Amiga Power


Operation Com-Bat

Author: Rich Pelley
Publisher: Merit
Machine: Amiga 500

 
Published in Amiga Power #16

Operation Com-Bat

Ha! There's only one war game left to review this month, and I've hidden in the cupboard at the back of the office so they can't make me do it. All I have to do is lie here for a while and - hey! What's this? Some sort of cardboard box with a note attached. If I can just get it up to that crack of light... "Dear Rich, Review this, Love Amiga Power."

From what I can make of it (it's a bit dark in here), Operation Com-bat is more of a straight battle game than a strategy one, and hence a lot easier to play (and describe). See that screenshot? [That's the game, that is! - Ed] What you have to do is to move those diddy little tanks around the battlefield, blow up all the nasty baddy tanks and take out the enemy HQ. The grid at the bottom shows the entire playing area (there are four scenarios to choose from), the top half of the screen only shows a strip; here you click on the tank you have an uncontrollable desire to move, click on where you want it to go, and (provided there are no hills, water, rocks, etc in the way) off it will trundle. If there are any enemies about, then you can shoot at them too - each unit is allowed to fire once each turn.

And yes, give or take the inescapable mobility, fuel, gun range, gun power and hit point statistics of the different tanks, the air support (for a better look at the map), and the time restrictions on each turn, that really is it. And yes, give or take the above-average-for-a-war-game graphics (animation and scrolling) and the digitised gunfire (hmm), it really is that dire. We've complained before about war games (in a groaning voice) 'not exploiting the full potential of the Amiga', but this is quite simply preposterous.

The Bottom Line

It's a war game for goodness sake. Read the review again - how could you possibly even consider it?

Rich Pelley

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