Sub Hunt is a fun arcade style game for the iPhone and iPod Touch that puts you in command of a submarine that must defeat wave after wave of enemy ships. With progressive difficulty and a solid list of upgrades, it will entertain both casual and hardcore gamers, but for only a short time. I don’t think it’s a keeper.

The game is one of those pick up and play types with easy controls and a simple concept. All you need to do is hold down that fire button and move your sub away from enemy torpedoes. When the game starts up, the menu options are presented with a radar and intense background music that immediately sets the mood. You can start a new game or continue a previous one. There are three slots to save games and once you’ve chosen a slot, you’re thrown right into the briefing. There really is no story here, but instead, a series of mission objectives. After you read your orders, you start controlling your ship and enemies immediately start appearing. You’ll encounter submarines under the water and ships on the surface, all of which will fire their weapons at you constantly.

You control your sub with your left thumb using a circle dial, which works very well to move the ship in any direction. You can fire your weapons with your right thumb using one of four circular buttons. The two main buttons will fire either straight up or to the right only. The other two buttons are reserved for special weapons and power ups you will collect from destroyed enemy ships. Overall, the controls work well. However, I would have liked the sub to have some sort of momentum in the water so direction changes don’t happen so abruptly. Also, it would be nice to have the option to turn your sub to face the left side of the screen so you can shoot in both directions.

Enemies move from one side of the screen to the other at a constant speed. Ships will drop depth charges and subs will fire torpedoes which you must dodge to avoid causing damage to your sub. When you fire your torpedoes at enemy ships, it may take one shot for the small subs or multiple shots for the bigger ships to be eliminated. Some ships will drop a power up when they are destroyed. These power ups may be defensive, such as shields, or offensive, such as weapon upgrades. Weapon upgrades may include firing multiple torpedoes at once, or new weapons altogether like the aqua gun.

You win the level by destroying a preset number of enemies. At the end of each level you can use the experience points you’ve gained to purchase upgrades in the dry dock. These upgrades include making your sub faster, increasing weapon damage, or increasing the frequency of obtaining special upgrades while playing the game. There are 18 upgrades in all.

Sub Hunt is definitely a fun game to play. However, it lacks the quality to make it a game that will last. The graphics are just OK and the music is nice, but the sound is really what bothers me the most. The weapon sounds all need a bit of work with regards to volume levels and sound quality. For example, the aqua gun sounds like a machine gun, but the clip just sounds a bit cheap. Also, there are no sounds when you actually hit a ship. You fire a torpedo and destroy a massive ship, and there is silence. There needs to be some sort of audio when ships are hit and destroyed.

In conclusion, Sub Hunt is just an OK game. The game does include OpenFeint functionality to compare scores with your friends and check out the leaderboards. But, that's not enough. It’s fun for the first few minutes of gameplay, but it really won’t suck you in enough to keep you playing.