£2.99
Code Masters

What have we got here then? An arcade game or a flight simulation? Er, well bit of both really. Arcade Flight Simulator (AFS) is really a dogfight game which takes place in World War I, II and finally III - each with appropriate graphics.

Viewed from overhead, your plane takes to the air shooting down all enemy planes in the vicinity. Once the air is clear you hurtle off towards an enemy base and bomb it. Having achieved that objective you go onto to do the same in wars II and III - though each level has more enemy planes and more bases to bomb.

Okay game, but lacking in decent gameplay and addiction.

BARGAIN BASEMENT

He's chirpy and chatty, he's the chap with the cheapies, he's Marcus Berkmann, and he's back with a meaty BARGAIN BASEMENT.

Code Masters
£2.99
Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann

Another 'NEW RELEASE' from those Code Master boys, although I see there are no words of wisdom from David Darling on the cassette inlay. Does this mean that, unlike all those "Bestest game in the history of the world" titles, this one is unadulterated horse manure? No, but then it hasn't been written in-house (ahem), but by some geezers called Amazing Games, which may have something to do with it.

Anyway, this is a fairly comprehensive trawl through flying history, with three separate sections - World War 1, World War 2 and World War 3. A rather gloomy prognosis, you might think, and doubly so as WW3 is (according to this) due to take place over East Africa in the 1990s. But never mind that (I hear you cry) what's the game like? Nobbad, old fruit, nobbad at all. WW1 sees you putt-puttering over the fields of Germany in a clapped out old biplane, trying to shoot down Johnny Hun before he shoots you. WW2 transfers the action to the Pacific, as you (Chuck Z Hinkelhoffer) try and shoot down Johnny Nip before he shoots you. Then for WW3, it's everybody into their F-14 Tomcats, as you try and shoot down Johnny Muslimfundamentalist before he shoots you. Naturally you get killed in all three wars, which paints rather a hopeless picture for mankind, if you ask me. But it's all good, zappy fun - well programmed and full of colour. You'll have to watch your ammo and fuel, and it also makes sense to watch your opponent's aircraft (never let it be said that I miss the point of these games). Good stuff, at least for a cheapie - and you can play with two players as well...

Label: Code Masters
Author: Amazing Games
Price: £2.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Chris Jenkins

What ho, Algy! Spiffing day for an early morning recce! Get your flying togs on, spin your prop, circle away and watch out for the Hun in the sun!

It's lovely flying weather, visibility up to 50,000 feet, the birds are twittering and your machine guns are oiled. What better way to spend the morning than a hunt for the Red Baron and his flying circus. Watch out for those Fokkers!

Yes, Codemasters Arcade Flight Simulator is the kind of game I've been waiting for for ages. It has a tiny tiny bit of simulationness about it, but the main aim is to blast everything that flies. The graphics are cool, the sound's OPK and while it won't absorb your interest longer than it takes to explore all three levels, it's worth the £3.99.

A little like Time Fighter, the classic coin-op, AFS presents you with a top-down view of a scrolling playing area. Unlike Time Fighter, here your plane isn't limited to the centre of the screen; it can fly off the side and reappear on t'other, or fly north or south far enough to get off the playing area altogether, and reappear at the other end. On the first level, set in WW1, the playing area is quite large, and since our nicely detailed plane and those of the opposition are pretty small, you get a great feeling of space.

After taking off from your landing strip, your aim is to track down and destroy ten enemy fighters. These weave around and change height; you can judge your own height from the position of your shadow, and the altimeter on the left of the screen.

You have a limited amount of ammunition, and since you have to get quite close to the Hun to shoot them down, you will probably have to land to re-arm at some point. This is pretty tricky, as is refuelling, since it's easy to smash into the trees or other obstacles.

If you manage to shoot down the opposition, you have to land to pick up a bomb, find the enemy base (thoughtfully marked "BASE") and bomb it. Fail, and it's back to the start; succeed, and the next phase presents you with more enemy planes.

Strangely enough, that's is as far as the one-player game is concerned, but if you have two players, there are two further levels. These feature much smaller one-screen playing areas; level two features Second World War aircraft carriers, level three World War Three desert combat. The planes are faster, but the principle's the same, only it's one-to-one combat.

AFS could have been brilliant; if you had control over your plane's speed, or the ability to perform loops or other stunts. or if you could play all three levels in one-player mode. As it is, it's excellent fun for about an hour, then you'll be looking for new targets to shoot down.

Spectrum
£2.99

Spectrum
£2.99

It's chocks away and tally-ho for another super soaraway mission over enemy territory in three wizard wartime scrolly viewed-from-above settings. Torch biplanes in WW1, Zeroes over Pearl Harbor and jet fighters in the scenic Middle East. After doing the enemy over good and proper, it's back to base with you, to pick up a bomb so you can blow up enemy bases.

To be honest, this isn't the apex of aero-annihilation. The graphics and sound are OK, but flying around a titchy landscape, shooting umpteen planes is just not very engrossing. For three quid you can't expect the earth, but stuff like this can't compete with the current spate of classy re-releases.