Reviews

This game is based around the British Army's Lynx helicopter which has a bewildering array of weapons including guns, missiles and mines and can also be used to ferry troops and injured between bases. In reality the helicopter would only be configured for one of these missions although the game allows you to mix and match loads to make things more interesting.

Other than having a limited number of helicopters and some bases to defend there are no set goals to the game. Whilst there's a risk of an early ending if you don't protect your primary base, once you've done that there's nothing to stop you going off an exploring the huge algorithmically-generated map, going off to hunt enemy units, or running mundane supply missions to your other bases.

In terms of graphics there's a very pleasing terrain effect of the sort that wasn't to make it into true flight simulators for a good few years yet, although rather confusingly the view switches after you turn 90 degrees.

This is a bit of an oddball, neither being quite realistic enough to be considered a flight simulator and being far too complex for fans of arcade style action. However, despite all this it works quite brilliantly and there's still nothing quite like it. Digital Integration's ATF, which came a few years later, is probably the closest in spirit.

I tried to get the hang of this back in the day, but I wasn't able then, neither I am now. I believe the problem with this game is that it falls in between an arcade and a flight simulator. It has all the complexity of controls of the latter genre while retaining little of the excitement of the former.

It is competently programmed, and that's a pity, because it could really have been great with a more rational control layout.