Red Baron

Personal Computer News

Lasting Appeal 3/5

Playability 4/5

Use Of Machine 3/5

Overall Value 4/5

Mike Gerrard 4/5

NAME: Red Baron PRICE: £5.95 PUBLISHER: MC Lothlorien, [redacted] FORMAT: Cassette LANGUAGE: Basic OTHER VERSIONS: None OUTLETS: Mail order, retail. CURSE YOU, RED BARON In this World War One aerial combat game you unfortunately don't play the part of Snoopy battling against the Red Baron; instead you are a pilot in a Sopwith Camel, and apart from avoiding Jeff Minter you must face up to either one or two German aircraft. OBJECTIVES The easiest of the 19 skill levels pits you against inexperienced pilot Horst Krankel, and the hardest against the two planes of Lothar von Richtofen and his brother Manfred, the Red Baron himself. The screen shows the view from your cockpit and the purpose, of course, is to maneouvre the enemy into your sights and make the skies free for democracy. IN PLAY The cassette comes with nine pages of notes, and the game itself is a compromise between a tactical battle and a scaled-down flight simulator. Thankfully for those of us who have difficulty keeping a 747 in the air, the Sopwith Camel's controls are limited to more simple things like height and speed. The opening menu offers five options plus Finish. The first is Enemy Aircraft Spotting, which runs through the positions of the planes seen from your cockpit. This is followed by a training flight to get you used to the controls. These are logically arranged; the left and right arrows move you 45° in either direction, up arrow is straight on, and F, S, C and D for Faster, Slower, Climb and Dive; with M for Machine-gun fire. Another option is to choose the level of play. The first ten provide single opponents, the final nine two planes. You can also design your own game, making it easier or well-nigh impossible. Finally there's a campaign game, in which you start at level one and must go through all the levels. You have four views from your cockpit: front, back and to either side. The instrument panel beneath shows speed, altitude and range for both you and your enemy (or enemies), as well as a 'd' for damage points: when these reach zero it's time for a plummet. It has to be said that the game is rather a plodder, so if you demand supersonic action it's not for you. The fact that it is in Basic limits it somewhat. VERDICT The graphics are limited but convincing enough, and while this isn't as good as it might have been (I'd like to have seen a machine code version with faster action and more variety in the enemy planes' position), it's still not bad if you fancy your chances of flying a Camel.

Crash

Producer: MC Lothlorien, 48K £5.50 This is a real time simulation of World War 1 plane to plane aerial combat with you, as the pilot of a Sopwith Camel, pitted against air aces of the German airforce. A main menu offers 6 options; Enemy plane spotting, which at length shows you what an enemy plane is doing graphically; Training flight, which familiarises you with the controls and graphic display; Level of play - there are 19; Campaign game, in which enemy planes are sent up against you; Design your own game, where you can alter the specifications of the planes and plots; and Quit. The main problem with what might be a really good game, is that the cockpit view is very disorienting. If an enemy is behind you, you get a view over the back of your plane, which doesn't seem very realistic - it's almost as though you were flying backwards, or sideways if you look left or right. Controlling your aircraft takes some getting used to and the real time element is likely to put off shoot em up addicts. However, for those who enjoy simulations, this one represents fairly good value for money.

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition

Crash

Producer: MC Lothlorien, 48K £5.50 This is a real time simulation of World War I plane to plane aerial combat with you, as the pilot of a Sopwith Camel, pitted against air aces of the German airforce. A main menu offers 6 options; Enemy plane spotting, which at length shows you what an enemy plane is doing graphically; Training flight, which familiarises you with the controls and graphic display; Level of play - there are 19; Campaign game, in which enemy planes are sent up against you; Design your own game, where you can alter the specifications of the planes and plots; and Quit. The main problem with what might be a really good game, is that the cockpit view is very disorienting. If an enemy is behind you, you get a view over the back of your plane, which doesn't seem very realistic - it's almost as though you were flying backwards, or sideways if you look left or right. Controlling your aircraft takes some getting used to and the real time element is likely to put off shoot em up addicts. However, for those who enjoy simulations, this one represents fairly good value for money.