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A problem common to all C64 owners comes when you trot down to your local software shop and think: "Hmmm, I really want to get that Afterburner variant, but I can't because I want to buy the Flying Shark clone as well... and I can only afford one." But now, thanks to Ocean, that dilemma has been well and truly squashed, cut into little squares and flushed down the U-bend because Typhoon is both games in one!

Converted from the little-known Konami coin-op (well, I've never heard or it!) then game casts you as a lone starfighter pilot on a desperate mission to attack an alien planet and prevent them from conquering Earth, or something like that. The first section (homage to Afterburner) simulates your voyage downwards through the atmosphere on your approach to the planet. Although your craft is supposed to be some hi-tech mega spaceship of the future, it bears a startling resemblance to a cut-down version of your F-14 from Afterburner. The enemy fighters scream out of the screen towards you, kamikaze-style, before veering away to the left or right and off the screen. Your guns are aimed by lining up an enemy plane with your fixed on-screen crosshair and letting rip with your cannons. Extra weapons can be collected by shooting down the missiles that the enemy occasionally fire at you, such as a small homing missile that fires out from your undercarriage. But remember, should you fire too late, you'll find yourself in a head-to-head with about 250 tons of enemy plane and it's goodnight for you.

After scrapping the allotted number of fighters, you proceed to the second half of this section, where your mission is to dive bomb an enemy aircraft carrier by zooming down on it, constantly pumping it with your cannons, while all the time avoiding the fighters and bombs spewed at you. Should you manage to hit the carrier enough times, it blows up and you can proceed to the next level. After a short(ish) wait for the second section to load, you'll find that miraculously you've been transformed into a helicopter that scrolls up through typically 1942/Flying Shark-type aquatic landscapes. Weaponwise you're given a standard twin machine gun that you can use to destroy enemy plans and short-range bombs, used to dispose of nasty enemy ground targets such as boats, gun installations, and later on in the level, aircraft carriers and submarines that appear from out of the water when you least expect it.

Typhoon is one of the best shoot-'em-ups to appear on the C64 in a long while. Both game sections are extremely playable and the Afterburner section has particularly splendid graphics and sound, sporting fast animation, well defined enemy fighters and a thumpin' good soundtrack to accompany the action. Although the first section may be a little on the easy side, this is more than made up for by the vertical level (it's meeeaan). Typhoon may not be the most original game on the market today, but the novel combination of two brilliant games make this an absolute must.