Get up, up and away with the second of the new Mastertronic games for use with a Magnum Lightphaser. F-16 Fighting Falcon is a thrilling 3-D flight combat game, along the lines of Afterburner. You take part in air-to-air and air-to-ground combat using weapons such as heatseekers and sidewinders to blow Soviet MIGs out of the sky.
The detailed graphics of the F-16 and the enemies that fly towards it give the game a very professional feel. The ground below flies by at high speeds in a realistic way - the only trouble is it's all in glorious yellow monochrome (aww). Sound is not too impressive either, the effects are very basic and the tune drives you mad after a couple of plays.
The playability of the game using the lightgun is severely reduced. The idea is to shoot the F-16 when you want it to move. The inlay says it will take 'automatic, intelligent evasive action'. In fact the F-16 either stays put and ploughs into an oncoming chopper, or blows up!
Using the normal control method improves the game a bit, but there's nothing new about flying around shooting things, is there? If you're desperate for lightgun games then give this a whirl, but you will have to be pretty desperate!