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High-speed violence, and lots of it! Planes screaming in at ridiculous angles, streaking the sky with sudden-death. Sidewinders and continuous cannon fire. This made G-LOC an arcade classic, doubly so if you ever had the lunch-losing opportunity to play the R360 model! Can the C64 cope with such conversion pressure? Well, uh, yes it can actually!

Don't expect a carbon coin-op copy when you boot G-LOC up, but do expect a rocket-sled ride to Armageddonsville in an F-14 style plane that's crammed with enough missiles to destroy a small continent. Because, while G-LOC C64 style doesn't exactly resemble the arcade version, it sure plays like it!

Hurtling along in your Tomcat - well, more of a lion with a severe migraine type cat, it's that 'ard - you have to blow ten enemy fighters from the sky per level. You've got a cannon for short-range shots and long-range lethality, and 30 missiles that are so 'smart' they've got 'A' levels in carnage. Using these you've a few seconds to clear the skies. Fail and it's game over; succeed and you move to a more deadly flight zone, filled with even more enemy fighters.

You're never told why hundreds of people should die, but who cares? You've got the best plane and they haven't! There aren't even any points to be won, the only point is simply to get further, faster than ever before! Obviously, this requires tight flying and sharp shooting, but don't worry because G-LOC handles like a dream - albeit a particularly destructive one!

G-LOC is not a flight sim, it's an into-the-screen blast frenzy and the controls are kept to a minimum. The 'stick rolls the plane left and right, up and down. The trigger pressed and held unleashes a hail of white-hot lead death. The bullets look like cannon balls, but it doesn't matter because they really hurt and you've got an infinite supply! F1 knocks the throttle up, F7 knocks it down, allowing you to sprint alongside enemy aircraft or send them screaming past into your missile sights. And it's the missiles, fired with a swift double click, that make G-LOC killer.

Sitting in the centre of your flight screen is a Heads Up Display cursor. This white circle looks inoffensive until an enemy flies into view. Then, with a mind of its own, it begins to home in. When it's looked the enemy over and settled on its tail, it politely turns red to let you know that if you just so happened to launch a missile now, then that kill is guaranteed! The trick is keeping calm enough to hold the cursor over the enemy plane while your ship bucks about and enemy missiles rain in. And as you've only got 30 of the little devils, misfires can cost you the game.

The challenge is to carry on killing as long as possible. On level one you've just over a minute to bag your ten kills. Succeed with time to spare and you can carry it forward to the next, tougher, level. Fail and you've about two nano-seconds in which to down the entire USAF. Time is the key because, in G-LOC, there are only the quick and the even quicker. The sooner you get your ten kills, the more time you have to deal with the next wave. It's here that the arcade pedigree is kept alive, because killing your quotient ain't hard. Success, though, demands that you drive harder and faster into each ensuing level.

The levels get harder because the enemies start shooting back and develop a sudden aversion to being killed. Their wave patterns become sneakier, and you have to use your speed, guile and memory if you are to clean up even faster than before.

G-LOC's graphics move fast but aren't that stunning. Some screenshots look flat and rough, but when the skies are full of fighters, it doesn't matter, there's too much happening! The levels aren't that different; there's just land, sea and night, but again you don't really care. You're here for the action not the view!

As an arcade, G-LOC is an 'in yer face' flight fight. With three difficulty levels you can start the shooting straight away. Different tactics and tricks are needed for each level, and finding them allows you to reach new heights, but you could never accuse it of being loaded with gameplay.

It won't keep you awake at night pondering its subtlety, but it will drag you back time after time for a furious five minutes of missile-firing fury.

1. Completely devoid of plot, logic or any sense of physics.
2. No long-term potential whatsoever; a straight arcade blast.
3. Samey gameplay: lock, fire, dodge, lock, fire, dodge...

1. Fast flying, in yer face firepower fun!
2. There are no waits for levels to load.
3. Variable difficulty makes pacey progression possible.
4. Has 'high-speed slaughter' feel of the coin-op.
5. A short-term blaster that puts the hooks in fast.
6. Sensible key commands make throttle control easy.
7. Like a flight sim without the hassle!