Previous Next

Now released on the budget Action Sixteen label, Flight Of The Intruder won an ST Format Gold rating when it was originally reviewed back in ST Format 29.

Based on an aircraft carrier in Vietnam during 1972, your job is to take command of either an F4 Phantom or an A6 Intruder and complete various missions to achieve your command's objectives. Because this is a flight sim, rather than a game, the controls are extremely complicated and at times you feel as if you need to grow an extra pair of hands to cope with all the keyboard commands, icons and pull-down menus. It certainly makes you realise how complicated it is to fly an aircraft. Luckily, there's a 216 page manual to wade through which tells you all about the plane, your missions and the background to the Vietnam conflict.

The missions have varying levels of difficulty - with titles like Iron Rain and Hunter Killer - and the program enables you to swap between Phantom and Intruder aircraft so you can always be where the action is. Unfortunately, because you have to follow the US Command's Rules of Engagement, all your missions take place under severe operating restrictions, so you can't take pot shots at stationary vehicles or attack undesignated targets without the risk of being court-martialled. Once you've successfully completed an operation, your next headache is going to be putting the aircraft back on the carrier. However, there is an autopilot function included so that you can get some much needed help when you first start trying this manoeuvre.

Once you've mastered the complicated controls, the gameplay is slick and you're soon shooting around the skies like an angel with 20 MiGs on your tail. The graphics are reasonable, but can look a bit blocky with the 3D perspective sometimes getting a little confused.

An immensely complicated, but very realistic flight sim which puts your firmly in the pilot's seat. Its only real rival is MicroProse's utterly brilliant F19 Stealth Fighter, but at a mere £14.99, Flight Of The Intruder makes an ideal introduction to this genre.