Producer: Durell
Retail Price: £9.95
Author: Nick Wilson

OK, you chaps, we're going to jump in the old string bags and go in there and give the old hun a real pasting. This is what you chaps have to do. Five bombers, escorted by one fighter, will make a bombing run deep into the Hun's rear. The target is a fuel dump. Destroy this and the whole course of the war could be changed. I know you're the chaps for the job and you'll do a fine job.

Now we must expect the Hun to throw everything he's got at us. At first, there'll be just a few Hun patrols. But watch out for the black suicide 'planes, they'll try to crash straight into the bomber. Most of the time, the fighters will attack the bombers, so it's your fighter's job to try to protect them by shooting the Hun down. But watch the jolly old compass. If you stray too far from the straight and narrow, you'll encounter very heavy enemy archie. Even worse, you could run out of juice before reaching your target.

After the first section, you come to the hills. These have to be steered around or over. After the hills, the squadron flies over enemy lines. It's time to start bombing things. And try not to shoot up your own bombs. Next section has our brave lads dodging through barrage balloons. These can be shot (but watch out for the flaming debris) but are better avoided.

There are a few points to be had from shooting down planes, but most points come from bombing ground targets. Although you are controlling the fighter, you indirectly control the bomber which tries to keep directly ahead of you. So bombing is a question of reacting quickly as the target comes over the horizon, letting go a stream of bombs, and 'steering' the bombs on to target. As you bank, the whole scenery on screen tiffs. The ground has contours Combat Lynx style.

The panel at the bottom of the screen shows the amount of machine gun ammo and bombs remaining. There are two damage indicators, in the form of propellers which get progressively eaten away. One shows the damage to the bomber, the other the damage the fighter has sustained. There are five bombers at the start, and as one gets shot down, another takes its place in front of the fighter.

There is a map, which shows how far through the game you have progressed. If you finally make it to the fuel dump and blow it up, you'll land, refuel, and then go on another mission.

COMMENTS

Control keys: redefinable: up, down, left, right, bomb, map, abort
Joystick: Kempston, Cursor, Interface 2
Keyboard play: sluggish
Use of colour: attractive
Graphics: good perspective effect
Sound: good tune, reasonable effects
Skill levels: three
Screens: large scrolling landscape

Whenever a new DURELL game turns up at CRASH towers, it's usually a red letter day. But this just isn't up to the company's own high standards. This isn't to say it's no good, it's just not epoch making. The graphics move smoothly and it's jolly colourful. The contour effect is brilliant, but only plays a small part in the game. But I feel it is too involved for a blast-em-up, and not complex enough for an arcade/strategy game. The keys are also quite a handful. Trying to bomb things, weave about the sky and keep blazing away at the enemy 'planes is really tough. Even the 'easy' level is really tricky. A tenner is quite a lot for this modest little shoot-em-up.

Deep Strike is a strange mixture between a flight simulator and a decent shoot 'em up, unfortunately it doesn't really excel in either of these areas - it is too simple for a flight simulator and the movement is too slow for good shoot em up. The graphics are very well designed and gives an excellent impression of a solid 3D landscape. The control of your plane is too unresponsive for a good 'ole blast. It also seems a pity that the plane that you control is the middle one in the squadron as the plane in front of you often ends up dying because you shoot it accidentally. Deep Strike is a fairly average game from DURELL that should go down well with most people.

After the tremendous tremendousness of Fat Worm. my opinion of DURELL rocketed. This one, though, brought it into more moderation. It's not bad, but I think that it lacks content. Basically, I think it's a shoot 'em up, where more of a simulation would have gone down better. The graphics are very pretty, and the colour is sploshed about fairly elaborately, but I'm sure a little more content wouldn't have gone amiss. Not bad, overall, but could have been better.

Durell
£9.95

Ed was going to give this to Rachael, but thought better of it when I pointed out that it would only result in numerous 'Fokker' jokes, So it was passed to me. I should have kept my mouth shut!

How to describe Deep Strike? It's a shoot 'em up without the excitement. Its a flight simulator without the simulation. In fact its totally lacking in stimulation as well.

The World War One plot has you flying shotgun to a bomber while tri-planes appear out of the blue to take the odd pot shot at you. You can go up or down or swing side to side - no complex controls here. You possess a rather advanced compass which warns you when you're heading into flak, and you can dump the odd bomb on the dumkopfs below too.

Durell has put its faith in a solid 3D landscape effect. Not only is it painfully slow but it's altogether less satisfying than the vector graphics of Tomahawk, for example. Though the game is described as 'A MUST for all dog fight enthusiasts," it reminded me most of two geriatric corgis sniffing each other.

Suffice to say that at budget price this would be alright, but at almost ten quid its a real bum deal that should be grounded immediately!

