In the Hunt

"Hey! I saw that scene from "Finding Nemo!""

In the Hunt (or Kaitei Daisensou, its Japanese namesake) is a 2D horizontal shooter for the Sega Saturn. It's not without flaws, but the graphic style (which reminds me and others of ''Metal Slug'') and the bosses are the high points to In the Hunt. Yes, there is a lot of slowdown in the game, but I got used to it, eventually, to the point where it didn't bother me any more.

Graphics: 9.0
I really like the style of the graphics. Again, very Metal Slug-like. You'll see water ripples, plenty of explosions, beautiful 2D art detailed to the brim, buildings with glass windows that shimmer and shatter if you shoot at it, etc. Each stage has different weather too. You'll see clouds, clear skies, and even lightning; lighting up the screen in orange flashes. Good stuff indeed. Lots of thing are destroyable on screen and it's amazing especially when tons of debris litter the screen in a shower of metal and gears and glass.
The bosses are especially well drawn and animated. They're huge and nasty, ranging from the mechanical to the mythical. The stage 3 boss is really something else! It's like a deranged monster creature out of a Godzilla flick!

Music/Sound: 8.5
Solid all-around. The music sounds right and fits the onscreen action, and the boss themes are pretty good themselves as well. It has that ''save the world from disaster'' feel to it. Sound I found to be very solid. You'll hear the smashing of torpedoes and the sweet sound of dropped canister bombs which connect metal on!

Control: 8.5
Not bad, not bad at all. Again, slowdown in this game will affect the controls to some degree, but not too bad once you get used to it. A shoots torpedoes forward. B shoots missiles upward, and canister bombs downward. Unfortunately A or B is NON-auto-fire. But button C allows you to fire ALL weapons non-stop! But there are times where you will not want to use button C, rather a specific button, A or B.... you'll see for yourself why this is so. The ship moves at a decent speed, which is something you should never take for granted in a shooter game, but again, the slowdown moments will also naturally slow your ship down. Hang in there, it's not so bad.

Gameplay: 7
There are six stages total, which takes me roughly 45 minutes to beat. So each stage will last a good seven minutes or so. ITH doesn't add much to the genre, but it's still very playable, despite the slowdown issues. The thing to note about In the Hunt: the screen doesn't automatically scroll forward. Yes, you have to move forward yourself. If you're looking for an all-out fast-paced knuckle-burner of a shooter, ITH is not for you. The game is slower than most shooters, but not so slow where it renders the game unplayable.

I've read some gamers saying they found the ''move forward on your own'' style to be annoying, and that it makes ITH a slow boring shooter. I didn't find this to be the case for me. For ITH, I liked being able to move my submarine at my own speed. I felt more in control of the dire situation at hand.
Enemies of all sorts will bombard you from up, down, across. Little battle ships, air-raid jets, big bad ships with heavy firepower, and even golden walker machines that look and sound really cool.

The Bosses are really the meat of the game though, aside from the well-detailed 2D graphics. Like I said, you'll face the mechanical and the mythical. Like in classic Thunder Force III, you'll meet a twin set of bad machines, a three-headed sea monster, a great looking giant eel mini-boss, and my favorite, the stage 3 Stone Guardian. Tell me where else in a shooter will you find a boss who greets you at the BEGINNING, and prompts to stalk you throughout the entire level, only to finally trap you at the end where it's do or die time? Answer: No where else! And boy does he look COOL! Where's Godzilla where you need him??

Fun Factor: 7.75
I adequately enjoyed blasting my way thru the waters. It's no cakewalk however, as it is very difficult. There are some ''certain death'' areas that you just can't seem to avoid. The boss battles are all nice and the stages themselves never get too tedious or boring. With 2 players the screen lights up even more... just pure chaos!

Replay Value: 6.75
I don't think I'll play this game all too much. Probably pop it in once every 3 months or so. Not great long-lasting shelf-life, but not too bad either. Of course, how big of a shooter fan you are will help to answer this question.

I had owned the US version for a year, but now I own the JPN version. Both versions are practically identical, except the JPN one has FREE PLAY (read: infinite continues) The game's hard! Free Play comes in handy... but be warned, the import version is notorious for having trouble booting up. For the record, I can only get it to work about 50% of the time....
And oh yeah, the last boss is a real tough cookie. This game may have you pulling your hair out from time to time..

Overall:

In The Hunt is a unique game worth looking at, but ONLY if you're into these mad shooting ''one man against an evil empire'' type games. If so, I give this game two torpedoes up! Man the battle stations! Let's do this one for Mother Earth!

7.5

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/29/03, Updated 02/09/05