Game Review: Sub Hunt (Commodore 64, Mastertronic)

Sub Hunt was released on the Vic 20 at a similar time to the Commodore 64 version, and for an unexpanded Vic, it was a decent little game.  Notably on the loading screen with instructions, the game is described as Sub Hunt 64, presumably to differentiate, but the plot is the same: The water is infested with fast moving enemy fish, and bombers fly overhead dropping death charges.  Only dextrous manoeuvring and careful planning will keep you alive in the terrors of the deep.  This game is also the last Commodore 64 title to use 1C as part of its catalogue number: all others after this were IC from now on.

Thou Shalt Have a Fishy on a Little Dishy

The game loads, and straight away you recognise that the game was made with The Games Creator – in that you start the game without warning and no option to wait or press fire – so you generally let it play through and lose the lives before you start, and to get an idea of what you need to do.  On screen, you control your sub, and there are three types of fish to dodge and shoot, as well as the bomber which does drop a depth charge down below.  You also note that there are divers which you need to collect (these thankfully cannot be shot.)  That is pretty much most of the game in a nutshell.

Too Many Fish in the Sea

You can move your submarine in any of the four directions, and pressing fire shoots a bullet out of the front of the sub.  This can be used to kill the fish.  The fish come in three different colours, and some move in more random directions than others, making them more difficult to shoot.  There are different points to be scored depending on which fish you shoot.  You also must avoid the bottom of the ocean or your submarine will crash with a life lost, and the depth charges dropped by the bombers, that fly above the sea in somewhat random waves.  Collecting the divers is where the big points are at, so make the most of what is on offer, and be careful to collect them.

Just Keep Swimming

The key to survival is ensuring that the submarine moves most of the time and keeps away from the left-hand side of the screen, just in case the bomber comes on and drops a depth charge with little chance to respond.  Destroying the fish does free up an easier path for the diver until they respawn, and this does appear to happen at very random intervals, meaning that it is harder to work out from one game to the next any strategy to get the fish killed and to go to collect the diver, something to bear in mind.  Unlike the Vic-20 version, there is no oxygen meter coming into play.

Riffs?  Yeah!  Can U Dig It?

If you survive long enough, you complete the level, and the music as ever with Games Creator releases speeds up whilst waiting for the start of the next level and then slows down again.  It is more of the same with the only factor being some of the fish appear to move a little faster.  I managed to get to level four before some level of boredom set in, as the game just too repetitive without any new enemies being introduced or additional features to enhance the gameplay.  There is at least a high score challenge to be had and with only three lives to play with, mistakes can happen quickly and lives can be lost rapidly.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in Sub Hunt are not very good.  The fish are almost mutated from Pac Man in different colours, the bomber and the submarine are a mess of expanded sprites, with the diver only being reasonably well animated in the sea.  You would also think to use a different border colour other than brown – maybe blue for the sea and sky.  The in-game music is okay and at least sounds uplifting – even though it is very short and single channel, with some limited sound effects for firing and explosions.

Final Thoughts

Sub Hunt at least does not feel as bad as other games made with The Games Creator – there is at least some element of gameplay which does keep your level of interest for some time.  The lack of variety does limit the amount of enjoyment you may get out of it, but at least it is playable.  You can kill the fish and avoid the depth charges and get the divers to accumulate a decent score, but bear in mind that the randomisation at times can work against you, and a score built up well can be also lost very easily with three lives quickly lost.  I would prefer to play the Vic 20 version as that seems to be a better game overall.

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