Personal Computer News


F15 Strike Eagle
By U. S. Gold
Commodore 64

 
Published in Personal Computer News #101

F15 STRIKE EAGLE

Don't be fooled - if you're looking for fast and furious on-screen action, this game isn't it.

It could best be described as a wartime flight simulator, full of technical detail and theoretical tactics, but short on thrills. The F15 Strike Eagle of the title is armed to the teeth with 1000 rounds of air gun ammo, 8 heat seeking and radar homing missiles and 18 bombs - what more could any computerised megalomaniac ask for?

Control of the Strike Eagle is via joystick and keyboard (a second joystick in port two can be used for additional controls). Considerable use is made of the keyboard to switch armament modes from airguns to missiles or bombs.

F-15 Strike Eagle

On the screen is the essential view of the horizon through the cockpit window of the Strike Eagle, the ground in brown and sea of blue. Additional on-screen data includes a map of your current mission, a graphical interpretation of the plane's armament capability and a radar screen which provides lots of red herrings.

The simulation is naturally full of options. There are four skill levels and a choice of seven different mansions to fly, all of which are based on actual air combat missions - ranging from Libya in August 1981 through Syria in March 1984 and Iraq in June 1981.

A briefing is provided on each mission. This describes the situation, the flight plan and the enemy threat. Study it all well, as the simulation improves considerably with familiarity - and it needs to, because it's hellishly slow to begin with. Take heed of a passing comment of a casual observer while the game was being reviewed: "Bit slow isn't it?" You betcha.

Bob ChappellKeith Mason

Other Commodore 128 Game Reviews By Bob Chappell


  • Beach Head Front Cover
    Beach Head
  • Battle Through Time Front Cover
    Battle Through Time
  • Forbidden Forest Front Cover
    Forbidden Forest
  • Cad Cam Warrior Front Cover
    Cad Cam Warrior
  • Heroes Of Karn Front Cover
    Heroes Of Karn
  • Suspended: A Cryogenic Nightmare Front Cover
    Suspended: A Cryogenic Nightmare
  • Decathlon Front Cover
    Decathlon
  • Monopoly Front Cover
    Monopoly