Home Computing Weekly


Combat Air Patrol

Categories: Review: Software
Author: C.G.
Publisher: Vidipix
Machine: Dragon 32

 
Published in Home Computing Weekly #124

There are a large number of flight simulators available for all popular home computers, the Dragon 32 included. Dragon 32 flight simulators have to beat DACC's excellent 747 simulator and this is what I partly judged Vidipix's CAP against.

CAP is essentially a fighting rather than a flying simulation. Your aircraft is a Tornado of the RAF and you must attack Russian Mig 25's and avoid their attacking fire. Your weaponry consists of 2 SAM ground-to-air missiles and a fast firing cannon. You must quickly learn to recognise which aircraft, all displayed rather poorly, are the enemy and which are American FI5 Eagles. I tended to have a crack at anything that came into view partly for the sheer hell of it and partly to have a go at the anti-conciliatory attitude that is prevalent in computer games (I wasn't a fan of Raid Over Moscow, either). Not that I often got the chance. I suppose that the game mirrors a real combat mission in that you do not have aircraft whizzing about constantly firing and attacking but without a moving landscape and with very little else to do (admittedly there are refuelling and landing options) one tends to hanker for a scrap.

The program is rather slow working; a large proportion of it is written in BASIC. This fact I found out by accidentally pressing the Break key only to find the program stop and display itself. I am a little sceptical of any programmer who does not know or use the well-known POKE's to disable the Break key.

The program overall is fair, but I did not find it particularly entertaining. It has been done before and much better by other companies on the Dragon and other machines.

C.G.

Other Reviews Of Combat Air Patrol For The Dragon 32


Combat Air Patrol
A review by Mike Gerrard (Dragon User)

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