Previous Next

Violence is golden as the sequel to Operation Wolf explodes onto the Commodore machines

It's been a long time since Roy Adams last saw combat. Now another crisis has erupted, placing the fate of hundreds of innocent civilians in the balance.

A DC-10 has been hijacked by Arab terrorists and diverted to Kalubya, North Africa. The terrorist demands are predictable, their threats ruthless. Unless 23 of their terrorist comrades are released within ten hours, the passengers will be slaughtered one by one.

Roy Adams is called in and, due to a massive increase in military spending, is accompanied by another 'use-bullets-like-water' comrade - Hardy Jones.

Operation Thunderbolt starts off with the two heroes walking down main road into the country to face an endless onslaught of Arab terrorists in this move-into-the-screen, 3D stage. These quite happily blast away and throw grenades at the would-be rescuers, draining energy with each hit.

A round or three sends the bad guys on their way to Allah, better still a well-placed rocket does wonders when things get busy. But it's best to save the rockets for such minor inconveniences as MiG-25 supersonic jets and a JetRanger with troops shooting a heavy machine gun out of the doors.

Our heroes have their own mighty resources to call on though - crates dropped from supply aircraft can be blasted to collect a variety of items to help in the battles. Besides all-important ammo, there's a laser-sight, arguably the important add-on as it puts a red sight on screen for either Roy or Hardy to use for more accurate fire (only one laser sight available, sadly). Also useful is body armour (reducing any damage taken by half), power drink (restoring lost energy) and the rarely found first aid kit which is even better at healing wounds. More often than not, your so-called 'friend' may try to pinch a falling item off you by shooting it before it goes off the screen, so shoot it again to get it back the other way!

Make it through the onslaught to the church and a spy inside tells you where to go next for more ammo and info on the location of the hostages. Now the enemy's getting really nasty, bringing in heavily armed gunship helicopters!

At the end of the level there's the ammo depot, grab as much as you can, learn the location of the hostages and blow the depot. Now Roy and Hardy are getting somewhere! With a jeep for transport the two combatants race along through a 3D jungle road. The enemy sends in rocket equipped MiG-25s, Hind gunships, tanks and jeeps all together!

Inside the horizontally-scrolling enemy hide-out things are no less action-packed, the terrorists are everywhere and have a Russian Advisor in control. What makes combat tricky is the presence of hostages. Try not to shoot all eight (or any come to think of it) and blow away that Russian Advisor to complete the level.

It comes as no surprise to learn that not all of the hostages have been rescued, they've been split up into groups and another group are held at the enemy's HQ. Getting there is via a little 3D jaunt in a patrol boat. Enemy torpedo boats and aircraft provide the necessary distractions. After this it's back to the horizontal-scroll for a tour around the enemy HQ. Eight more hostages are to be rescued from their cells by blasting the locks on the doors.

It's great to see the two-player option working well on both versions. Like in the arcades, some real off-screen fights can start when one player nicks the other player's extra ammunition, laser sight, or much needed extra energy! If both of you keep firing at a crate item it can quickly develop into a ridiculous game of ping-pong as the equipment gets bounced back and forth across the screen!

On the graphics front it's all extremely attractive with good horizontal scrolling, manic blasting of the most violent kind and some good 3D scenes. If you like your violence on the major scale, then this is the one for you (and another bloodthirsty friend!).

The C64 games has good sound effects and a decent Matthew Cannon tune while the Amiga benefits from some great samples - you really do begin to feel sorry for those cats and dogs that get shot! And in pretty much every other respect, the Amiga game amazes.

Tremendous speed, jaw dropping animation and superb graphics. Amiga Operation Thunderbolt is in a league of its own when it comes to blast-'em-ups - it's genuinely arcade perfect. In short, a quantum leap over Operation Wolf. For the C64 - which had a great Operation Wolf conversion - the sequel offers dramatically improved graphics, playability in short - double the gameplay and double the action. Amazing.

While all eyes are on Chase HQ for Xmas, Ocean's second big-name coin-op conversion is here *now* and it's awesome!! The C64 game gets full marks for effort with not just the Operation Wolf-style horizontal levels to fight through but also the 3D levels which work well. The frame update is smooth with buildings scrolling past, men running out of the screen, and jeeps driving past in a convincing manner (considering it is two games in one it's a very good effect).

What drew me to the C64 game were the great enemy sprites, with a lot more shading and detail about them than the stick figures in Operation Wolf; they move real fast as well!

Concerning the Amiga game, just saying it *is* the arcade game isn't enough as Operation Thunderbolt actually *improves* on it with an ace Jonathon Dunn tune and smoother moving, slightly more detailed graphics. There's also a facility for two mice (mouses?) or joysticks - a bit better than those cheap plastic guns bolted onto the coin-op, that's for sure!!

Presentation 84% Great mouse, lightgun, and joystick options. Multi-load is apparent but cleverly constructed with two levels per load.

Graphics 90% Authentic backdrops with great shading and detail in the soldier sprites.

Sound 79% Good title tune and atmospheric level-end and death tunes. Better than average spot effects but no in-game tunes.

Hookability 94% Now that there's two player action, the team spirit element of the game shines through in fine style.

Lastability 92% Eight levels compared to the Operation Wolf's six, with two types of gameplay and challenge within the one game.

Overall 92% A difficult coin-op to convert but one that's emerged as well presented, highly playable, and great fun.

Presentation 96% Literally arcade perfect all the way through with the coin-ops attract mode and the level completion screens. There's even a Spectrum - i.e. mass attack - emulator hidden away in the game!

Graphics 98% Effectively they *are* the graphics from the coin-op but unbelievably they've been improved upon!

Sound 94% A host of near-perfect samples, together with a moody title tune and enjoyable inter-level music.

Hookability 96% Instantly playable even if it didn't have the Thunderbolt name to attract the gamesplayer.

Lastability 94% The more you play it, the better it gets and boy, is there a challenge in this game!

Overall 97% We're not talking an Amiga conversion of the coin-op here! We're talking the coin-op in an Amiga!