Amstrad Action
1st October 1985
Categories: Review: Software
Publisher: Amsoft
Machine: Amstrad CPC464
Published in Amstrad Action #1
People don't dream about driving trains any more - but about flying helicopters! Here you've got the chance to play Stringfellow Hawke of the TV program fame. You pilot a chopper which is very sensitive to control as you try to manoeuvre inside an underground cavern complex that scrolls as you move between screens.
Your job is to rescue five trapped scientists by destroying the defence control boxes positioned around the caves. The boxes are small cubes with a little blue button on top which disappears when shot. This will open up another area of the cave for you... unless you've shot a dummy box or done them in the wrong order.
Not much is given away about what you have to do but this does make the joy of discovery even greater when you work out part of your task. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that your time runs out extremely fast and you're not told how to give yourself more (I'm told there is a way!).
The caves are packed with hazards that call for very tight control of your chopper, as well as furious concentrauon. Gravity constantly pulls you down so you have to keep pushing up on the joystick to stay airborne although when you move left or right you do automatically maintain height. You have seven shields that are gradually bumped away when you hit things and can't be replaced. Some collisions prove instantly fatal if you're caught on the turn or hit a nasty defence device.
The hazards are numerous and, at first, all too easy to hit. Light blue walls can be shot through but this has no effect on the rest of the robotic inhabitants. These include rotating radar towers, robots that look like satellites, moving poles with a charged ring around them, rockets blasting flames, electric barriers and even a remote control camera!
As you get better at control, it is possible to get past all these hazards but it may take a very long while before you can crack this game (I didn't).
Good News
1. Colourful and detailed graphics including a nice helicopter. 2. A really hard task calling for great move-ment precision. 3. Nice (at first) rendition of theme music. 4. Some imaginative, if diabolical, hazards. 5. Great joystick sensitivity practice.
Bad News
1. Control and frustration factor may be too much to stand. 2. If you do get impossibly stuck, may not be rewarding. 3. There aren't that many screens.
Second Opinion
Graphics were very impressive in their colourful chunkiness, but the music was maddening after a bit. So was the game. Control is exceptionally difficult and the puzzles are fiendish. You won't get very far to begin with, but you'll probably be back for more.