Fly to the rescue

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Airwolf is based on the popular TV series of the same name. The evil General Zaranov has kidnapped a team of brilliant scientists and is holding them captive in his underground fortress.

You, as Stringfellow Hawke, must fly your helicopter into this subterranean base and rescue the scientists. With a bit of luck you may even get the girl.

You start in the base with an impenetrable force shield to your left and a fast moving laser bolt to your right. Having side-stepped thelaser you find that it is bouncing between three security units set in a triangle.

A large red arrow points to the base of the bottom unit,and a few well placed missiles fired here will immobilise the laser. When you return to your starting point you'll see that the force shield is now down.

One tricky little manoeuvre which has to be mastered is flying the helicopter with one hand while manipulating the cursor keys with the other.

These keys allow you to scroll the screen to take a quick peek at what's around the corner before you blunder in blindly.

The enemy defences are present in numerous forms - large and deadly fireballs, security droids which follow specific paths through the caves and the laser bolts.

You are provided with four shields. However your only indication of the shield status is an occasional flash on the screen as each packs up.

There is no set path through the caverns and you will often be faced with a choice between two routes. It's not that difficult a decision really as you can guarantee that both are going to be fraught with danger.

Airwolf combines a good arcade game with a liberal helping of strategy.

The copter and backgrounds are drawn on a grand scale with good use of colour. This game will tax the brain as much as the trigger finger.

Steve Brook