Invade countries even smaller than grenada!

Producer: MicroProse
Green Berets: £9.95 cass, £14.95 disk
Author: Canvas

You're one of the elite, a member of the US Army's Airborne Rangers, last in action spearheading the invasion of Grenada. Each and every Ranger is expected to have the diplomatic skills of Sylvester Stallone, the muscles of Woody Allen and Dan Quayle's combat experience - or something like that. Naturally you're the best of the elite and the automatic choice for 12 dramatic missions pitting just one Ranger against enemy battalions.

The scenario and overhead view may suggest just another Commando-type shoot-'em-up but open the attractive box and you're faced with a 34-page instruction manual. About half of it is a history of the Rangers, but the rest is crammed with game details.

There are, for example, three different terrain types; temperate (like Central Europe), desert (heat increases fatigue) and Arctic (lakes are covered with thin ice). Missions range from simply destroying a munitions depot and photographing secret aircraft to freeing hostages. Extra points are given for the amount of damage inflicted, but on several missions stealth is essential. Each mission has a rigid time limit, after which the aircraft sent to pick you up leaves for home. To get to the pick-up point you'can walk (restoring lost energy), crawl (especially in ditches to avoid being seen) or run (draining energy). Modes are switched between by keys and there's a useful keyboard overlay. Also selected by keys are weapons including a rifle, hand grenade, LAW rocket and time bombs. A cursor, fixed at the point the ranger is facing, helps aim these. If you're hit yourself, a first aid kit can remove one injury - take three untreated hits and you're dead. Extra ammunition, and first aid kits, can be picked up by supply canisters you drop over the combat zone at the start of the game.

This is, potentially, an excellent game with a first-class mix of strategy and arcade action. Unfortunately every time you die you must reload the mission you're on. When you're just getting started this is exceptionally irritating, especially as the multiload is otherwise excellent, clearly showing what's either loading or passing by. Once you become better at the game, and can survive longer, the problem is obviously reduced. In fact, the easier missions can soon be completed with a bit of patience and planning. (There is an option to increase their difficulty.) Successive missions then build up a cumulative high score until you lose your life. Graphics, by RoboCop's Dawn Drake, are generally good and scrolling is fairly smooth - sound is minimal however. An innovative and original game this is well worth considering.

STUART [84%]

THE ESSENTIALS
Joysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair
Graphics: well-drawn sprites and fairly-detailed monochrome landscapes
Sound: quiet, informative effects
Options: definable keys. Choice of mission and difficulty

My first few attempts at Airborne Ranger were rapidly terminated by either enemy troops, gun turrets or landmines. But once I'd learned stealth with a knife gets you further than blasting everything in sight, I finally found some success. After that, trying to complete the other missions was quite compelling. Presentation is effective, with some nice monochrome graphics. Although my first feelings towards Airborne Ranger were ones of frustration, a bit of time and effort does pay off. A game which needs careful thought as well as great firepower is revealed.
MARK [82%]

Mmm [an interesting twist on the Commando theme. The multiload is, of course, simply inexcusable but the rest of the game is quite good; killing the enemy and ducking into a nearby trench is mildly addictive. A good game for a while but not up to the usual MicroProse standards.
NICK [80%]

MicroProse
£9.95 cass/£14.95 disk
Reviewer: David McCandless

The Elite Unit is the dream of every self-respecting sadist. Keith Chegwin applied but was refused because he was too irritating; Rambo had a go but failed the knee tap test, even Phil South tried but was chucked out (and up) when he ate the swamp on the assault course.

The Airborne Ranger's are the best of the best of the best. Volunteers from throughout the Army step forward - but only the toughest, most dedicated and smartest (insert your own cabbage joke here) get in. But before even they can place a mere toe-nail inside those hallowed elite barracks, they must survive the most rigorous, toughest and downright stupid training course in existence. Then - and only then- can they wear that trendy black beret with RANGER embroidered on it.

In this game you play - remarkably enough - a ranger on a multitude of missions behind enemy lines. These missions range from your everyday jobbies (destroy munitions depots, cut pipelines) to your rarer heroic excursions (liberate POWs and free hostages). All must be completed in a tight time limit or death is inevitable.

