Ed Hunter

Overview

Ed Hunter is a relatively obscure game, featuring Iron Maiden's music. The game casts the player as a detective named "Ed Hunter", tasked with finding Eddie (Iron Maiden's mascot).  Throughout the game, the player fights monsters from the first person perspective through a series of linear, on-rails missions similar to light gun games that had been ported to the PC around the same time frame ( Virtua Cop 2, House of the Dead, etc).

Levels

The game carries you through many environments that relate directly to the cover art for Iron Maiden's various albums. The game has you shooting on streets (akin to their first two album covers: Iron Maiden and Killers), through Hell (Number of the Beast), and through a mental hospital (Piece of Mind).

Music

Nine of the 20 songs were used in the game as background music across the eight levels:

Level 1 - "London's East End"

• Killers
• Iron Maiden

Level 2 - "The Shady Pines Asylum"

• Wrathchild

Level 3 - "The Pits of Hell"

• Hallowed Be Thy Name
• Number of the Beast

Level 4 - "The Graveyard"

• Fear of the Dark

Level 5 - "The Pharaoh's Tomb"

• Powerslave

Level 6 - "Blade Runner"

• Futureal

Level 7 - "Futureal"

• The Evil That Men Do

Level 8 - "Finale"

• The Evil That Men Do

Reception

While the Iron Maiden fanbase found the vast number of Iron Maiden song and album references populating the entire game enjoyable, players criticized the gameplay for being "dull and repetitive". Additionally, complaints were levied against the soundtrack for not accurately reflecting the true top 20 songs from the fans, with the inclusion of Tailgunner and Futureal in particular being directly criticized.

As the game was a bonus with the double disc compilation and not a stand alone product, most professional outlets neglected to review it. Those that did marked it down heavily, with PC Zone in particular stating, " However, Ed Hunter's pathetically limited (not to mention mind-numbingly repetitive) gameplay is the finest cure for insomnia this side of a litre of Scotch." and, " You do get the added 'bonus' of two audio CDs containing 20 of Maiden's 'finest' moments, but then if you're into the band you'll already own said dirges. And if you ain't, well, 30 notes is a bit much to pay for a couple of shiny, oversized drink coasters, isn't it?" ( link). Other reviewers weren't as favorable in their assessment of the game and it currently maintains a MobyRank of 38/100 ( link).