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The manual's enormous, and the game's design gives you no choice but to sit down and read it all before you start playing. I hate that, it's nothing against the game itself, it's just me being petty (and lazy). But when you see the size of the Tornado manual, I'm sure you'll feel similarly queasy. And when you then open up the control summary card (and this'll mean unfolding it several times), you may well fall over altogether.

Still. After managing to avoid having to play Tornado for some time, I eventually relented and loaded it up. It took me a while actually to get off the ground, and then I had some problems figuring out where to go and what to do, compounded by the fact that the game didn't inspire me to learn more.

You see, the graphics do their job well, as does everything else in the game, but I couldn't shake the overall feeling that Tornado is very much tailored to experienced flight-simmers. And the sheer amount of information and detail, although undoubtedly accurate, turned me off instead of impressing me.

Perseverance rewarded me with a couple of exciting flights, but I ended up simply going through the motions of playing the game for the review rather than enjoying myself. I'm sure others will find it interesting and possibly even fun, but if you don't know your rudder from your pitch control, then stay well clear of this.

Technically accurate, full of detail and pleasant to look at, but there's just too much info to take in all at once leaving you grasping for the manual or summary card when you should be shooting down enemy planes.