First thing to do is strategically deposit your survival supplies over a scrolling representation of the map, and then strategically deposit yourself 'behind the lines'.

'Behind the lines' is an unastounding monochrome landscape, littered with bushes and rocks, trenches and barbed wire. Your ranger moves about, running or crawling, armed with a limited supply of bullets, grenades, time bombs and first aid kits. Soldiers mill about, dimly trying to align themselves with you, spraying bullets. Gun turrets sit in awkward position, shooting and sending you scampering for cover.

The graphics are small and insignificant, your man runs about as an untidy collection of pixels. The paying area is a small rectangle in the centre of the screen, so the scrolling is smooth and easy. The sound is brusque, a couple of beeps and you' be lucky. The way your character can interact with the landscape is quite impressive though. He can dive into trenches, crawling about in the dirt and even take cover behind rocks and trees. The large amount of missions adds to the stating power of the game, but - and this is a big fat ugly but - when you die (and this happens quite frequently) you have to reload the whole level again! Aaarghhhh! it's disgusting, foul, diabolical - aarghhh it's the pits!!

But if you ignore this detrimental gameplay draining feature, then you've got an attempt to combine shoot 'em up with strategy - and it only half works.

REPLAY

Ladies and gentlefolk, YS presents - returning to regale you with restorative re-releases - Replay!

Kixx
£3.99
021 6253311
Reviewer: Rich Pelley

As a kind of conclusion to this review (even though I haven't started it yet), why waste your money on something as atrocious as this when such great games as Myth, Turrican 2 and ST Dragon are about to appear on the Kixx label?

From the back of the packaging, Airborne Ranger initially seems quite promising: 12 Exciting Missions, Various Terrains to Encounter and Multiple Enemy Threats. The game play is relatively straightforward; you, a member of The Elite Unit, commence each mission by flying over The Mission Zone able to drop Supply Pods (containing extra arms, ammo and first aid) where ever you feel best. The remainder of the game takes place on foot. Here you have to run, walk or crawl around the scrolling landscape, shooting the odd baddy with the aim of accomplishing your mission - all of which involve destroying or collecting a building or object. It sounds a bit boring and, erm, is. The graphics are no better than 1985's Rambo (the relief is an improvement though), and worse still EVERY TIME YOU DIE YOU HAVE TO LOAD IN THE WHOLE BLIMMIN' LEVEL AGAIN. Arrrgh! Now what was it I said in the intro?

Label: Microprose
Author: Canvas
Price: £12.95
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Chris Jenkins

Tora Tora Tora! Scream and die, right-wing imperialists running dog lackeys of the bourgeoise capitalists! Wait a minute, that was the start of my review of Fernandez Must Die making an unscheduled reappearance. Well, if software companies can churn out the same ideas over and over again, why can't reviewers?

Airborne Ranger is not exactly what you'd expect from Microprose, who is famous for extremely detailed and authentic simulations of helicopters, and games with vast manuals. Airborne Ranger, though, is little more than a complex version of Commando, with a series of different missions and types of weapon to make it play a bit more like a serious simulation. Having said that, I'm not saying it's BAD as such. All the detail and background is quite exciting.

There are 12 missions to complete, ranging from sabotaging enemy bases, to blowing up planes, to kidnapping enemy officers. There are different types of terrain - temperate, tropical, arctic and so forth - and many different types of ground features including pillboxes, trenches, barbed wire, landing fields, communication bases and the like.

Your first task is to select your control method, then load up one of the 12 missions from tape. After studying the mission instructions, which you must follow closely to complete the level, you are shown a scrolling map of the landscape as your supply plane flies down it. You can drop two supply pods at any position on the map, then, on the signal, parachute yourself into a safe landing position. The screen then changes to the main combat routine.

