Producer: The Power House
Retail Price: £1.99
Author: Steven John Tatlock

This multi-directional air-borne shoot 'em up is a con-version of a 1981 Atari arcade favourite. Having passed through a time-warp, your ultra modem jet fighter is confronted by a multitude of archaic but belligerent aircraft... in the year 1925.

There is a way back to your own time though. The letters W A R and P float about, collecting them to spell the word 'warp' zooms you forward to the next time zone - and eventually to the relative safety of your own era. Collected letters are displayed in a panel at the bottom right of the screen.

To collect these letters it is imperative to avoid the swarms of attacking aircraft - these evolve with each time zone, progressing from bi-planes to helicopters as the years progress. Your advanced superfighter manoeuvres in all directions, and blasts the enemy from the sky with its high-powered cannon. Ten points are awarded for each 'kill', with the total score displayed bottom left. Also at the bottom left, a bonus score counts down from 1,000 - the remaining bonus points are added to the total score on the completion of each time zone.

Choosing one of four skill levels, you start your mission with three lives. One of these is lost on each contact with an enemy aircraft or missile, with another added on entry to a new time zone.

COMMENTS

Control keys: top three rows - left-hand to rotate left; right-hand to rotate right;

bottom row to fire
Joystick: Kempston, Interface 2
Use of colour: plenty of variety, but appalling clashes
Graphics: minimal and undetailed
Sound: basic spot effects
Skill levels: four

This was around ages ago on the BBC (many of my school hours were spent playing it instead of doing Computer Studies!) and it was just as bad then as it is now. The sprite's movement is pathetic, your craft spins around at such a speed that it's possible to kill every-thing as it comes on screen (useful for high scores). However, problems occur when you attempt to progress through the levels - you simply can't dodge everything.
BEN

I'm glad that 1982 only lasted for the usual 365 days - as this is a prime example of the sort of software released that year. I was amazed to see that the programmer is the same person who wrote Agent X - he must have written this as a joke. The graphics are appalling (especially the collision detection) and the key responses are erratic. The packaging's nice, apart from one dreadful spelling error, but the game's really tacky.
PAUL

A conversion from the BBC On our Spectrums? - no thanks! The graphics are absolutely abysmal, with the appalling use of colour making the planes almost invisible on some levels. Even for two pounds, Time Flight is a game that everyone's collection can do without.
MIKE

Label: Power House
Author: Stephen J Tatlock
Price: £1.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Tony Dillon

Welcome to my time machine. In it I will transport you back to the days when the BBC machine was in its heyday and when programs weren't very good.

Now after many years and for reasons which entirely escape me, one such game has been converted to the Squishboard in the guise of Timeflight. Written by Stephen Tatlock (he of Agent X fame), it places you in the position of a pilot lost in time who, by a series of time warps has to get back to his (or her) own time. The plane is shown by an overhead view and you have to collect letters to spell out the word WARP to get onto each next sheet.

Right, that's it. I can't write anymore. I really can't! To write more I'd have to play it again and if I play it again I'll go mad... maaaad!!!

Powerhouse
£1.99

CRL's relaunched budget label gets off to a less than power-packed start with this dated little shoot 'em up. Timeflight reminds me of a very simple space combat game that I played on a TV games console about six or seven years ago in which you control a spaceship which flies around collecting objects, and at the same time avoiding/destroying the enemy aircraft that are randomly flying around.

In this case the objects are the four letters which spell out the word WARP', and once you've gathered them together you move onto the next time zone which is exactly the same as the first, apart from having a few more enemy ships in it.

Control of your craft consists of rotating left/right and firing little pellets across the screen. The 'time-zone' landscape scrolls under as you move, so that your ship is always positioned more or less in the centre of the screen. On my first attempt I sat there and did nothing, just letting the ship fly up the screen on its own and I got halfway through the second level before I needed to do anything to avoid getting blown up so the game doesn't exactly score high marks for addictiveness.

For nostalgia buffs only.