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You are a mature, skilled pilot, of several years combat experience and high repute: your piloting and navigation knowledge extends to many aircraft, from Sopwith Camels to Stealth bombers, airships to UH1-X helicopters. Your understanding of aeronautics and aerodynamics, both in theory and breathtaking practice, have put you in good stead as an ace combat pilot, defending your country's honour. OK, that's the hypnosis over with - on with the game.

Taking up the joystick to control the jet, you begin the game in a 3D section above cloud formations, descending vertically while aircraft approach from a carrier ship far below. A stab of the fire button launches light ammunition from the nose-cone of your jet and missiles from under the wings. Enemies need just a single hit from a missile to be destroyed, but one of your six lives can be lost equally as easily. Once the air defences have been overcome, your aircraft can dive onto the aircraft carrier, strafing it while dodging its surface-to-air missiles.

Once it is destroyed, you take control of a helicopter which is guided over a vertically scrolling landscape. This fires machine-guns and drops bombs (converging on a sight above the 'copter) simultaneously, and also carries one super-bomb, which destroys everything on the screen. The chopper can gain additional weapons by collecting icons: these give a scatter of bombs, fast Vulcan firepower, three-way fire, wide field fire, lasers and double stream bullets.

A powerful alien mothership at the end of the stage requires multiple hits to destroy, then it's back up into the wild blue yonder. From here, the remaining vertically scrolling levels are interspersed with 3D sections, the first of which has you flying through a canyon and destroying an elevated city. The last 3D sequence is the ultimate confrontation, taking place in space, where the alien mothership must finally be destroyed.

With 3D flying games, the effect is usually dependent on the view representing a craft flying towards a horizon, with the ground zooming underneath. The first level of Typhoon is different - it has you hurtling downward. With this conversion, however, you can hardly tell the difference until the board attacking section appears and then everything is made clear.

The perspective of the attacking planes and missiles is reasonable, but why draw them with a black outline? This only serves to make them look very flat. The second stage is more promising, being a Tiger-Heli variant, but this too ails to live up to its potential.

The whole experience is marred by a severe multi-load system that takes a good while to pull data from tape, thus ruining the flow of play. If you can put up with this, and you like the arcade version, then Typhoon may appeal to you, but with the promise of After Burner on the Commodore by Christmas its appeal may be short lived.

Games of this type are notoriously difficult to produce and for this reason it seems to be a mistake to realise a home version of Typhoon so quickly. Basically, the whole thing is there; the 3D action with the jet, the scrolling shoot-'em-up with the helicopter and the various end of level destruction scenes, but I can't help feeling that it's all a little half-baked.

The sound effects are spartan to say the least, but are rescued by a suitable military style soundtrack, and the graphics lack a certain crispness. The feel of the game is good but there is little to conjure up the feeling of 'being there'.

The vertical scroller takes up most of the game and is fair shoot-'em-up fodder, but there really should be more variety. The arcade game itself was a little obscure but gained a cult following and Ocean's conversion could follow the same path.

This is a strange combination of After Burner and 1942, taking the best elements of both. The helicopter section is very derivative; motherships and bolt-on weapons are hardly new, but they're implemented better here than in most vertical scrollers I could mention.

That's only if you survive the tricky 3D jet sections, though! The approaching cloud formations are effective despite few frames of animation, and weaving around enemies and their missiles requires great concentration. All in all, it's one for fans of the arcade, or for any case-hardened gamesplayer.

Presentation 77%
Exceptional loading picture and reduced screen size, with useful continue option.

Graphics 78%
Adequate definition and commendable 3D.

Sound 73%
Feeble sound effects but lively title music.

Hookability 58%
High difficulty will put off the first time player, but much persistence is rewarded.

Lastability 89%
Perseverance pays off and reveals enduring playability.

Overall 79%
One for Typhoon and experienced shoot-'em-up fans.