Your little hero makes his way around the screen, which scrolls in all eight directions. To the left is shown your fatigue rating, number of wounds and amount of first aid in your pack, along with the time remaining for the mission. In the right is your weapons supply, and currently selected weapon. Using the number keys (and keyboard overlay supplied) you can select weapons including time bombs with three different lengths of fuses, grenades, knives, rockets, or your trusty carbine. Your aim is shown by a small cursor in front of you, but in the absence of decent sound effects or clear explosion graphics, it's difficult to tell what you shot, and what is still a threat. Dangers include enemy troops who trot towards you firing wildly, machine guns mounted in pillboxes, and landmines.

By picking up your supply pods you can restore your first aid status and ammo supplies. You can also choose to crawl along (slow but safe), walk (more risky, but restores your energy) or run (fast, but saps energy). Graphically fair, reasonably complex but rather difficult to control. Airborne Ranger falls a bit uneasily between simulation and arcade game. See before you buy.

Label: Kixx
Memory: 48K/128K
Price: £3.99 Tape
Reviewer: Alan Dykes

If you've ever wondered what it would be like as an Airborne Ranger but never fancied the crewcut and fatigues, this could be your chance to catch up on your lack of experience.

See, there's a bit of a war going on, and the army need heavily armed strike teams and tank platoons to carry out daring raids on the enemy, thus demoralising them and cutting off supplies. But what with defence cuts and everything, your superiors can only afford to send one person in, and it's lucky old you.

Airborne Ranger is an eight-way scrolling shoot 'em up with quite a strong strategy element. Before each mission, you are flown over your target, dropping each of your three supply packs where you think they'll come in handy, before parachuting into the drop zone and preparing for battle. Your ranger must then run, walk, crawl, shoot and bomb his way to his target and shoot, destroy, sabotage or kidnap it, depending on his orders for that mission.

Mr Ranger sir has quite a large armoury at his disposal. As well as his trusty carbine, he is in possession of a limited supply of grenades, time bombs (with varying timers) and anti-tank rockets. Still, this often doesn't do him much good against machine gun nests and tanks, so stealthy infiltration is the order of the day.

Airborne Ranger is an interesting and diverting alternative to the swarms of platform games and , shoot 'em ups that generally comprise budget titles. The elements of strategy and stealth make the game a lot more involving than most, and the clear, detailed graphics do justice to the gameplay.

GARTH:
An interesting shoot 'em up variant which is sufficiently enjoyable and challenging to make it worth a look, although the key controls are somewhat fiddlesome.

Microprose, £9.95cs, £14.95 dk
C64 version reviewed Issue 4 - ACE rating 801

The small monochrome display leaves a lot to be desired, and the unintelligent game structure and loading system mean that each mission has to be reloaded - even when wanting to replay the same one. Impatient cassette owners should really steer clear.

Spectrum 48/128 Cassette: £9.95, Diskette: £14.95
PC £4.95

Member of the Denton Design team, John Gibson, and programmer of classic Imagine games such as Zzoom and Stonkers, returns to the fray with the Spectrum conversion of Airborne Ranger.

The ranger is a member of an elite American unit who is parachuted into enemy territory on any of 12 dangerous missions. The objectives of which lie to the north of the drop-point, several vertical-scrolling screens away.

Using trenches and terrain for cover, the ranger crawls, walks and runs through the enemy base to reach his target. LAW rockets, grenades, a rifle and a knife are to hand for dealing with enemy soldiers, machine gun nests and minefields.

Once at the objective, perform the relevant task (mainly involving destruction of a strategic enemy target) and get out via an Osprey aircraft pick-up.

Each mission has its own requirements for completion and a time limit, so keep moving!

The Spectrum Airborne Ranger gets off to a poor start with each mission requiring a separate load and featuring a narrow action-screen squashed between two status panels. Thankfully the scrolling is smooth and nearly everything found in the C64 original is present.

For the PC game, Microprose haven't neglected the potential of EGA. With 16 colours used in a military vein Airborne looks good. The heart of the game is in arcade-action with elements of strategy sprinkled on top. The extra screen where your backpack of weapons can be modified adds a little more strategic thought to the proceedings. But other than this it is essentially the C64 game in playability and presentation.

Airborne is a move away from the simulation side of MicroProse releases but is still a step above the normal Rambo/Commando style of shoot-'em-up. An effective combination which should attract those looking for a thought-provoking action game.