Gremlin
Imagitec Design
£7.99/£12.99

Don't push me! I might just go and see a Sylvester Stallone movie - arrrgggghh! You see, I was down in 'Nam a few years ago and my mind is still taunted by horrific memories. So when I discovered that some American soldiers were still being held hostage, I volunteered to join the rescues mission.

The hostages are being held in a prison camp at the base of Butcher Hill, slap bang in the middle of a dense jungle. Before my mates jump in and rescue them I've got to knock out the camp's radio. But first I've got to get there in my flimsy inflatable boat. Reeds cause the boat to go out of control, rocks bounce it out of the water and colliding with the river banks reduces stamina. And that's no mentioning the military hazards, like mines and enemy aircraft. Fortunately stamina can be boosted by collecting red barrels, while other barrels provide extra ammo to shoot mines or save for later stages. Being a Vietnam vet this is a ridiculously easy section, which goes on far too long with very unattractive graphics.

If I manage to keep awake long enough to reach a jetty, I can land and continue my mission on foot. A previously collected compass helps me to navigate through dense jungle (viewed in first-person perspective 3-D). On the way to the enemy camp, I must keep an eye out for enemy soldiers and the odd land mine. I can also attack enemy tanks and hide-outs to collect grenades and ammo - vital for the final stage where I must blow up the enemy huts.

The jungle sections are in fact pretty tough, if you don't get shot you can easily run out of ammo. Mapping is vital but considering the military scenario, there isn't really enough shooting. And if you aren't looking for arcade action, there's little else worth finding in Butcher Hill.

PHIL [53%]

I'm afraid Gremlin have come up with a bit of a turkey here, guys. Butcher Hill is an extremely badly presented game - the first section is a mass of messy colour; the second is simply monotonous greenness! Probably the worst thing about the game is the awful boredom that sets in during the first level. It just goes on and on and on, with very little demanding action - most of it is simply spent waiting for the little yellow jetty! Still, if you don't mind bad presentation, and you've got an infinite supply of Pro-Plus (to keep you awake), you might find yourself actually getting something out of Butcher Hill. But I'm afraid I didn't.
MIKE [48%]

Gremlin
£7.99 cass/£12.99 disk
Reviewer: Matt Bielby

I'm a bit young and a bit English for Vietnam to have meant very much to me, but goodness knows I've played it enough times on the Speccy. You can imagine my chortles of delight at Gremlin giving me yet another shot at the blooming thing then. Ho hum.

Butcher Hill comes in three loads, with a level on each. The first takes you (in a rubber boat) along the river deep into the jungle. In the second you make your way through the undergrowth towards the enemy camp at Butcher Hill shooting gooks as you go, and in the third you attack their camp, blow it up and rescue all the prisoners of war. Yep, I guess someone at Gremlin's been watching too many Chuck Norris movies again.

In level one, which seems to go on forever, you steer your rubber dinghy down a long winding river. You begin with six lives, but can add to these by driving ocer extra stamina barrels which are floating in the water. Similarly, you can pick up more bullets from other barrels. However all's not sweetness and light - there are floating mines to be avoided, reeds which send you temporarily out of control and rocks that bounce you up in the air. Added to this, planes make constant straffing runs at you, their bullets hitting the water in a neat effect. There's no way to shoot them down unfortunately, but you can blow up the mines if you're quick enough on the trigger. This is done with a floating gunsight (a la Operation Wolf) and a fast eye - for until you get very near them, the mines and the reeds are nearly identical, and you don't want to waste precious bullets on a bunch of bull-rushes, do you?

Occasionally the planes that pass overhead are on your side and drop bonuses to be picked up, one of the most important being a compass that you'll need in the second load. Eventually you reach the first of three jetties where you are meant to land and enter the second load. Oh, this is okay, I thought. I'll just... Ker-Blamm! Oops, I appear to have hit the jetty and blown up.

Let's try again. I fought my way through the first level again until I reached the jetty. Right, let's be careful here, let's take it gently and tie up just so, let's... Ker-Blamm! Oh dear. Let's try it one more time. Careful, careful... Phew.

I'm now in the jungle, and a bit stuck because I've failed to pick up the compass. But I don't care, 'cos this is where the game gets a lot more ambitious in what it's trying to do, and so even though it doesn't always work too well I've got a bit more time for it.

