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I don't think there's ever been a good version of Buck Rogers arcade game for the C64 let alone the C16.

Undeterred Gremlin come forward with their offering and it's certainly a toughie.

This is probably the most difficult game I've ever played on the C16. One thing's for sure, Gullwing Falcon is not a game for rookie pilots.

It's one of those 3D type games where you get the illusion of actually flying into the TV screen.

The object is simply to shoot down the invading space pirates. On the first level there are 25 of these, if you manage to reach the second level, there are 35, and so on.

If the pressure gets too great you can fly between the pillars of stone, or so it says on the inlay. 'The pirate ships dare not travel between the giant stone posts'. Who can blame them? All it takes is one pixel in the wrong direction and splat.

I found it took all my energy and concentration to avoid smashing into the pillars of stone which zoom up on you at about warp 10. When I wasn't doing that, I was doing my level best to avoid colliding with the space pirates.

On the rare occasions when I wasn't doing either I actually managed to shoot one or two down.

There's ninety-nine levels with a maximum of ninety-five aliens per level. Phew, that's trigger crunching in the extreme.

If there's one criticism I'd make, it's that the joystick works the wrong way round. By which I mean that you ship goes left and right as it should, but when I pulled back on the joystick I expected it to go up and it did the opposite.

I reckon the programmers have done really well to get a 3D Buck Rogers type game out of the C16, but a game needs more than just technical merit.

If nothing else, Gullwing is the kind of game that's so difficult it fires you with even greater determination to beat it. A must if you're looking for a really tough arcade challenge.