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Oi, Capt Petrovski, have you seen a sub anywhere? I'm sure I left it here. Yes Comrade, I think Ramius had it last. Oh Bloody 'ellski, if it's not pens or staplers, it's nuclear subs. If you see him, tell him I need it back. Er, okay, but don't hold your breath. I've always said, "Never trust a Russian with a Scottish accent".

The Cold War has been over for ages. On the hip and trendy scale, Russians are now way above anything Manchester's music scene can throw at us, so it was a decidedly odd move to make a film based on Tom Clancy's Cold War thriller The Hunt For Red October. But, as ever, however good or bad a film is, it inevitably gets translated onto the computer screen before you can say Glasnost. This particular film licence has been taken up by Grandslam and unlike the previous Hunt game (based on the original novel) this one is arcade action rather than strategy.

There are five levels in all starting with the rather precarious and rather aptly named 'Helicopter level'. This involves lowering Dr. Jack Ryan, a CIA agent, onto the Submarine USS Dallas from his 'chopper' (this space is reserved for cheap innuendo). The seas are rough, the wind is blowing and you only have limited fuel. The left and right movement of the helicopter can be controlled with left and right movements of the joystick; these controls being suitably awkward to mirror the precarious nature of a real helicopter drop. Up and down controls the lowering and raising of the winch on which you hang. By using these controls to counteract the ravages of nature you must deposit Dr. Ryan on the stack on the top of the sub. The graphics in this sequence are absolutely water-logged.

Level two takes us on to more familiar territory with a horizontally scrolling shoot-'em-up. You must pilot the USS Dallas through an undersea trench, Scramble-style (Scramble - noun, very old shoot-'em-up indeed), avoiding young and upwardly mobile missile, Red Fleet subs, and heat-seeking torpedoes. You have at your disposal, torpedoes that fire forwards, depth charges to destroy sea bed based threats and odd blobby little bomb things that fire backwards. Even though this is just one small sub level of the whole game, the graphics are as well drawn as if they were the be all and end all of the whole game. The trench is green and seaweedy, while the sprites are adequately defined and it all plays smoothly too.

the third level is vaguely similar to level one but this time Dr. Ryan must manoeuvre a mini sub from the USS Dallas and dock with the Red October for some tea and crumpets with Capt. Ramius. After disembarking from the Dallas, your sub plummets towards the Red October. Pressing Fire produces upward thrust, so it's a case of tapping Fire whilst moving left and right (to compensate for underwater currents) in order to edge slowly down to the tiny mark on the Russian sub which represents the airlock. Pin point accuracy is essential, otherwise your sub explodes, along with you. It's also a race against the clock, in that you must get there before the allotted twenty-five sections is up and the tea and crumpets get cold [Is that why it's called the Cold War, then? - Ed].

At this point there is a sort of sub sub-level involving the airlock itself. A full-screen representation of the airlock appears with a power meter to the left. All you have to do is waggle the joystick frantically left and right (like in those sports games that knacker a 'stick every five minutes) so that the power meter reaches the top, thus opening the door before the time limit runs out.

Level four is just like level two, but this time you control the Red October and have to face the might of the Red Fleet. 'Nuff said.

The fifth and final level takes place in the reactor room of the sub. Large pipes flank each side of the screen from behind which the sub's cook appears in an attempt to sabotage the operation (presumably he got cheesed off with the crew for not eating their greens). In this simplistic Operation Wolf type thang you simply have to shoot the cook several times to save the day If you miss and hit the pipes more than three times, the reactor blows and you become little more than guppy fodder.

Red October's graphics aren't of the gobsmacking variety but a lot of thought has obviously gone into the neat and atmospheric design of each level. The plot of the game follows the film very closely, So much so that this is one of the most accurate film licences to date, a highly commendable achievement in an area where the final product often bears little or no resemblance to its film counterpart. The sound, however, can only be described as adequate: it neither adds to nor detracts from the game.

While each game style has obviously been influenced by previous releases, they have all been competently produced and all come together to make a polished consolidated package.

1. The plot of the game and the plot of the film are one and the same. Very accurate indeed.
2. Satisfying gameplay.
3. While unoriginal, each level is sufficiently polished to make this a pleasure to play.
4. Six completely different levels combine to provide good value.
5. Controls throughout are both responsive and easy to get to grips with.
6. Atmospheric graphics convey the cold and darkness of the bottom of the ocean.

1. There's nothing really original here. Each game is based on a tried-and-tested formula.