Label: Durrell
Price: £9.95
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: Andy Moss

Gott in Himmell vot iz zis? Ze bloody Red Baron has gone too far zis time!! One minute he is firing away at ze dreded British, zen he makes way for suicidal black bombers and Blue Maxes. Whatever next!

Well what comes next in Deep Strike, is a chance to blow away the Bosch using your bombs, when you finally arrive at your designated destination, which happens to be a convenient fuel dump.

You're in control of World War I fighter plane, escorting four bombers and it's your job to both protect and guide the bombers to their target.

The terrain is very similar in layout to Combat Lynx and the enemy planes come out from all angles at you.

Keeping on the right flight path is not difficult, but avoiding hills is, and too much hill hitting results in a broken propeller and we all know what happens next!

There are black planes that just fly straight at you bombers so avoid those at all costs, and the Blue Maxes are very accurate so shoot them as soon as possible.

If you manage to survive all this heat, you'll come across the fuel dump so bombs away and it all starts again.

It's quite good fun initially, but very overpriced. Certainly not worth a tenner.

The game loses its edge after a while, there isn't really enough in it to keep you hooked, pretty soon I began to lose interest. Actually I got more fun out of shooting my own bombers into oblivion than the Jerries!

The graphics are very pretty, the sound is fair, its just, is that all there is?

MACHINE: Spectrum/Amstrad
SUPPLIER: Durell
PRICE: £9.95
VERSION TESTED: Spectrum/Amstrad

No, there's no sign of Arthur Scargill despite the name of this latest offering from Durell. You find yourself flying a World War One bi-plane, riding shotgun to a World War One bomber. Both of you are on a mission to destroy an enemy fuel dump.

Your job is to protect the bomber - you get four of them - from the onslaught of enemy fighters and guide it to its target across enemy held countryside. You also control the bombing end of the bomber and can rain bombs down on gun-emplacements and encampments as you fly toward the target.

The landscape includes pretty accurately represented hills and valleys. You use a compass on your instrument panel to find the way to your target - you must always fly in the direction it is pointing. Stray off target and you run into heavy enemy fire and loads of fighters. You can check your progress by calling up a map. This also pauses the game.

You'll come across barrage balloons. You can shoot them down for extra points - but must avoid them as they'll destroy your bomber as surely as a blast of gunfire.

Enemy fighters come in three types, Red and Black Barons and Blue Maxes. Red planes behave pretty normally, Black Barons have kamikaze pilots and Blue Maxes are sharp shooters.

The screen display shows a pilots-eye-view of the landscape and the bomber you're protecting. It's a good idea to position yourself a little below your companion as a misdirected blast of machine gun fire from your guns can knock him out of the sky as surely as a burst from the enemy planes.

The Spectrum version has pretty useless sound and a tune which gets irritating - and the Amstrad version noises aren't much better.

There are several skill levels and joystick/keyboard options. Plus a high score chart.

You always have to start back at base when you've been shot down or lost all your bombers which is a bit of a pain, and remember to save some bombs for your final target - it's no good getting all the way without anything to blow things up with.

Deep Strike is a playable and different air-combat game. But I reckon that at nearly £10 it's overpriced. Knock a couple of quid off and it would be much better value.

TONY HETHERINGTON TAKES A SPIN IN FOUR OF THE LATEST SPECTRUM FLIGHT SIMULATORS.

Durell
£9.95

World War I dogfights were extremely hazardous with planes often shooting off their own propellers in the heat of the action. Add to that the unreliability of such flimsy aircraft and you realise the danger of the mission you've been sent on. Your mission is to fight off hordes of Red Barons, Black Barons and Blue Maxes to protect the bombers that fly in front of you.

This aerial convoy has its own problems in that you have to drop the bombs while trying not to shoot the bomber that spends most of the game in front of your gunsights!

The screen shows your view over the scrolling landscape and your controls that are dominated by two propellers which show the deteriorating condition of your plane and your bomber, and a pointer that keeps you on course.

The best results seem to be achieved if you fly so that you fire just below the bomber's undercarriage but be prepared to move out to intercept enemy fighters and gun down barrage balloons before they destroy your bomber. As each bomber is destroyed another takes its place until you either get a chance to bomb your main target (the enemy fuel dump) or you're left on your own to take out as many of their planes as you can before they get you.

THE COMPLETE YS GUIDE TO FLIGHT SIMS

Oh cripes. Whose idea was this? Couldn't we do it on something else? Nah, we promised. How about putting if off for another month? Or we could make JONATHAN DAVIS do it? Heh heh. Right, where's he got to? Ah ha!

Neeeeeow! Dakka dakka dakka! Kaboom! "Crikey, Ginger, pull up! Over."

"I can't! I think my flaps have gone a bit funny. Over." Neeeow! Boom!

"Bail out! Bail out! Over." Dakka dakka dakka. (Ricochet noises.)

"Er, okay then. Over and out."

