Apache Flight logo

Atlantis * £7.99

Don't be expecting a flight-sim like Thunderhawk. Be expecting a vertical-scroller which plays like half of SWIV, Apache Flight is a traditional blaster which sees you dodging bullets and collecting more powerful bullets.

It starts off slowly, but if you plug away for long enough it gets fairly respectable. What is intensely annoying, though, is that many of the ground units that fire at you don't succumb to your return blasting.

As well as firing missiles and bombs, you need to refuel occasionally. This mundane bit of domesticity is either a welcome break from the carnage (if you're a fuel-fan) or an intrusion into the quite fast and slightly furious gameplay.
Overall, it's playable, but where's the jeep?



Schuß und Schluß!

Apache Flight logo

Mmmhh, ein "Swiv"-Clone zum Billigtarif - warum nicht? Noch dazu einer, der seinem beeindruckenden Vorbild grafisch wirklich ähnlich sieht! Warum sollte man sich über so einen hübschen Vertikalscroller nicht freuen? Weil er nichts taut, darum!

Böse Terroristen haben ein paar Atombomben geklaut. Grund genug für die Jungs von Atlantis, einen Apache Helikopter zu programmieren, mit dem der Spieler nun die vier Nester der übelwichte ausheben kann. Aber noch lange kein Grund für den Spieler, auch tatsächlich in den Heli zu klettern, denn die Kollisionsabfrage ist schlicht eine Katastrophe!

Was hat man von einer Unmenge schöner, großer, fliegender Feindobjekte, wenn man sie zwar ganz offensichtlich treffen kann, die Biester aber meist völlig unbeeindruckt weiterdüsen? Ja, so macht Ballern Spaß - fragt sich nur, wem...

Noch dazu sind die Schüsse der Terror-Flieger am Screen kaum zu erkennen, wer hier seine vier Leben verliert, kann meist gar nix dafür. Dabei würde die Steuerung durchaus flott genug reagieren, zahl- und abwechslungsreiche (Zwischen-) Gegner könnten für Abwechslung sorgen, und bei den Extrawaffendepots ist sogar ein wenig Taktik gefragt: Soll man nun lieber tanken, sich eine Zusatzwumme schnappen oder den Vorrat an Bodenraketen aufstocken?

Die pastell-farbene Wüstengrafik macht einen guten Eindruck, ebenso die Sprites und das Scrolling - nur das Gameplay halt leider nicht. Wie praktisch, daß wir somit über die zweistimmige Titelmusik und die anderthalb FX kein Wort mehr verlieren müssen, denn Apache Flight ist einfach nicht der Rede wert. Fazit: Spar-Soft, also spart sie Euch! (rl)



Apache Flight logo

It's Amiga budget SWIV-alike time again, with what seems like the millionth 'fly heavily-armed helicopter across desert landscape shooting other helicopters and tanks and really exciting stuff like that' game we've seen in the last six months.

This one's, um, got bigger graphics than most, with pleasantly chunky choppers (yes, yes, we know) and so on, gliding around the screen in a smooth but lethargic manner, which inconveniently leaves very little space for manoeuvring in or any of that sort of clever tricky stuff.

The most innovative feature of the game is the series of refuelling points you have to fly over (which also contain power-ups if you choose to blast them instead), but apart from that we're in depressingly generic territory.

Code Masters' Sky High Stuntman did almost exactly the same things as this game but 20 times better, and if you're really after some low-priced blasting action, that's the one to go for.

Apache Flight is sluggish and uneventful, and I doubt if you'll want to play it more than twice. So, er, unless four quid a go sounds like your kind of bargain.



Apache Flight logo

ATLANTIS OUT NOW £7.99

Apart from the likes of the Codemasters' titles, original budget titles are still a fairly rare commodity. Hence, it's a nice surprise to see something like Apache Flight. Don't expect anything flash: it's basically a primitive version of SWIV; even so, though, Apache is still a solid and playable shoot 'em up.

The predictable storyline tells of a mission to destroy a series of weapon caches which have been overrun by a Guerilla-owned army. Thus, armed in your super, ultra-tooled- up 'Chopper you must run the gauntlet of enemy emplacements and vehicles, whilst avoiding the flak they continually release.

Meanwhile, there are also the obligatory power-ups awaiting collection, which endow your helicopter with more powerful armaments.

OK, so Apache Flight isn't likely to win any rewards for originality or style, but it plays quite well and offers a tough challenge which is well worth eight quid.