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Convoy Raider is basically a Beach Head clone, with some small alterations made to try to improve it. You are in command of a ship which is to patrol the inner sea. We aren't told whose inner sea it is, but it sure is packed with a lot of nasty surprises.

The main screen shows a three way radar screen which tracks air, sea and underwater. The enemy forces consist of ships, planes and submarines. When enemies are attacking you, a flashing square on one of the radar screens indicates where the attack is coming from. Across the top of the screen are four icons: map, sea wolf, exocet and sonar. The map is used to guide your ship around the inland sea so that you can seek and destroy the invaders. Damage inflicted to your ship can be repaired at one of the ports shown on the map.

Your ship is equipped with the latest in weapon technology which includes seawolf sea to air missiles, exocet anti-shipping missiles (as used to destroy HMS Sheffield) and anti-submarine helicopters. The sea wolf missiles are fired at incoming aircraft or anti-ship missiles. The exocet are used to sink enemy shipping and the sonar allows you to control the helicopter and sink submarines. When an attack is over, you return to the main screen, and continue hunting the enemy.

The sound effects are rather irritating and consist of radar pings and explosions. The icons are clearly defined and easily selected. The background scenes look good and colour is used well on them. The similarities to Beach Head are in the gameplay since the graphics are far superior in Convoy Raider. If you already have Beach Head or didn't like it then don't bother buying this, but if you haven't got it and want a shoot-'em-up with a minor amount of strategy in finding your enemy, then this is a reasonable option.

I didn't care for Convoy Raider at all. It's Gremlin's worst game for a long while. It's a group of old hat ideas cobbled into a game that has very little going tor it. The only part I enjoyed was the graphic sequence where the helicopter drops depth charges on a submarine. Apart from that, it's very disappointing.

Score 30,000 points.

Tricky identifying activated icon but otherwise okay.

Graphics 67%
P. Enemy subs and helicopters are well defined
N. Radar screens and maps are simple and unattractive

Sonics 31%
N. No tunes - just annoying effects

Grab Factor 63%
P. Variety of weapons systems
N. Not much to think about.

Staying Power 48%
P. Difficult to destroy all the enemy
N. Gets very repetitive and boring.

Overall 55%
Adds little to old games like Beach-Head