THUNDER BLADE

One of the year’s biggest arcade games has finally arrived on the Spectrum and thanks to some state-of-the-art programming it looks pretty darn good. The game takes place in a country where the government has been overthrown by rebels who plan to install an evil dictator. Fortunately the finest helicopter pilot alive, you, are still at liberty with the world’s most powerful fighting machine all fuelled up and ready to go. Codenamed the Gunship Gladiator you hesitate hardly a second before climbing aboard and setting off to restore Democracy...

The Thunder Blade is armed with machine guns and air-to-ground missiles, but has no defences other than a bit of armour plating and your skill at dodging bullets. These skills have to see you through four levels of mechanised mayhem. Each level — except the final one — is split into three sections; two overhead, vertically scrolling sections and one flying into the screen section. Overall there are 12 sections grouped into several multiloads (four on the 128K, eight on the 48K).

On Level One the Thunder Blade is flying through a city heavily populated with tanks, helicopters and jet aircraft. Dropping in height on the overhead section makes the skyscrapers and roads grow larger in an impressive display of 3-D programming. The joystick controls left/right direction and height, speed is either by keys or joystick — hold down fire and forward.

Once you have battled your way through the city you must face a large battleship kicking out flak and missiles in all directions. When this is sunk an end of level bonus is awarded, depending on the amount of hits scored. The second level moves the player to another potential paintwork-scraping encounter — rotoring through a network of caverns toward another ominous enemy. Level Three finds our intrepid hero flying over enemy held jungles and waterways, now coming under fire from heavily armed ships. The final baddie here is a huge aircraft.

By the fourth and final level the ravages of battle are starting to show on your battered and dented chopper, as well as your battered and bruised body, but tough mercenaries like you don’t give up, after all you don’t think Arnie Schwarzenegger would say ‘naff this for a game of soldiers, I’m off home’ (in his Austrian accent). No, he’d fight on, in search of the ultimate goal — an oil refinery which should make a satisfying bang before you take on the last battleship.

I think US Gold have done a great job here, converting such a great coin-op to the Spectrum. The 3-D perspectives are used to great effect, especially on the first level with the tall buildings soaring to their lofty heights, and you vainly tugging at the joystick trying to avoid them. Although the sprites are monochromatic, they are all well designed, and serve their functions with a single-minded determination — for the most part this means blowing the socks off of the brave chopper pilot. I greatly enjoy playing the arcade version, and although the hydraulic chair isn’t present on the computer version, the game is just as much fun. I think that US Gold are onto a big Christmas hit with Thunder Blade.

MARK ... 90%