Every so often, the Strategic Air Command organise the Curtis LeMay trophy (although I don't know whether this is fact or fiction!). Choosing one of four types of fighter aircraft, you must take part in eight bombing missions, armed with a cannon and Sidewinder and Maverick missiles, which are used on air and ground targets respectively. What makes this flight simulation so good is that you see everything in solid 3D, and as a bonus, you can view your 'plane from any angle you want; it's great stuff! Unfortunately, you can't choose which missions you wish to fly, and of course there are all the keys to learn, but with great graphics like this, and several practice modes, it might just convert some people into liking flight simulators!

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Ten nations (only ten?) are taking part in a knockout Olympic tournament consisting of four stages. You have to play as the United Kingdom; you can't choose another team. Each team has only five players, and you initially have three minutes of playing time. If you lose, you're out of the tournament, but if you are drawing or winning, you can continue to play the match for another three minutes. This seems a rather strange rule to me! The graphics are quite good, and this is one of the few football games that plays music during the game. The game plays reasonably well, although the scrolling is very jerky and the players are very big compared with the size of the pitch, which becomes confusing when there are several players crowding around the ball.

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The evil Pharaoh has kidnapped Princess Thaya and is about to bury her alive in a sacrifice to the Egyptian gods. You must cross the desert to reach and save her, but many monsters and demons must be fought and defeated using your trusty sword. You may find some magic objects along the way as well, but some of them may release evil magic. The animation of both your character and the monsters is excellent, and the graphics were very innovative considering the year this game was released, using two different screen modes and a multi-coloured border. However, the music is dreadful, and there is no variety in the gameplay; the entire game seems to consist of nothing but fighting and defeating monsters.

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If you don't know what this coin-op is about, it's likely you didn't play video games around 1990. Just choose your hero, knock down anyone standing in your way and rescue the girl. US Gold attempted the impossible in this conversion, and so they didn't manage to fulfil their objectives. The graphics are quite big, you'll see almost the same enemies, the same background graphics, the same character movements... and you'll see all these things scrolling just as they did in the original game. As a result, the game has very little playability. Nevertheless, I can't say Final Fight is a bad game; let's say the programmers did all they could to code a CPC version of the game. It's quite curious to see, but it cannot be considered a real choice if you want to play a beat-'em-up.

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This is the first game which stars the fearless Magic Knight, who has been placed in the Castle of Spriteland by the King and has to escape from it while grabbing as much treasure as possible, to prove worthy of a place on the Polygon Table. All manner of objects are to be found in the rooms and mazes, which you can trade for cash. Some of them can also be combined to make more valuable objects. The graphics are a bit blocky and the music, while reasonably good, is grating after a while. It's certainly not my favourite Magic Knight game but it's worth the occasional go, even if it's a little bit too easy.

See also: Knight Tyme, Spellbound, Stormbringer.

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Fly your helicopter through six missions, across jungles, cities, deserts and ice, shooting 'planes, helicopters and ground targets with a barrage of missiles. Shooting helicopters produces a bonus which you can collect to give extra fuel or firepower. The graphics are really wonderful, although the sound effects are very limited and the music at the beginning of the game isn't all that good. In fact, the programmer is one half of Black System, who produced many excellent non-commercial games with colourful graphics, but which had one problem - they were too easy. That's also the case with this game, since you are offered infinite continues, and it's very easy indeed to complete! It's still fun to play while it lasts, though.

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In a world in the future which is raging with conflicts in every continent, the United Nations uses armoured Thunder Master vehicles to resolve them. However, the Intergalactic Liberation Organisation regularly attacks the vehicles. There are three levels with six wars on each of them, and you can start on any level. Each war takes you along a stretch of road, where you will meet enemy fire. Collisions with obstacles and bullets loses fuel, and you constantly need to collect the fuel which lies on the road, or the game is over. Unfortunately, you often find yourself being destroyed very quickly, and the game ends almost before you know it. It's a real shame that a game with nice graphics and sound effects (the digitised music on the title screen is excellent!) is ruined by the ridiculous, and random, difficulty.

See also: Fire and Forget II.

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Fire and Forget II
(Titus, 1990)

More terrorist-busting antics await you in this disappointing sequel. The 3rd International Conference for Peace has been gatecrashed and a nuclear bomb has been placed inside the conference building. You control the new, improved Thunder Master II vehicle, with the ability to fire missiles and convert from a car to an airborne fighter. This time, there are five levels which become progressively longer; too long, in fact. You need to collect fuel, kerosene and missiles for the vehicle, and collisions and running out of fuel costs you one of your six lives. At the end of each level is a truck which you must destroy. The graphics are just as good as in the original game, and there's plenty of cool music to listen to as well. However, the very long levels make this a boring game with little variety.

See also: Fire and Forget.

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Firelord
(Hewson, 1986)

The kingdom of Torot has been cursed and only Sir Galaheart can return it to normality again by seeking the sacred Firestone, which is in the hands of the Evil Queen. Torot covers a large area, and to get anywhere, you're going to have to collect the objects which are scattered around and trade them with other folk. You'll also have to make a map and note some teleport codes! It has the look of a Spectrum port and the graphics aren't all that impressive, and there isn't much sound either, but it's a good game, if a little too large for me!

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Fireman Sam and his crew have to go round the streets of town and get to the scene of emergencies quickly. Among the many tasks that Sam is asked to complete are fires (of course), getting objects off a roof, and freeing kids who have got their heads stuck in the railings. However, most of Sam's time seems to be spent looking for lost objects. I'm sure the fire service have better things to do than that! If you don't complete a task properly, you'll receive a warning letter; if Sam gets three of these, he's sacked. The game is obviously aimed at children - after all, it is based on a TV cartoon series - and the colourful graphics will appeal to them. For more mature players, though, that's not enough.

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