Reviews

1984 US Gold (UK)
by Christopher Smith, F. David Thorpe (loading screen)

A poor conversion of a less popular game in the arcades. I had a friend who really enjoyed the game and I can see why, but it looks and feels a bit primitive. What really annoys me is the waiting time between losses. It's too long and painful and just makes me want to hit the reset button. If it wasn't like this I think I would enjoyed it better. Thankfully there are other better conversions of similar games like 'Xevious', to name one.

I used to play Flak in my adolescent years and I keep fond memories of it in spite of its apparent impopularity.

Flak may not be the 7th wonder but it is still a fine shooter with some atractive features in it .

The main problem with Flak is that it is far too dificult to be enjoyed and that the controls are not very responsive , but apart from that , is not a bad program for 1984 standards . :(

Another drawback is that you can hardly see the bullets in this shooter so ... how to avoid something you cannot see ?? That must be the crux of the game .

Terribly unplayable shooter where you can't seem to hit and they never seem to miss. This deservedly sits on the worst games page on World of Spectrum.

Your Spectrum noted that Flak 'should have been drowned at birth' but they were too kind for this abortion, the most dismal of attempts at a Xevious game from a devious software house.
US Gold had the production budget to do so much better than they did with nearly all of their games, but were seemingly happy to disregard quality control when a release was needed fast.
Flak was an early warning signal for the label. It was so dire its a wonder anyone trusted them after it. How it came to be released at this substandard showed a cynical indiffernce for the Spectrum player that should have been US Gold's low watermark in consumer disdain, but the publisher would later plumb new depths in with World Cup Carnival.
The thick skinned marketing men at US Gold decided a year later to include Flak on a compilation, Arcade Hall of Fame, allowing geater exposure for this embarrasing abomination.