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Gee Bee Air Rally is set in the mid-twenties when planes were a fairly new invention and air races had just come into the public eye as an enjoyable Sunday out in which the kids thought it was a real treat for them, but in fact it was their fathers who really wanted to see the planes in action. The only way that I can possibly describe this game is Pole Position in a plane (Sounds good, eh?).

The game gives you three levels of play: Beginner, Expert and Ace. The only difference between them is the speed of the game itself. The higher the level, the faster it gets until you either have to slow down or lose control of the plane.

If you can successfully complete three races then you go forward to one of the two special events. In the first, your task is to fly at high speed popping thirty balloons in a time limit of one minute and forty seconds with the nose of your plane. As if that isn't hard enough, you've got other planes trying to knock you away.

In the second special events, you are required to fly right of the red pylons and left of the blue ones, with a time limit and again with other planes trying to knock you off course. If your vicious opponents succeed in hitting you three times, the plane will go into a swan dive and you will parachute down to safety, either landing in a pig sty, in the desert with a buffalo's skull beside you or even in some manure with a lady with sexy legs standing above you.

The graphics are designed to a very high standard but sometimes lack those details which make the game more real. For example, it looks like there's nothing below you on either side of you except red and blue pylons which guide you along the route. The scrolling is the same as most car racing games; when you turn left the background moves to the right but I must say that it does seem to jerk a bit. There are only three backdrops unfortunately, one of which is foreground.

On the whole, the sound is not up to the same standard of the rest of the game. However, having siad that, the music at the beginning and end of the game is superbly done and fits in well with the atmosphere of the game. The sound of the engine is a very irritating buzz, and when the engine conks out it sounds more like a car stalling than a plane. I must say that when the pilot bails out the sound of the wind and then the almighty crash sounds more like what the Amiga can handle.

I think this game would appeal to a wide range of Amiga owners. The graphics aren't the best on the Amiga, nor is the sound but the addictiveness and enjoyment that comes out of this game puts it in my Amiga top ten.