Second, it's a game and a bad one at that. It's a second rate House Of The Dead (one of Sega's more miniscule accomplishments IMHO). You cannot control your movement - only what you shoot. The game is so pathetic that you find yourself losing because of boredom of shooting people before they shoot you. One drawback is that you cannot save in the middle of a mission - only between levels. The ending is not very rewarding, either. One cool thing about the game is that, ahead of time, you can choose which Ed Hunter song plays during each level. The drawback to this is that that song loops over and over and over.

The music is all right if incomplete and the game is a waste of space on your computer, but if you're a longtime fan and collector, or if you want a decent preview of Iron Maiden as a "new" fan, you should check it out if you can pick it up cheap, otherwise, just wait for an official "Greatest Hits" package. Sadly, Iron Maiden isn't at their peak and the really good Greatest Hits packages come, as we all know, when the record label just wants to milk more money from the band's name.

Peace.

Good hits compilation
[THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE MUSIC ONLY. IT DOES NOT COVER THE COMPUTER GAME INCLUDED.]

Ed Hunter is Iron Maiden's second greatest hits album. This one is 2 disc, and its incentive for purchase is an included computer game. Unlike the other hits compilations, the songs on this one were CHOSEN BY THE FANS! Unfortunately, most fans are just casual fans and only listen to the hits, so the tracklist here isn't too different from that of the other hits CDs. Read on for some comments.

1. Iron Maiden [Live] - Why is this a live version with Dickinson instead of the original with Di'Anno from the band's debut LP? I'm sorry, but Dickinson can't do Di'Anno's songs that well.

2. The Trooper - Called Maiden's best song by many, this is without doubt worthy of its place here.

3. Number of the Beast - An excellent track. Not the band's best, but it deserves its place here.

4. Wrathchild - Whew! I was getting worried the Di'Anno years might go forgotten on this compilation! And here we have one of the best songs from his years with the band.

5. Futureal - I really don't like a lot of Blaze's material with Maiden, but this is one of the best songs he released with them. It's hard, heavy, fast, short, and to the point.

6. Fear of the Dark - Another excellent "title track" by the band. Once again it's not one of their best, but certainly deserves a place here.

7. Be Quick or Be Dead - Oh, yeah. This is the second best song on Fear Of The Dark (next to Chains Of Misery, which was sadly omitted.) This track is one of Dickinson's ultimate triumphs with the band.

8. 2 Minutes to Midnight - Another excellent track many fans consider to be the band's best song. More than worthy of being here.

9. Man on the Edge - Another Blaze song. However, as with Futureal, this is one of the BEST Blaze songs, so it belongs here.

10. Aces High - Maiden's best dogfighting song. There's no denying this is one of Dickinson's master works.

11. Evil That Men Do - Ick. One track from Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, and it's one of the album's worst (at least they didn't put the godawful Can I Play With Madness on here.) Still, The Prophecy, Infinite Dreams, and Moonchild are many times better.

12. Wasted Years - One of the best tracks from the band's prog era. Glad to see this here. However, Heaven Can Wait would've been better.

13. Powerslave - Good track overall, but being a title track doesn't make the song the best one on the album. Why did this get on this compilation instead of Flash Of The Blade or Rime Of The Ancient Mariner?

14. Hallowed Be Thy Name - Maiden's dark and gloomy masterpiece from their early Dickinson days. It's not the best of without this one.

1. Run to the Hills - The most overrated Iron Maiden song ever, period. The guitar riff in the opening is godlike, but the rest of the song is strictly mediocre. Children Of The Damned or The Prisoner (from the same album) are A LOT better.

2. Clansman - Yet another Blaze song. Fortunately, the only Blaze material that made the album is actually pretty good, and this is no exception.

3. Phantom of the Opera - Oh, baby! Another Di'Anno song. This is easily the best song off the band's debut album. To call it a best of without this would be blasphemy.

