What happens when you mix video games with the heavy metal band Iron Maiden? You get Ed Hunter. I mean who wouldn't want to play a video game based on Iron Maiden's albums? I definitely would! Ed Hunter was developed by Synthetic Dimensions and published by EMI Record. It was released in 1999 on PC. It never had a console release or anything. Ed Hunter was packed in with the Ed Hunter 3 CD greatest hits collection. There are 20 tracks from Iron Maiden's career at the time, and then the game.

Now I love a cheesy rail shooter game like House of the Dead, CarnEvil and many others, and Ed Hunter fits right in. You play as a hired private detective looking to free Eddie the Head (Eddie for short) which is Iron Maiden's mascot as he is locked up in an insane asylum. You start out the game in London's East Side, shooting thugs armed with guns, bottles and whatever else they can use to try and take you down. Some of the thugs will charge at you, others will pop up and try to get you. The game then moves into the asylum where Eddie escapes. Once Eddie escapes you move your way through a variety of levels including Hell. There are a total of 7 levels that you will blast through, and most of them are quite lengthy, sometimes a bit too long and tedious. There is multiplayer in Ed Hunter, but it's only local multiplayer, you would have to have a friend over to play the game with you. I remember getting this game when I was younger and having friends come over and take turns playing the game. There are power ups you can pick up ranging from health, better weapons and other things which is always nice to find. Especially because later on the enemies can be a bit on the difficult side.

The graphics are good, but outdated, the game is colorful but quite dark, which in some levels fits the mood. Of course I can't complain too much about the graphics because of this game is from 1999, not 2016. The animations are nice, the enemies look odd, pretty much it fits Iron Maiden perfectly. The game doesn't glitch at all, but if you want to get this to run on later operating systems, you might have some issues getting it to run. The music in Ed Hunter is badass. It's Iron Maiden! It's kick ass heavy metal, ranging from songs like Number of the Beast, Hallowed By Thy Name, Wrathchild, Powerslave, Killers, Phantom Of The Opera, and many other classics. I can't think of anyone that is a fan of Iron Maiden that would complain about that. As for the sound effects, they are nice, a bit odd with some of the enemies but that is what makes the game a lot of fun. The controls are very simple, you just click at the screen, just like any light gun game, I can't think of anyone out there that would have issues with these controls. Hell even my grandmother could play this game and do a decent job.
Ed Hunter is great, it's a fun light gun game, the game play is great, the graphics are nice, but outdated, the music is badass, the sound effects are good, the controls are nice. My only issue, I wish the game was longer then it was, maybe shorten up the levels a bit, and add more levels, but for what it is, I really enjoy this game a ton. I just don't get the hate this game receives from metal heads, but then again, sometimes metal heads can be real clowns. If you like heavy metal, Iron Maiden and video games, definitely give Ed Hunter a try!

Hun, is the music actually from Iron Maiden or it's like Moonwalker for the Genesis and highly synthesized? Anyway I found your review good; it is easy to situate one's self with respect to the game with the descriptions you gave. You could have gone into more details (why are the graphs outdated and quite dark?), but you definitely caught my attention and I would be curious to try the game.

janus : It is the actual music of Iron Maiden, since it was part of the 3CD set.

I was supposed to post in this thread yesterday, but then I made enough posts for the day yesterday thus why I didn't and said I would post in it today. This is a rather usual game you have reviewed on. I've never played it and it seems....interesting to try I may just go and see the gameplay of the game in hopes, that it can be something worth playing in a way. Another amazing review as always.