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If your mother could see you now... The first sign was a perverse desire to watch all the films in the "Wild Geese" series - and then you started talking like Roger Moore. From that moment on only the life of a mercenary could satisfy your lust for the smell of blood, the heat of battle, the rustle of unmarked banknotes.

But we all know War Is Hell, and now here you are, with an UZI 9mm in your hands, a pouch of rocket grenades and a few extra magazines of ammunition. Your solo mission is to gun your way through four areas seething with soldiers all after your blood (and any other parts of your body they can hang over their mantlepieces), rescue the prisoners from the fifth concentration camp level, then get them safely to a nearby airport where you can 'borrow' an aircraft to take them home.

As you yomp through each horizontally-scrolling warzone, enemy soldiers appear on the screen, pointing their weapons directly at you! Take aim with a crosshair, pull the trigger and they'll hit the ground before they can pop a few bullets into your sturdy carcass - but take care to avoid splattering nurses or hostages all over the shop. Miss the enemy, and feel the hot lead fly into your face.

Of course, an intelligent guerilla doesn't go for the point-black shoot-out and take up sniper positions in distant buildings or shrubbery, nor does he parachute in with guns blazing. The *really* clever one attacks from the safety of Bell helicopter gunships, tanks or gunboats.

All of your weapons are in limited supply, so careful aiming and judicious firing is essential. However, at random intervals, extra items appear at the foot of the screen to aid your progress. Shooting these can provide extra magazines or grenades, or heal some of your wounds. Hit an F icon and you get five seconds to use up an extra supply of rapid fire bullets, while the dynamite icon destroys all hostiles on the screen, apart from the helicopters, which have their armour weakened.

When (or if!) you get to stage six, get ready for the fight of your life: you have to wipe out no less than 85 enemy soldiers, eleven helicopters and four tanks before you and your charges can take the plane back to freedom, democracy and a large salary.

Not being a pompous fudge-sucker, I won't moralise on the dangers of computer-simulated violence. Instead, I'll just say "Cor! This is brilliant fun!" because that's just what it is. The game doesn't quite feature every aspect of the arcade version, but I don't think even the most ardent Operation Wolf fan would complain when the programmers have packed as much as this into one load.

The graphics move brilliantly, and even though the larger ones are quite chunky, they don't lack detail; on top of this, the sound effects are OK too!

Overall, it recreates the coin-op experience very well indeed, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to kill people without getting drenched in blood and other body fluids.

Another ace conversion from Ocean.

To be quite honest, I didn't think that Operation Wolf would convert at all to the C64. How wrong could I be? Ocean's in-house programming team have done an incredible job transferring the game to the home machines.

Obviously the graphics and sound aren't quite like the arcade original and there are a few things missing, but the gameplay has been captured totally.

The frenetic quality is incredible: the adrenalin really gets pumping when you're down to your last few rounds and a figure rushes on right in front of you discharging his revolver into your face (eergh!).

I'm very impressed, actually, and I'm glad to admit that I was wrong to condemn the idea before I saw what a brilliant job had been done. It's fantastic!

I remember playing this at Ludlow fair and not lasting very long at all, but next time I see an Operation Wolf arcade machine, I'll be a lot better equipped to show it who's boss!

Ocean have programmed a first rate home version to save all you Operation Wolf fans from poverty. The jungle animals are missing but you've quite enough to occupy your gunsight without them! The graphics have been very well designed and even though the larger ones are made up of expanded sprites, they're not blocky or unshapely.

The NEOS mouse option is very welcome and it emulates the arcade game's UZI light gun a lot better than the joystick. Having said that, the joystick control is about as good as it could be, the programmers having made the crosshair move progressively faster across the screen when you aren't pressing the fire button.

All in all, dynamite!

Presentation 90%
Excellent on-screen presentation and mouse option help retain the feel of the coin-op as far as possible. No multi-load either!

Graphics 88%
Large and mean sprites to intimidate even the toughest micro-mercenary.

Sound 72%
Good title screen and high score table soundtracks, but sound in the game is limited to machine gun chatter and explosions (what else?)

Hookability 92%
Even if the coin-op's reputation alone isn't enough to grab you, the rapid-fire gameplay will have you hooked from the word go.

Lastability 90%
Repeated playing doesn't make the fun fade one bit - and it's real tough.

Overall 91%
A brilliant conversion with tons of atmosphere and playability.