Black Hawk

Sinclair User

Overall 5/5

John Gilbert 5/5

Label: Sparklers Price: £1.99 Joystick: various Memory: 48K/128K Reviewer: John Gilbert Would it frighten you to know that the world's most advanced airborne killer is a set of user defined graphic Us? The UDGs pop up at the beginning of the game as Black Hawk is supposed to near the enemy coast line. Seconds later, as the first enemy helicopters appear from the top 8 of the jerkily scrolling screen, the UDGs transform into the aircraft. Once you're set up to play - all parts of the screen functioning as they should - you drift inland and destroy as many enemy guns, tanks and installations as you can using bullets and bombs. The bullets are hardly visible, being white against blue or green backgrounds and the bombs have a mind of their own. You get a percentage score for the number of direct hits you've made on ground-based installations and a points score for aircraft you knock out. Many of the missions I found are almost unplayable because of the fire power of your opponents. Helicopters, gun emplacements and tanks can fire diagonally at you while your puny gun in the nose of Black Hawk, can only fire forward. The glossy cover promises a lot and fails to deliver.

Your Sinclair

Graphics 5/10

Playability 7/10

Value For Money 7/10

Addictiveness 7/10

Overall 7/10

Rick Robson 7/10

Sparklers £1.99 Reviewer: Rick Robson The game with more padding than an LA Raider - Wagnerian music, five screens of intelligence reports, memos from strategic planning centre - and none of it helps you play the game. Don't you get nostalgic for the good old whizz bang days of Space Invaders, when all you had to do was prang the cabbage crates out of the cosmos? Beneath all the baloney of Black Hawk lurks a sound shoot 'em up, which amidst all the adrenalin pumping carnage, requires a cool head and no little strategic planning. Black Hawk is the most sophisticated fighting plane of all time, its main resource being its computerised attack systems. Its mission is to destroy enemy missile launching sites and airfields - the ultimate target being the runway on mission eight, but you'll only get this far with the successful completion of the previous seven. So if you don't want to be left wallying about on level one you have to successfully employ both your attack and defence screens. During the former you can attack crucial staionary targets with you missiles but you must also zap moving targets (wot can also zap you). Let any of these pass by and out the bottom of the screen and you'll go on to the defence screen where you'll have to use your cannon. Although you can defend your three lives nothing annihilated will count toward your OTPF (on target percent figure) so it's crucial not to miss hostile targets while on attack mode. The better the OTPF figure acquired, the better weaponry you'll be given and so a greater chance of victory. You can get anything from more cannons, to Blitvigs which marmalize all on-screen targets. Or for that 'once in a mission' feeling, try Wild Weasel which'll make you invulnerable for a whole five seconds. With only two skills levels, Rookie and Honcho, you'll have to learn fast if you want to be Top Gun, up there with the Fly Boys. All in all a pretty good shoot 'em up that's well worth the price.

Crash

Lloyd Mangram

Robin Candy

Use of Computer: 91% Graphics: 89% Playability: 95% Getting Started: 92% Addictive Qualities: 95% Value for Money: 87% Overall: 92% The time is in the future, the place is a group of heavily defended islands. You fly your Black Hawk aircraft and your mission is to seek and destroy the enemy airfields and missile launching sites. The task is made all the harder by tanks, anti-aircraft guns, helicopter gunships plus many other things that only appear if you get to a certain point in the game. Your aircraft has a computer attack system which features a two screen display - the defence screen and the attack screen. In the attack screen a small yellow U at the bottom indicates vertical position and a white cross sight may be moved over targets. When this sight goes red a missile is automatically fired towards it to detonate the target. This can be used to destroy ground installations, tanks and flying targets. If a tank or a flying target or an enemy missile reach the base of the screen the computer automatically switches to the defence screen. On this screen you can actually see your Black Hawk aircraft, which is at the base of the screen, and you must destroy the on-coming enemies with your cannon before they get you. Success at this returns you to the attack screen. At the end of a mission you are given an Optimum Target Percentage Figure (OTPF), this is calculated by how many enemy installations you have successfully destroyed. If this percentage is high enough then you will be given additional weaponry. This can also be removed if on your next mission your percentage isn't high enough. At the time Black Hawk was released it was a very good shoot em up but by today's standards it seems to be just above average. The graphics while they do their job aren't perfect but the sound is still reasonable. Black Hawk is still quite addictive and as with most other shoot em ups it is instantly playable but for me it just seems a bit dated. If you really like shoot em ups then it's worth buying, otherwise you might as well stick to Moon Cresta. RC Black Hawk is still one of the best shoot em ups around in my opinion. Okay, the graphics aren't the best in the world but the game is so addictive you don't mind. The biggest advantage Black Hawk has over many other games is that it is instantly playable and what's more it doesn't wear off after a while. The sound is quite good especially the tune at the end of a bombing run. Overall still a good shoot em up which makes an enjoyable alternative to all those arcade adventures and platform games. LM (Rob) Most of the ratings should go down by about 10 - 15%, except perhaps the use of computer and playability which should go down by about 5%. This game hasn't survived the test of time at all well, I think that its graphics let it down the most, otherwise a reasonable shoot em up. (LLoyd) I disagree, only the graphics rating should go down by about 10% the rest can stay the same. It is still very enjoyable and definitely worth buying.

