Your Sinclair


F1 Tornado

Author: Rich Pelley
Publisher: Zeppelin Games
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Your Sinclair #65

F1 Tornado

There's a rather unfortunate plot to go with this one involving you, in a F1 Tornado, taking off from an aircraft carrier situated on the edge of the Gulf, and flying through enemy territory shooting down planes and bombing things on the ground. A big "ahem" for Zeppelin, but merely a left-to-right scrolling shootem- up for the rest of us.

But is it any good? Well, yes, it is, although it is admittedly very simple. The baddies consist of planes which fly across the screen with no fancy movement patterns or anything (just straight), and have to be shot down or avoided. There are also gun turrets on the ground and on the back of ships which fire at you - these are best shot from low range or bombed. But you can only bomb them if you've picked up the bomb add-on weapon en route. Other weapons available are reverse fire, double fire, speed-up, and heat-seeking missiles (which I would imagine are pretty self-explanatory) which only last for a limited amount of time.

Er, what else? Well, the graphics are nice - big, chunky and monochrome which seems to suit the game somehow. There are some nice touches too like the difference between your bullets and the enemy's (which makes things much clearer and would do wonders quite a few other shoot-'em-ups). As I've said, this is a very simple game, making it spookily addictive to begin with, but as not much changes throughout, you may lose the incentive to play before you've got particularly far - we're not talking R-Type status or anything. But then again, if you've got a soft spot for shoot- 'em-ups, and you don't like yours particularly hard, then I'd say this is certainly one worth 'checking out' (if not buying).

Rich Pelley

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