Previous Next

Put on your goggles and clear the skies before the enemy gets too close.

Wizard Prang, Ginger! A deadly accurate blast from the forward gun turret of your supersonic jet aircraft and another enemy plane bites the dust, exploding in a ball of flames as it falls to the ground at breakneck speed.

In front of you, the next line of defence forms, fires a volley of bullets, breaks up, reforms and lets off another round of lethal ammunition in your direction.

Using the joystick deftly, you manoeuvre yourself around the first barrage and sweep around to give them some of their own medicine, but you haven't noticed the tank and the gun barrel tracing your every move as you move in for the kill.

The last thing you see before entering oblivion is the flash of the missile as it leaves the ground, destined to spell your ruin, and then it's all over. Never mind, you still have two more lives.

Despite the slow loading routine on the cassette format, Sonic Boom is well worth waiting for, as you take the battle to the enemy in your mean airborne machine.

As you take to the pilot's seat, there are five levels of fast and furious action ahead of you, over cities, deserts, oceans and military installations.

In your quest to make it to the end of each stage, you will come up against enemy aircraft, tanks and SAM's, all of which need to be destroyed before they get to you.

Although you start on your own, finishing off certain rows of the defence will sprout a red parachute onto the screen. Collect this as it zig-zags down and you get an extra pair of wings to fly and shoot in formation with your own aircraft. Collect two and you can dramatically increase your firepower, although you do become a little bit of an easy target with all of the add-ons.

If the enemy advance is getting a little too hot to handle, you have just one more line of defence; your supershots.

Wait until the enemy starts to crowd the screen, then let fly with these handy smart bombs and watch the baddies evaporate. A well timed supershot can get you out of a lot of tricky situations, but use them sparingly. Watch out for the yellow parachutes to replenish your supply of widescale death bringers, then let the enemy have it.

At the end of each level, you will encounter some serious resistance in the form of an aircraft carrier, oil rig, plane, submarine, and take care on the final stage as you approach the big, bad, ugly alien.

Your sonic plane is easy to handle as the screen scrolls smoothly towards you. The graphics are varied and colourful, and explosions certainly sound painful as you clear the skies of the enemy.

Sonic Boom is a good, clean, honest-to-goodness shoot-'em-up, so if your trigger-finger is beginning to itch, take a hold of the joystick and get booming.