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Next year should see Sue Lawley commemorating the Battle of Britain, and Encore are first out with a tie-in; Spitfire. It's 1940 and the flying bombs are zooming over the Channel toward Britain. To prevent them blowing up the aircraft (lives) parked at your base you must shoot them down, while also defending yourself against Me 109s.

On the other side of Channel are rocket bases which you must destroy by making diving strafing runs. A map can be called up, but with no ability to navigate other than to make the screen scroll left or right, this facility is mainly useful as a pause.

While the backgrounds are mediocre, the spitfire sprite itself is well-drawn and animated. Unfortunately, its size throws realism out of the window, and combatting Me109s which flash across the screen so quickly is difficult. Turning around, climbing and diving are also a bit awkward with strange controls and so little space to manoeuvre in.

While luck plays a large part in your survival, practice allows you to build up a respectable score. But the lack of variety means there isn't much incentive to keep playing beyond that.

Purchasers of Operation Hormuz should recognize the game-style as it's virtually identical, albeit lacking a few minor features. Certainly not a flight sim, this is a shoot-'em-up where overlarge sprites seriously impair playability. Fun for a while though.