Boringly, they don't let you shoot the whales. Shame. I was looking forward to some blubber blasting. Mmm.. what shall I shoot at. Those choppers look nice. Or maybe that big boat. All the different turrets and gun emplacements shoot and can be destroyed independently.. great it is.

Level one Boss has got these extensible arms which are quite unavoidable sometimes. Things happily speed up a bit here, I love the way the missiles go off-track in the rushing water, and fall back onto the baddie!

Level Two takes place in a sunken city, a bit like L.A. (as in 'Escape From') Best bit here is the way you blast through motorway (freeway:) overpasses, and they fall down. Made me grin inanely.

In a stadium where they play something called Football. Although it's not proper Footie, like wot we play in the UK, Guv. I hate these bosses, the swirly attacks traps you, and the only challenge you have here is bearing the tedium.

This is what I call the Metal Slug Level. Everything is blow-up-able. I can play this level again and again just looking for tiny details. When you think about it though, it doesn't say much for the gameplay, and the focus of the game is a bit off

A SECOND OPINION By Mike

Glug Glug Glug. It's Metal Slug in a Sub. Well you have to hand In the Hunt a certain number of originality points. It's not everyday you get to drive a submarine and blast stuff underwater in a 2D shooter. Makes a welcome change from all the shamelessly similar space or fantasy settings we normally see. I first played this in my local Sega Park and remember being amazed by the graphics at the time. This was several years before I first played Metal Slug and the visuals (which I believe were produced by the same graphic artists who would later work on the Metal Slug games) were incredible for their time, in particular the level of detail involved. As Malc points out, everything seems to be blastable, enemies, from huge planes and battleships to gigantic deep-sea monsters all blowing into tiny smithereens and exploding all over the screen in a rhapsody of destruction. Yeah.. this I liked! After feeding a large wedge of cash into the arcade cab though I fairly quickly came to the conclusion that this game is designed purely as a 'quick-thrill', kill-you-quick money-eating arcade shooter, unlike the fine-tuned, beautifully designed 'learning curve' shooters of the company's golden era such as R-Type. The fatness and sluggishness of the sub and the number of enemies and enemy projectiles on screen at one time quickly overwhelm, and bosses, at least from level two onwards, are almost impossible to defeat without losing at least one, if not several lives, leading to severe player frustration. You just can't move fast enough to outrun high-velocity enemy fire. You watch it incoming, you push the stick and you swear at your litlle sub as it putt-putts at about 3mph before smacking into a bullet.The bosses though, are lovely looking creations, especially the Neptune-gone-Bad boss who chases you for screens and screens upwards towards the ocean surface. Very much like one of the bosses in Metal Slug 2. I now own the Saturn and Playstation versions so will now ocasionally drag it out to fullfil any Jacques Cousteau-ian destructive urges and I do have a bit of a soft-spot for the game (especially the graphics) but in all honesty for one of Irem's final shooters it's not one of their best.

Level 4, and a snake sub-boss has just wasted my sub. You can see it just cracking up. The lava blasts here are so good you could watch them all day.

Sega Saturn Cover Scans for In the Hunt are here

The polar ice caps have melted, flooding the Earth. Bummer. In a post-apocalyptic (and presumably very wet) Japan the Dark Anarchy Society (DAS) are poised to do some very bad things. Go stop them. In your Sub.

Reviewed by Malc.

I love anything to do with deep-sea monsters. Films like Leviathan, Deep Star Six, The Abyss and even Jaws I adore. Nearly wet my pants just thinking of going to see Sphere, and yes, I know it's a bit bollocks. Still, the book was good. So it was with great trepidation of an imminent damping of the underwear when I bought the conversion of 'In The Hunt' for my Playstation a couple of years ago. And it was with mixed feelings and thankfully dry knickers when I finally switched off and considered the value of my purchase.

You can probably tell I was a bit disappointed with it. Believe it or not I don't immediately fall in love with every shmup I see. I'll give you my don't likes first, then end on a positive note. Lets make a wee list:

NOT GOOD THINGS:

• The main problem I have with it is the lack of speed and excitement. It's just too damned sluggish! Notching up the speed on the sub itself would have worked wonders, or even a speed select switch like in all those PCengine games would be preferable. It feels far too treacly, even with the max amount of speed ups collected. Dunno about you, but I prefer my shmups to be heart-racing affairs. Wait a minute, I seem to remember a speed up cheat for the PSX version... anyone got it anywhere? Should have been a standard option anyway.
  
  

• The graphics get just too confusing. This is a major bugbear I have with a lot of modern shooters. You should NOT die because you can't see bullets that are hidden by explosions. Cardinal sin transgressed there, and I expected better from Irem. Yes, the explosions are really cool, except there's just TOO MUCH of them while you're actually playing.
  
  

• I don't like the scrolling method. You have to push right all the time to move the screen, which I really think increases the sluggish ploddingness of the game. There IS a time limit, but it doesn't seem to be any incentive to get your arse in gear. Whereas R-type was a test of dexterity, memory and sheer skill, ITH depends more on luck, lots of credits, and the inclination to stick with it.
  
  

• Your ship is too fat, and hence it's difficult to dodge bullets. It's a chubby wee tub indeed. Last Resort on the NeoGeo is a bit like this, as the craft in that is too long. Extremely annoying when there just isn't enough room to get out of a nasty situation.

Well, I know it sounds like I thoroughly hate the game by now. And everyone else who has seen it thinks it's Irem's best game ever. The graphics have got a lot to do with this, they really are damned good. Which bring's me onto my 'Do Likes' List:

Just wait until you blast this train off the tracks. An amazing set-piece! Bet it makes you smile too.

Level three Boss, and a difficult one at that. The major problem is that you are confined to the water throughout, and look how low the water is here. Barely a puddle!

End of level 4 boss, a dragon/slug arrangement, but the heads seem to be upside down!! This is where I picked up the totally super wavey laser missiles (not shown here), the best weapon in the whole game. And so I died, a watery grave is mine. Neptune with acne climbs up a shaft behind you, leaving you no time to dawdle. Good word that. Dawdle. He goes a bit Alieny at the end, and his eyeballs chase you around. Bet you didn't allow for this when you joined the Navy.