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If I had to level one criticism at most of the conversions I play, particular those from 8-bit machines, it is that, apart from superficial changes to the graphics, the programmers have made no attempt to really adapt the game for the Amiga. One such example of this is Destroyer, in which you take on the role of a battleship commander based somewhere in the Pacific, sometime during World War II (nothing like a bit of generalisation, eh?).

To add to the realism of the game, you appear to be the only man on the ship, so you must man all thirteen different outposts yourself. In effect, this means navigating, checking the radar and sonar, and killing the enemy. Now this would all by very well and good if the game could make its mind up about whether it wants to be a realistic war-simulation, or a simplified shoot-'em-up. Unfortunately, it can't.

To be fair to the game, it does have a good(ish) side. The different scenarios you can take on range from the mundane - find one submarine, to the ridiculous - rescue a pilot and defeat the whole enemy fleet and air force. But even the most complicated mission requires extreme patience before anything exciting happens (if indeed it ever does). What makes the game even more annoying is that the graphics are not even good enough to allow a first time player to distinguish the enemy fleet from a group of islands.

The graphics are average, but by no means outstanding. The actual drawings lack detail, and the animation is, to put it very mildly, pretty poor. The sound isn't any better. The most dramatic moment sonically is when the guns go off, but even that is hardly likely to wake even the lightest sleeper, let alone put the fear of god into the enemy.

Overall, Destroyer looks like, plays like, and sounds like a Commodore 64 game. Unfortunately at £24.95 on the Amiga it is priced very differently. When you look at some of the games available for the Amiga, the time must have come when software houses stop looking at converting their 8-bit catalogue to the Amiga, and instead start to develop games that use the Amiga's bewildering array of facilities.