more concentrated and focused, making for an engaging and borderline-entrancing last arc. But before you know it, the credits roll and it's over; the overall "adventure" is really short, and despite what goes down in the finale, it's still not enough to justify getting the game. At its best, DEEEER Simulator should be experienced while watching someone else, likely on a streaming website, play it while they look confused.

Considering the point is to play the game yourself, that's not a glowing suggestion.

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