Sinclair User

Gilbert Factor 7/10

Richard Price 7/10

HAWK SWOOPS IN FOR THE KILL Memory: 48K Price: £6.95 Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair, Fuller, AGF/Protek Black Hawk is one of the world's most sophisticated aircraft, jam-packed with missiles, cannons and similar deadly weapons. Jump in the cockpit, take off and head towards the enemy coast. Your mission - yes, you have guessed it - is to blow up everything you can as effectively as possible. After you have done that you also have to get away in one piece. There are two playing screens. The first is a long range missile-firing screen. As the ground moves below, various enemy installations and war-machines appear. Those are two-dimensional and scroll down the screen in a map-like fashion. The ultimate aim is to find and destroy the enemy airbase. Once fired, missiles can be guided to the target with your joystick or control keys. Getting the hang of that will take some practice. The second screen is for defending the plane against hostiles who manage to get through your missile screen undamaged. Most dangerous of all are the SAM missiles which seem to get faster and faster as you progress up the score table. Extra weapon-systems are fitted to the Hawk if you score certain percentages of target hits. More and more targets and threats will also appear. There are two playing modes - tough and tougher. Creative Sparks has produced a shoot-em-up of some complexity and the action is furious. The missile firing sight can get confusing at times and is barely visible over water. Controls are as fast as your reactions. It is not a simulation, it will not stretch your intellect but it is difficult and demanding.

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Big K

Graphics 2/3

Playability 2/3

Addictiveness 2/3

Overall 2/3

John Conquest 2/3

MAKER: Creative Sparks FORMAT: cassette PRICE: £7.95 Your task is to fly "the deadliest plane yet created" on a series of eight missions over a totally militarized group of islands. Missiles, helicopters and tanks are trying to get you, while you try to knock them out and plaster various ground targets, too. There are two modes; the attack screen, a nicely scrolling map showing targets in range of your guided missiles, and a defence screen showing incoming hostiles. To fire missiles you move the sight (cursor) and lock it on target. In defence it's over to cannon fire. There are two levels, Rookie and Honcho, and a variety of bonus weapons when you complete a mission within certain parameters (mind you, if it's the "deadliest etc. etc.", how come you can make it even deadlier? Oh well, no point in expecting logic from a computer game). I've read the scoring system over and over and I just plain don't understand it. Maybe I'm thick, but I can't make head or tail of these Strategic Loss Factors and On Target % Figures. Still, never mind, just shoot up everything in sight and hope for the best. Seems to work OK, because I get my bonuses, but I'm sure there are all kind of clever wrinkles I'm missing out on. The details is a bit fussy and cluttered, but until I get River Raid for the Spectrum, this'll do fine.

Personal Computer Games

Graphics 6/10

Sound 6/10

Originality 6/10

Lasting Interest 7/10

Overall 7/10

Bob Wade 7/10

MACHINE: Spectrum CONTROL: Keys, Kemp, Sinc, Full, Curs FROM: Creative Sparks, £6.95 Flying over occupied islands you have to blast your way through hordes of the enemy to reach and destroy their airfield. The action is seen from above and comes in two different screens, it is fast and compulsive, although your craft and the white guided missiles can be hard to see on the attack screen.

CrashCrash Smash

Use of Computer 91%

Graphics 89%

Playability 95%

Getting Started 92%

Addictive Qualities 95%

Value For Money 87%

Overall 92%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Creative Sparks Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £6.95 Language: Machine code Author: Phil Snell & Dean Lock Black Hawk is an arcade shoot em up of positively violent proportion. It is also a fairly complex game to get into at first and requires some concentration on the detailed inlay instructions. It is also the first translation to the Spectrum of the popular arcade game 'Xevious'. We would have to say at the outset however, that the Spectrum's display isn't up to the quality of a dedicated arcade machine, so no one must expect those extraordinary graphics. On the other hand, Creative Sparks have added some other interesting features and this is a game which uses 'Xevious' as a departure point rather than trying to be a copy. The time is the near future and the place is a group of heavily defended islands. You are flying your Black Hawk. Your mission is to seek out and destroy enemy airfields and missile launching sites. There are, however, many other installations to destroy. Up against you are enemy anti-aircraft guns, helicopter gunships, SAM missiles and missile launchers. The success of your mission is gauged by your SLF figure (Strategic Loss Factor) - in other words you get points for targets destroyed, i.e. tanks, rockets, SAMs, aircraft ships, gunships, jets, helicopters and others. 'Others' are ground installations like factories. Your aircraft has a computer attack system which features a two-screen display - the defence screen and the attack screen. In the attack screen a small yellow U at the bottom indicates your vertical position and a white cross-sight may be moved over targets. When it turns red, a missile is automatically fired to detonate the target. It can be used to destroy flying targets as well as ground targets, but any flying target which reaches the base of the screen will cause your computer to flip automatically to the defence screen. This shows the Black Hawk at the base of the screen and the approaching objects will soon appear at the top, flying rapidly down towards you. In this screen you may use your cannon to destroy the enemy. Successfully destroying them will return you to the attack screen again. Your object is to gain a high OTPF (Optimum Target Percentage Figure). At the end of a mission this figure is calculated and, if high enough, additional weaponry may be added to your craft for further missions. Weaponry may also be removed if you fall below the appropriate figure. The weapons are ECM Pod which detects radar, radios and listening posts; X Cannon which increases fire power in the defence system; Blitvig which destroys all visible enemy units and is limited in use by your OTPF; and finally, the Wild Weasel which makes you invulnerable for a short time and may only be used once per mission. This gives a brief (!) run down of what to expect from Black Hawk - there is more to it. Two skill levels, Rookie and Honcho, plus increasing difficulty. COMMENTS Control keys: cursors, or Q/A up/down, O/P left/right with 0 to fire Joystick: Kempston, ZX 2, Fuller, AGF, Protek Keyboard play: very responsive Use of colour: very good generally, one small problem with the cross-sight Graphics: very good, smooth and detailed, very fast Sound: good noises and tune Skill levels: 2 but increasing difficulty by mission Screens: 2 Originality: loosely based on arcade original 'Xevious', but as a Spectrum shoot em up, entirely original

A detail from the attack screen with tank and three factories.

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition