Crash


Operation Gunship
By Codemasters
Spectrum 48K/128K/+2/+3

 
Published in Crash #69

Another game from CodeMasters with a tank in it! Perhaps there was a special offer on tank sprites? Operation Gunship is best described as slick. The presentation is leaps and bounds ahead of most full price games. For example, when you start the game the scrolling landscape curls down the screen as if it were a piece of paper, brilliant!

Your mission in Op Gunship is to rescue all eight of an assault team lost on the enemy island. You fly a helicopter and must blow up buildings and tanks to discover where the team members are hiding. Once you have found one, you hover overhead and lower a ladder for him to climb. Moving whh hole on the ladder causes him to fell off and you have to try again. Once all eight have been found and picked up, they must be returned to base and safety. Your next mission invloves a new island and more people to rescue.

The background and sprite graphics are full of detail and displayed with a colourful border to make up for the monochrome play area. Bullets and bombs must be used sparingly, but more can be picked up by returning to base. Some of the team members are really hard to find, but this doesn't spoil the game, it just makes it last longer. There's the usual CodeMasters musical accompaniment, with a tune at the beginning and a few effects. Operation Gunship is the best budget game of this month, well worth a Smash.