1~liJI'AII'''11 It might look abit like the old 16 bit revival Darius style, and it is, but In The Hunt still manages to provide some excellent shoot 'em up moments. So, if you're ready, periscope up!
F
argelth!! silver burded Sun Connery in The Hunt for Red October or the swutlng filCtS of the crew In OilS
Boat. Forthilt matter. for-
~~r~:;:~:~I;!t
sub-
Ukewlsethere's wme slowdown when the screen sets too packed and thiS does actually ma~e things a bit frustrating at times The bos~ though are all excellent.OoneintheciasslCstyle,theydomi.
~~~~_
you'd probablyfindona PCand
nat;~:~:::~;a~r;~~~~I::~~;Siles themselves pretty damn hard to
which are about ilS much fun ilsduth by drowning. InThe
beat. The first stage sees you moving through t he icy waters of the South Pole
HuntblilbnUyside-steps Ihetechnkal aspeds of subrnarin e enduvours, choos· inginst eOid iI side-scrolling
shoot'emupexhavaga nn. Try to imagine something like DiHiu'l I!'J[cept rather than outer-space it '5 all done und erwater_ What thlsentailsislotsof~l.lb
aqua action in the shape of torpedoes, f1oatingmines,seamonsterS,andawhole host of sl.lbmerged wackiness, In fact, it's all donew,th a comic edge, for e)(ample, when you destroy a railway bridge you can watch gleefl.llly as the train plummets towa rds the water, Or how abol.lt decimating skyscrapersand enjoying all the tiny people runnmg about m confl.lsionand panic. This might SOl.lnd like it's a bit sick but In The Hl.lnt is too fantastlcal for you to lake II ~eriously. Thereareslxlevclstolraverse in all and eachoflhem ends,asYOI.l'd expect, wit h a boss. Naturally Ihere are plenty ofpower-I.lps in t he shape of heat -seeking missiles and Sl.lperpowered torpedoes, and this is no dol.lOt all ~tarting 10 sound predictablein l heeKtreme.Andilis. allhoughit'sslilifunallthesame.Ok,so maybe it's the kind ofgamethat should have been left behmdwlth all the 16-bot stl.lffgathermgdl.lSt. and maybeit'saliabitofaretrO~ick,bl.ltthesheerllOlume
of the action, what with explosions and enemies swa rming everywhere, make il compelling to play Admittedly the graphics look a bit dated too, but there's always so much going on and so manyd'fferent and sma rt looking spntesthat it didn't bother me
stage three where a huge stone monster forces you to travel vertically in order to escape and inllOlves blastmgthrough lots ofanClent stone. Stage four is Sunken Townwhichfeatureshl.lgemissifes launched from the seabed and submerged skyscrapers that you have to blastthfOugh. Sea monsters return m stage five, Deep Dark Sea,mtheshapeofseaserpents and a silver dragon hldrng inthe depthsofa lava cave. And to finish it ali off you arrive in stage si)(at the Enemy Base whereyouhavetotakeonaml.l~l-sectioned
rocket boss that's incredibly tough! SQ after making the arduous Journey through all the stages, is In The Hunt something I'd recommendlWell,yesalrightlt'snotyourspectacular 3D'checkoutthenewtechnology'kmdofgamebutit's always refreshing to get back to someglXld ole' common shoot 'em up action and besides, it reminded me ofapsychedelicmarfiagebetweenCaptamNemoand the crew of the Yellow Submarine. Good clean fun
ROB
Gtt till lH'iekl to land o. the IlollelllOnster'l lMIadl
•
SEGA SATURN