23rd July 1984
Blue Thunder
Blue Thunder was the name of a particularly trashy American series starring a powerful and indestructible helicopter. Blue Thunder is also now the name of a game for the C64 starring a helicopter. Here any resemblance ceases.
The cover shows what looks like a still from a multi-megabuck sci-fi film: the reality of the game is very different. The helicopter is a single colour, single sprite blob crowned with what look vaguely like rotors.
The object of the game is to avoid or destroy the enemy defences to get to the nuclear reactor, which looks suspiciously like an over-sized brick barbecue. Fly over the hill next to it to get to a small landing pad to pick up the prisoners from a little hut and return to base, preferably in one piece.
Fuel is limited, and so is the game: the panel (one 6-year-old, one 84-year old, two dogs and a hamster) gave mixed reactions to this, but all were bored after fifteen minutes of gameplay.
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