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, un-heroic 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 fights your candle. Personally, my candle positively melts when I think of hanging upside down 30,000 feet up in the air!

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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, the 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.

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Time to dispense with all the Tally Ho!s 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 Harrier, and if you thought 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, all-knowing 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 »s 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 some nice fun to be had shooting the hell out of people.

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?

Graphics 77%
They're both good looking and nice to play, but Harrier seems ever so slightly better.

Sonics 74%
There's not much you can do with a flight sim. As far as flanging motor effects go, they're okay.

Grab Factor 84%
How grabby can a flight sim be? There's little room for originality in the format.

Staying Power 88%
If you like flying around a lot, this pack has certainly got the goodies to keep you happy.

Overall 80%
Flight sims are a funny bunch. You either love them or hate them. If you love them, these are for you!