C&VG


War Hawk

Publisher: Firebird
Machine: Commodore 64/128

 
Published in Computer & Video Games #62

War Hawk

Sometimes I wish Andrew Braybrook hadn't written Uridium. Then we'd have been spared all the shoot-'em-up clones that his classic game has inspired.

I guessed it wouldn't be long until a budget version of Mr. B's creation came along. And here it is, in the shape of War Hawk, complete with soundtrack by none other than Rob Hubbard.

Instead of a sideways scrolling game, we've got a horizontally scrolling one - but apart from that, and the lack of frills, this is a pretty basic blast-everything-you-see Uridium clone.

War Hawk

The backgrounds - not so detailed as Uridium - are nice and colourful. The alien attackers are fast and numerous. You can shoot things in the air and on the ground - but there's none of this fancy flipping, only up-down-left-right dodging manoeuvres are permitted.

You don't get lives - only energy levels which appear at the bottom of the screen as little arrow shapes. Energy is lost by colliding with the alien attackers.

If you successfully complete a level, things get really hectic at the end of each wave with lots of fast-moving attackers coming at you.

There's no doubt that War Hawk is good value for your money - but there's only one Uridium. Once you've got that, do you really want more of the same, whatever the price?