Desert Hawk

Your Sinclair

Graphics 3/10

Playability 3/10

Value For Money 1/10

Addictiveness 1/10

Overall 2/10

Max Phillips 2/10

Players £1.99 Reviewer: Max Phillips Never mind Chop Lifter, of which this is a rather pale-placed (in other words, in the bin) imitation. This one would embarrass the average shop lifter if it was discovered in their loot. You have to fly a very under-simulated helicopter into rather under-occupied enemy territory to rescue rather under-sized little blokes that flicker so much they're almost invisible. Must be radiation poisoning. The amazing thing is not the complete lack of originality but what an incredibly bad job has been made of this aged, overworked and not-too-difficult-to-program scenario. I couldn't even get the helibopper to face in the direction it was flying unless I fired a missile at the same time as turning. This isn't a good way to conserve ammunition but you won't find that a problem. After a short while, you'll be chasing after the enemy tanks, begging them to shoot you and put you out of your misery. And of all the gall, not only were two programmers necessary to create this penny dreadful but there's a producer mentioned as well. Never mind the enemy missile installations... Shoot the producer!

Read it at Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years

Crash

Use of Computer 48%

Graphics 52%

Playability 42%

Getting Started 56%

Addictive Qualities 47%

Value For Money 47%

Overall 47%

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Producer: Players Retail Price: £1.99 Author: Michael Barnard and Steven Bough Once again you have the chance to prove yourself as a hero on the battlefield. In Desert Hawk you pilot a sophisticated helicopter over a particularly nasty part of the desert on a mission to rescue soldiers stranded behind enemy lines - remember Choplifter? The risks are high; the chances of success, low. Only flying skills can decide the outcome. Under cover of darkness, the helicopter slowly rises into the sky. Silently, the chopper flies over the arid desert in search of the wounded men. The enemy have been expecting such a mercy mission, however, and have positioned defences to destroy the helicopter. A cannon fires lethal shells which are very hard to see in the half light. Shrapnel launchers are positioned rather too close to the pick-up zone. As you appear on their radar, missiles shoot out of the top of the shrapnel domes, to explode, spraying shrapnel everywhere. Only skilful manoeuvring prevents the helicopter from being blasted out of the sides. On the higher levels, more sophisticated weapons are sent to stop your mission. The tanks can only fire shells to a certain height, but this makes them no less dangerous when you are coming into land and pick up some comrades. The real weapons to avoid at all costs are the heat-seeking missile launchers. These missiles are attracted to the engine heat of the helicopter and go to any lengths to destroy the chopper, unless you can out-smart them with some pretty nifty flying. Contact with the missiles results in the destruction of the helicopter and the mission is prematurely terminated. Only three soldiers at a time can be carried to safety. Once the chopper has been successfully landed, the allies run on to the screen and hop aboard. When three guys are inside, you must take off again and fly back to base before returning to pick up another batch. At each subsequent level the number of soldiers to be rescued increases by two, and the enemy weapon systems multiply. The helicopter is equipped with a defence system - at the start of the game, the helicopter has one hundred missiles. These can be fired horizontally or dropped on to a target below, depending on the position of the helicopter. Points are scored in the game for picking up soldiers and these are displayed at the top of the main screen. The Landing Computer display occupies the bottom of the screen. When the helicopter is in the correct position for a successful landing the colours around the edge of the landing screen stop rotating and the word 'LANDING' appears. If you try to land the helicopter before this has happened, it crashes. To the right of the screen there is the fuel and temperature chart. If things get too hot, the engine cuts out and you drift slowly towards the ground. Should the enemy be below the helicopter when this happens, it's curtains. Running out of fuel has a similar effect as overheating the engine. The screen scrolls sideways to give the impression that the helicopter is moving. Below the desert with cacti and ancient relics passes by. COMMENTS Control keys: definable Joystick: Kempston, Cursor, Interface 2 Keyboard play: pretty unresponsive Use of colour: quite dull Graphics: quite a lot of attribute problems Sound: some nice spot effects and a realistic sound effect at the beginning Skill levels: one Screens: small scrolling play area

"Ready for take off?" "Aye, aye Captain Zeep"

Bringing the chopper into land would be a good idea - mind you don't crash though...