In July 1940 the German High Command started preparations to invade England and christened the plans “Operation Sealion”. The battle commenced in earnest on August 10th and went down in history as one of the most courageous of WWII; it resulted in the defeat of the German Luftwaffe, and the cancellation of “Operation Sealion”. Now it's your chance to relive those glorious days, chaps, so get out the false handlebar moustaches, check out the old Spitfire and commence to do battle. PSS are old hands at this type of computer war games, combining strategy with a certain amount of arcade ac-
tion. The strategic level of the game is played on a map depicting the South East/ West of England and Northern France; you are in control of Fighter Command and your task is to deploy squadrons of Spitfires and Hurricanes against the incoming squadrons of the Luftwaffe. You must bear in mind such things as limited flying time, ammunition, availability of landing strips to refuel and the size of the invading squadrons, which usually consist of bombers and fighters. Movement of your forces is joystick controlled, done by moving a white box around the screen and covering a graphic symbol, eg, aeroplane, radar base, etc, and pressing the fire button. An instant readout is flashed onto the screen informing you which squadrons are ready to ‘scramble' and the strength of the base. Once scrambled you can move the squadron anywhere on the map to intercept the German forces; messages will tell you when the fighters need to refuel or when a squadron is lost. A certain amount of tactical play must be adopted to be successful, positioning your forces at the correct points of interception is crucial. On interception you can chose whether to play the arcade sequences or not, I found them rather repetitious and was glad I had a choice.  
There are three levels of play, the Training game, Blitzkrieg and the very challenging Campaign game; the latter is played over 30 days with the option to save each day's play - excellent when you've just finished fighting off 300 aircraft. I found the game well presented with clear, concise instructions and able to generate the right mental feeling, which made me, on seeing one rather large invasion force, cry out in desperation. Certainly a game that will make your head hurt and your hands sweat. Roger Garrett, PCW | 
