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Chocks away! Put on those flying goggles, tweak that handlebar moustache and blow the enemy to hell! However much he sounds like an aristocratic flasher, the Blue Baron is in fact a fictitious flying ace from the Great War and the star of Zeppelin's latest budget blaster.

Your mission is to fly over horizontally scrolling enemy territory, hitting the space bar to bomb the target (bridge, fort etc). Be quick - your fuel won't last for ever. But make sure you don't miss: as most World War One biplanes had no bomb ports, the pilot hail to keep the bomb in the cockpit with him and drop it by hand! Needless to say there was only room for one. Once you've devastated the target (or missed it completely) it's back to the airfield. You start the game with three Sopwith Camels (the best Allied aircraft of WWI), each of which can absorb four hits before crashing to the ground.

Bearing in mind the game's WWI setting, the degree of movement enjoyed by your fighter is incredible. Its ability to weave in and out of the enemies is unbelievable and turning back on yourself sends it into a tight mid-air manoeuvre that would tax a Harrier jump jet! Not that this is a problem - Blue Baron doesn't claim any degree of realism, and shouldn't be graded like a flight sim. The question's not 'does it play accurately' but 'does it play well?'

And the answer? Well, it's a definite maybe. As a game, it's ridiculously shallow and dated - we were playing games like this five years ago, and they were pretty undemanding then! The graphics aren't particularly inspired: the scenery's pretty drab, the enemy aircraft look just like yours, and apart from the odd multiple-shots-to-kill barrage balloon that's all there is!

Even so, the game does have that spark of playability. The missions are mercifully short so you'll often lose it only seconds from home, encouraging you to have another try to get through one more mission. The passcode system's a welcome addition and the joystick on the control panel which mimics your movement's also a nice touch, but once you've played it for five minutes you'll have seen everything the game's got to offer!

Blue Baron's fun while it lasts, but unfortunately won't last too long. There are much snazzier sideways-scrolling shoot-'em-ups around, and a fair few of them are out on budget. Check out The Hit Squad's R-Type instead, or this month's Megatape marvel, Breakdown.

I remember when all this were nowt but fields, and people released simple horizontally scrolling blasters for the C64. Those were the days, son. Grand they were too - none o' yer fancy parallax, varied enemies and scintillating soundtracks. Aye, the production may have been poor, but the crude gameplay shone out like a beacon of hope for us downtrodden folk.

This Blue Baron's a real trip down nostalgia lane. Ah, now I remember... in those best and worst of times, I kept thinking, "There must be more than this. Some day the boffins'll make games with massive levels, innovative features, loads to see and do, much more than blasting a few planes and balloons."

Presentation 60%
A good password system, but cheap overall

Graphics 45%
They do their job... well, er, sort of anyway!

Sound 39%
Bzzzz - khrrrr - bdang bdang bdang bdang!

Hookability 67%
It's surprisingly playable the first time around...

Lastability 38%
...but will you really load this game up twice?

Overall 54%