A gunsight hovers in the middle of the screen and behind it I can see the jungle. We're talking serious Operation Wolf here. I waste a few rounds on the jetty trying to pick off non-existant enemies then head on into the jungle, which is most surreal and weird. It's all very dark and green and though I can, in theory, turn around 360° and head off in any direction, I mostly just bump into trees and the screen shakes rather disconcertingly. Two or three directions lead towards visible clearings though, so I head off along one of these paths for a while. Occasionally I come across enemy soldiers and have a shoot out with them. More often than not I die (There are land mines underfoot and all sorts of other trouble too. Yikes!)

Finally, level three which I have to admit I didn't get to, but which involves blowing up every building on the hill with grenades before you've won. And that's it. All pretty unmemorable and unremarkable, really, and of course absolutely nothing to do with how the Vietnam war was actually fought. I (luke)warmed slightly towards the gameplay of level two, but the whole thing had a slightly unfinished feel to it and can't really be recommended.

Label: Gremlin
Author: Imagitec
Price: £7.99/£12.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Chris Jenkins

Well, flip me if it isn't a real man's life in the President's Own Royal Highland Cong-Shooters. You've just finished blasting one nest of Commies in Platoon, when you're called back to finish the job in Butcher Hill, Gremlin's multi-stage 'Nam epic. All the familiar elements are there; gunfire, bombing, jungles, instant death; they're just arranged in a different order.

Butcher Hill is a three-stage arcade extravaganza written by Imagitec, who were responsible for the Spectrum version of the remarkable Captain Blood. Butcher Hill isn't so innovative, but apart from some minor faults it's a workmanlike effort.

Part one sees you steering a motorised dinghy along the swampy waterways, searching for a jetty. The river is blocked with rocks (which your craft can bounce over), reeds (which slow you down and sap your energy), and mines (which blow you to bits). Unfortunately, it's very difficult to distinguish one type of object from another, so it's easy to blow yourself up on what you thought was a patch of weeds. To make things worse, planes zoom overhead, dropping either ammo supplies or bombs which look like squashed seagulls. You can pick up ammunition along the way, which you use to blast obstructions, but it's used up very quickly, and some has to be saved for the next stage of the game.

Once you reach a yellow jetty, you can come to a halt, disembark and head into the jungle. The first section, then, suffers from confusing graphics (and, incidentally, jerky scrolling and slow control response), but fortunately things get better from there.

Part two is a jungle maze represented in an unusual 3-D form. With the aid of a compass you should have picked up in the river section, you head North-East towards the enemy village. Every so often you come to a clearing where the action gets heavy as you take on the enemy forces; steering your gunsight around the screens, you bump off the enemy snipers as they pop up from windows or behind trees. This bit is pretty similar in intent to the shooting range section of 19 Part One - Boot Camp, but it must be said that the Butcher Hill version isn't as smooth or graphically detailed.

If you make your way through the jungle without stepping on too many landmines or falling prey to snipers, you finally reach the enemy village. Here your aim is to rescue prisoners, using your machinegun and grenades to eliminate enemy soldiers and blow up buildings. Destroy the lot and the game's over, and you are rewarded with a final victory screen.

Apart from the disappointing first section, then, Butcher Hill is a decent piece of work. Without the attraction of a big licence or obvious new idea, it maybe won't do as well as it deserves, but give it a go; there's plenty in it to keep you occupied.

Spectrum 48/128 Cassette: £7.99, Diskette: £12.99
Atari ST £19.99

THERE'S A GRISLY SCENE AWAITING YOU AT...

Every war has a 'hill' - Edge Hill (Civil War), Pork Chop Hill War (Korea) and Butcher Hill (Vietnam, according to Gremlin) and there must be others... Hills are there to be taken for no other reason than they're there and the enemy don't want you to have them.

The enemy camp on Butcher Hill's the target, but first you navigate a jungle river in a dinghy, grabbing canisters of extra ammunition, energy for the flagging status meter and free bonuses.

Hitting the riverbank, river rushes, lurking mines (though a swift jab of the fire button soon clears a path) or getting strafed by enemy planes loses lives.

Arriving at the end-of-level jetty, you plunge into thick undergrowth where the occasional enemy soldier or landmine is encountered - both fatal, but at least you can blast the soldier. If you picked up a compass on the water section you should be able to find your way around.

In clearings enemy soldiers pop out of buildings and trees, and bonus ammunition and stamina are awarded to sharp shooters who dispose of them all.

At the base of Butcher Hill the camp can be tackled by lobbing grenades into huts. But don't let any of the enemy escape because given the chance they leg it off and call in some reinforcements.

With only three sections, Butcher Hill may give the impression that it's a doddle to complete, but don't bet on it. Unless you collect the compass on the river section, for example, you find yourself completely lost in the jungle.