NUCLEAR missiles are rather annoying: all they ever seem to do is cost a lot of money. I mean, you could use a pair of them as clothes poles, tomato supports or post-
That's what happened in Battle Valley. The local terrorist commune simply couldn't get their fatigues the kind of greenish khaki that they liked. What they needed was a proper drying facility, and since the nearby nuke base was being dismantled, they borrowed a couple of medium-
They weren't any use - the rope kept slipping off the nose cones - so they had to find a new use for them. They hit on the ingenious idea of holding the western world to ransom. Since all the other nukes had gone, they had some bargaining power.
This is Not On: apart from the fact that it's not sporting, there'd be zilcho game otherwise. In their usual way, the Pentagon can't handle it, so they call in a mercenary - you.
You've got to destroy all the terrorist bases and get the missiles into as many pieces as a tank shell can render. You've got a helicopter to do the ground work and a tank to do the rest. Slightly unconventional, true, but it seems to work.
So you fly along, taking out anything which could harm the tank, and winching in new bridge sections to allow the tank to cross the rivers.
The chopper's missiles make short work of the gun emplacements and SAM launchers, but have no effect on the outposts. That's why you must use the tank. Otherwise it would be a Silkworm clone. Except Silkworm doesn't have a narrowed down screen - Battle Valley does.
It isn't plain sailing in the tank. Some surface installations are too hidden for the helicopter to get so they need a little working over before they see the merit in exploding.
The terrorists have thoughtfully left piles of ammo just where a careful pilot or driver might find them - how fortuitous.
It's not that straightforward, though. You have to use the winch from the helicopter or a complex crane arrangement from the tank. It can prove a little difficult. It's much easier just to crash and restart, with full ammo, but with 500 seconds less.
Battle Valley was originally a budget release on the older machine, and to say that you can tell is a bit cruel. Multi-
It's just that the gameplay is missing the elusive spark that is so rare at the £2.99 price point. But if we splash out £20 on a game we want - unless we're on a tax loss binge - a bit of lasting enjoyment, or at least a high that no volume of black coffee could ever produce. Well, maybe not, but hopefully you get the idea.
Hewson could have done us all a favour and converted Anarchy its other famous budget game, which didn't have graphics, but did have captivating gameplay. Battle Valley isn't actually bad; it's quite clever inside, but dull on the outside, and consequently unremarkable.