4. Killers - ANOTHER DI'ANNO SONG?! ALL RIGHT! The title track from the band's second album is excellent, but why did this get pick over Murders In The Rue Morgue or Purgatory?

5. Stranger in a Strange Land - Another great melodic and soothing track from the prog era. This is the best track on its respective album.

6. Tailgunner - No Prayer For The Dying wasn't too good. Thank goodness they picked one of the two best songs on there. However, the other good track from the album (Run Silent Run Deep) is the better one, and it angers me it didn't make the cut.

Ed Hunter is an excellent hits compilation. However, it is overpriced and becoming more difficult to find. The new Edward The Great compilation isn't quite as high quality as this one, but it's less expensive and easier to find. However, if you're a step up from the casual fans forget the greatest hits albums and buy all the studio and live albums.

Good CD - not great
Dickinson is by far the better singer and exemplifies what NWBHM is all about. Anyone who likes "the other guy" better might as well listen to new Metallica albums.

Although I do agree that "Run to the Hills" is the most overrated song in the history of metal, I disagree with the gentleman (underneath my review) on some other critiques. First of, "The Evil That Men Do," is one of if not the best songs on this comp. It may not be classic, prototypical Maiden, but it is epic, which is what NWBHM is all about.

Anyway, get the CD - it's worth it

Eddide on the Run
These are the top songs as voted by fans on the official Iron Maiden webpage. I find it a little hard to believe that "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" did not find it's way here. I guess Maiden fans have varying tastes.

Now for the game, which is the reason most people buy this. Why else would you buy it? Most Maiden fans have these songs from the original albums, plus Maiden is getting up there with KISS and Ozzy Osbourne in the race of most "greatest hits" albums.

The game itself is fun, and not too difficult. It's a first person shoot 'em up, but unlike Doom, you only control the gun site. All walking and turning is done for you. On to the levels.

The Underground - This is a cool level. You walk down 22 Acacia Avenue with a detour through the subway. It's fun to shoot the punks with the green mohawks. Espescially when they throw bottles, bricks, and axes at you.

The Asylum - Very cool and funny. You have to give the patients a head shot or they'll continue to throw deadly teddy bears at you.

Hell - This is a stage I just want to pass. It gets a little annoying shooting the flying devil over and over again. This is my least favorite stage. It just seems to take forever.

The grave yard - With shot gun in hand you blast the zombies who throw intestines and brains at you

Egyptian Crypt - Pretty cool. The mummies get up after being shot once, so you got a lot of mouse clicking to do on this one. Head shots make their heads fly off. Get the big gun, because the 9 mil will take all day.

The future - Right off the album cover of 'Somewhere in Time' we walk through a futuristic society, shooting soldiers and green women with great bodies. ...

The finale - Ok here we shoot derelicts and skinless humans. Pass them all and you encounter the four horsemen of the apocolypse.

The ending - An experienced player can complete this game in an hour and a half or so. It is the biggest letdown of the game to win. All you get is Eddide coming out of the wall with his 'Somewhere in Time' getup. He throws a ball at you and you watch yourself going backwards throw the game until you get to the very beginning where you started. That's it! Just add your initials. You get more of a story when you die and you're on the cover of the newspaper. I would play this game a lot more if the ending wasn't such a disappointment.

PS - Watch in the game where you get to shoot the heads of band members. They are worth an extra continue.

Good intro to Maiden
I've been vaguely curious about Iron Maiden since I saw them live in the mid 1980s. Buying this 2 disk set used (and cheap!) was the first thing I did about it, and I'm not at all sorry. It samples the long history of a band that went through 3 lead singers and several not-that-easy-to-detect stylistic changes. Several of the songs are really catchy.
The downside is that it does feel like a sampler -- low on cohesiveness -- and if you really like some of the material you'll probably want to go and buy the albums it was on originally.
The second disk also has a video game, which I'm not about to try. I wish they'd put more (and better) music on the second disk instead.