Previous Next

It's always been a problem for us here at S.U. Towers. What do you say when someone has blatantly taken rather an entertaining game, copied it's style exactly but changed the characters and ended up with something almost the identical clone?

For Sharkey's Moll is Operation Wolf right down to the spinning daggers that come careering towards you. Sure the grenades have been swapped for Molotov cocktails and the tanks for Chugaboom look alikes, and the baddies have left the Territorial Army and joined the "Family" and purchased ill fitting suits, but they still hide behind doors, pop up from underneath you and run onto the side of the screen to dive infringe of your blazing guns.

Just in case you don't know what the snek's going on I'll run the scenario by you again. There are six levels of left to right scrolling shoot 'em up action. You are issued with a basic machine gun that can be swapped for an upgraded version by shooting any of the various models that you come across lying on the ground. You have a limited supply of bullets displayed as magazines and individual shots on the right hand side of the screen as well as Molotov cocktails (Bombs!) that clear the entire street. Other bits and extras can be picked up in similar fashion to the guns. All death and destruction is dished out by a cursor that floats ethereally in mid air about the play field. At the end of each level an informer comes on to tell you which way to go next. If you shoot him you'll wish you hadn't as you'll be sentenced harshly and forced to play the level again.

Operation Wolf was a great arcade game because of the big rattling machine gun. Quite why anyone would want to play this in home computer form at all has always puzzled me. This version employs some fabulous backdrops and sprite graphics but the sluggish control for the cursor (especially when there's a lot going on) gives it the final kiss of death. Pity 'cos it looks just great.

Label: Zepplin Memory: 48K/128K Price: £2.99 Tape, N/A Disk Reviewer: Steve Keen

If only all the effort had gone into something original. The game doesn't do the programming justice.