Sorry about that, just trying to inject a bit of excitement into this thing because, let's face it, flight sims aren't exactly the most exciting bits of software around.

Or are they?

No, They're not. But there are loads of them about, and people keep buying them. Why is this? Perhaps we'd better investigate.

For thousands of years man has dreamt of flight... (Cut the crap, Ed) Erm, well, perhaps it's because they demand a bit more thought than your average arcade game. Fast reactions are all very well, but what about using your noddle occasionally? Keeping a plane in flight isn't just a matter of wobbling your joystick about a bit, which is the impression that lesser games give. You've got angles of attack to worry about, altitude, navigation, weapons systems, undercarriage... the list is endless. As are the manuals usually. And that's another thing. If you've never played one before you'll need to spend hours wading through one of these breeze-block tomes before you can even get off the ground.

Once you've got the thing up in the air though you're well away. With any luck there'll be lots of scenery to look at and plenty of enemy thingies to 'take out'. You might even like to indulge in a bit of aerobatics to pass the time. The one thing you should always keep an eye on though is the ground. Stay away from this at all costs. Unless you're landing, of course, which is another story altogether.

SO WHAT'S A FLIGHT SIM THEN, EH?

In compiling this guide I was faced with the usual problem - what exactly is a flight simulation? What are the criteria? Where do you draw the line? I decided to seek the advice of one of Europe's leading experts in the field of computer games.

"Er, Matt? (Cough.) Matt?' I ventured.

"Mmm?"

"Would you have said that, say, Fighter Pilot was a flight sim? Huh? Matt?" I enquired cheerily.

"Er, probably," he replied.

"How about Harrier Attack?"

"I expect it is, yes."

"Or Night Raider?"

"Um, look, I've got to go out. To the, er, shops. I'll see you later. Maybe."

Unperturbed. I decided to try Andy, but he didn't appear to hear me. I also tried ringing up a few friends. They all seemed to be out.

So it's all down to me then. Well, I reckon that really, in a flight sim, you ought to be in control of a plane of some sort. Ideally you'd get a 3D view out of the cockpit, but I'll be flexible and allow ones where you see the plane on the screen from the back (like ATF) and even ones where you see the view in 2D (from the top or something).

Another important guideline is the number of keys. Preferably there should be at least 2,452 of them, each with about three different functions. But, again, I'll allow a generous margin of error and set the bottom line at six.

And finally there's the manual. Obviously this should be as large and impenetrable as possible, with lots of incomprehensible acronyms that you have to keep looking up in the glossary at the back. A rough guide to length? Let's say 500-600 pages for a decent one or, if the game comes in an ordinary cassette box, an inlay card that folds out into a thin strip long enough to wrap round Matt's tummy at least two and a half times.

So now we know just what makes up a flight sim, let's take a look at a few…

RATINGS

Once again, the normally-so-versatile YS rating system doesn't really seem too appropriate here (Instant appeal? Addictiveness?). So what we've done is to come up with a revised system, specially tailored to meet the needs of today's flight sim. Let's have a nosey...

The View: Can you see anything nice out of the window? Or is it all just green and blue wiggly lines? And does the scenery glide around smoothly or jerk around like an Allegro with a dodgy clutch?

Realism: This can often be determined by the number of keys the game uses. So that's just what we've done. Counted 'em. As there are 40 keys on your basic Speccy, and each one can be doubled or even tripled up, the maximum comes out to exactly 100. Handy, eh?

Dakka Factor: Is there much to shoot? Or is it all a matter of map-reading, gauge-watching and other such nonsense? And once you've shot whatever it is, does it explode dramatically and plummet to the ground leaving a trail of smoke behind it? Or not?

Net Weight: A crucial part of any flight sim is all the junk that comes with it. So, adding together all the disks, maps, manuals, stickers and the box, what do the YS scales make of it? (All weights are, of course, approximate.) (In degrees.)

Deep Strike
Durell

Here's another looking-at-it-from-behind one. However, this time what you're looking at is actually a World War 1 biplane, a bomber in fact, but you're not actually in control of it. Eh? This is actually because you're meant to be protecting it by flying along behind it in a fighter. Dastardly German planes zoom about trying to shoot down the bomber, so what you've got to do is shoot them down while resisting the temptation to shoot down the plan you're meant to be escorting (and it's a very strong temptation, I can tell you). The eventual aim is probably to bomb a target of some sort, but along the way are various enemy buildings and tanks (in WW1?) which you can also get the bomber to, er, bomb. Although the view is that of a True Flight Sim, you can't actually do much in the way of flying around, so it's really much more like ATF or something. The landscape is certainly very ATF-like - lots of grid-lines and hills - although I believe Deep Strike came first. There is a map, however, so it's a bit flight-simmy. But not enough, unfortunately, from letting it slip into being a slightly crap Op Wolf-style shoot-'em-up. In fact I can't really see what it's doing in the guide at all.