Previous Next

Botsneda is an island under siege. COBRA has launched an attack and vital data has been left on a computer disk in the occupied zone, in this licence from the eponymous toys.

Flint, Lady Jaye and Quick Kick have been sent in using an AWE Striker craft to get that disk. To allow greater speed, the AWE has had its weaponry removed, so Snake Eyes must defend the craft from above, manoeuvring with the aid of a multidirectional helipack.

The way ahead is difficult for even the AWE and a path must be cleared through the forest of electrical-charge-generators, barricades and rocket silos.

Snake Eyes is equipped with a powerful gun, with which he can take out ground-to-air missiles fired from the silos (though if he's hit by one of the deadly projectiles, he loses one of his four lives). With this weapon he can also blast out sections of electrical discharges and barricades, and earn points by piercing the targets that hang in the sky. However, if this hovering warrior flies into one before he ' s burst it, yet another life is removed from his meagre stock.

Concrete barriers seriously impede the progress of the AWE Striker, and open stretches of canal water cannot be crossed at all by the land-based vehicle. So pontoon bridge sections must be picked and carried by Snake Eyes to where they are needed. With a bridge complete, the Striker can move on.

Snake Eyes cannot be too profligate in his use of ammunition and fuel; his supplies are strictly limited. A warning is given when his fuel reserve has fallen to o dangerous levels. - Both ammunition and fuel can be topped up, but neither should be picked up prematurely as already full tanks and magazines cannot take more.

Joysticks: Cursor, Kempston. Sinclair
Graphics: colourful, but the scrolling is jerky
Sound: little
Options: definable keys

Action Force is just too-oo-oo hard. You're always on the move - there's no stopping in midflight for a quick read of The Independent, and though the idea is simple the awkward control method makes its appeal shortlived - especially for the age group at which the toys are aimed. And I can't really say this'll make me go out and buy the toys either!

Action Force is a really well-presented, pathetic game. Once you've got past the slick "Action Force" writing and music it looks, and plays, just like Durell's now ageing Harrier Attack (from pre-CRASH days). The houses and the main character are very crude and simplistic, and the scrolling and the irritating way the bombs explode up your posterior (Nick Roberts's Daft Dictionary) make up a bad game with no lastability.

Action Force comes as a unwelcome surprise from the Gang Of Five, though the front end is very pleasant indeed. Unfortunately the game itself lacks substance, and jerky, if colourful, graphics do little to entice you into it.