| ★ AMSTRAD CPC ★ GAMESLIST ★ COMPILATION: AIR ATTACK (c) ALTERNATIVE SOFTWARE ★ |
Amstrad Action |
Up there, flying through the clouds, soaring with the birds, swooping like an eagle, diving like a heron (getting blown to bits like a clay pigeon), playing in the fluffy pink clouds, and back in time for tea - life in the Air Force is good, handsome, brave, dashing... or is it. SIMON FORRESTER thinks not. That's dross. Your lifespan was ten minutes in a Spitfire, and probably not much longer in a Harrier. You were cold, scared, and exhausted and filled with the cold dread of sudden, unheroic death. So especially for you, Alternative have allowed us all to relive the experience with their flight sim compilation pack containing Spitfire 40 and Strike Force Harrier - two of the biggest selling sims on the CPC. But are these games any good? In reality, it all depends what lights your candle. Personally, my candle positively metts when I think of hanging upside down 30,000 feet up in the air!
Spitfire 40 This game must have been a nightmare to program, seeing as not only have you got to write a flight sim, but a faithful conversion from reality. Whether they've achieved this is, quite frankly, anybody's guess (when was the last time you went up in a Spitfire then?). The game is simple; fly over England blasting as many bells as possible out of your opponents. That's it. Your opponents, like everything else in this game, are essentially vector graphics, but the speed at which this game runs excuses that - if those straight lines were all filled in with colour and stuff like that, the game would be too slow to be playable. On loading, you have the choice of practice mode (no evil villainous bad guys), combat mode (the real thing, chocks away etc), and finally combat practice (this sees you already in the air being attacked by a stream of Red Baron style blokies). This makes Spitfire 40 more than just a mediocre fly-and-shoot-'em-up. The graphics in Spitfire 40 aren't exactly beautiful, with not much on the ground, the horizon, or indeed, ttie air. Life isn't all dull though, as getting used to the controls and learning to fly a plane that has great difficulty maintaining height will keep you too occupied to worry about the lack of ground detail. Sonically, this game is just a tad annoying. The problem with any simulator is that programmers always seem to feel compelled to simulate a whining engine with a really heavy flange. When you're flying, certain things are bound to confuse you at first. The scariest problem you'll have is suddenly tipping forwards and flying towards the ground. Aaaaaaueargh! Spitfire 40 isn't the smoothest or flashiest game in the world, but it's fun. Strike Force Harrier Time to dispense with all the 'Tally Hols' and such like, and move to more modern quotes such as, 'I'll see you in hell, Jack!' as we move almost bang up to date with Strike Force Hamer, and if you though reviewing Spitfire 40 was difficult enough, you ought to try taking an authoritative stance this one! However, I suppose I'd better do my job (When? Ed) and appear the all-seeing, allknowing reviewer. The quality of the simulation is still open to question, but what about the quality of the game? The first problem you'll encounter is the fact that there don't seem to be any instructions. You're not even told how to speed up, let alone climb! Always assuming you don't want to use them, there are a lot of features on the Harrier. There's loads of weapons (what is a chaff anyway?) and Graphically. Harrier is a little better than Spitfire 40, with stuff on the ground, mountains, etc. Sonically, it's pretty much the same. Once you get the knack of playing this game, you'll enjoy it. However, if you don't like flight sims as a rule, what are you doing with this game anyway? AA |
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