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This simulation puts you in command of the US fleet defending Midway island. As such, you must decide how the fleets are to be moved and how the various air divisions are deployed.

The main display is a map of the area showing the positions of the various fleets and air divisions of both sides. All actions are controlled via a box-shaped cursor and, using this, you can move your forces and examine the strength of any particular unit. As time goes on the Japanese fleets approach and you must locate them using your spotter aircraft. Once you have them in your sights, you send in the fighters and bombers.

All attacks are portrayed with rather pretty pictures showing aircraft attacking ships. During these phases, you can use the joystick to move a gunsight so that you can join in. I felt this feature was rather pointless, and in fact the attack scenes soon became repetitive and tiresome.

Overall, the game is fairly complex and offers three levels of difficulty. Unfortunately, I didn't find it as gripping as I had hoped and there was little variation between games in spite of my use of radically different ploys. If you're fed up with mindless destruction of aliens etc, I recommend you give this a try. It's not easy and it will give your intellect a good workout.

A.W.