Computer + Video Games - Commodore Is Awesome

lives if you're hit by a fighter or
its missiles_ The destruction
scene for death by missile is
impressive. It's an exact copy
of the arcade scene where you
plummet down towards the
ground with a plume of smoke
piling out behind before hitting
the ground with an explosion.
The terrain below you varies
between sea, forest, arctic
tundra and desert.
You can make your fighter
do a 360 degree roll with the
whole screen rolling around
you — it is a mind-blowing
• Afterburner one cartridge to give Sego a much needed boost.
00 D1040
FECIAL
horizon tilt. It is like picking up
your brain and rolling it thru
360 degrees_
I did find a rather large hole
in the play as you could play
through levels one to twelve
simply by holding the joystick in
any of the four diagonals and
missiles and fighters simply
missed you. I assume this will
not be possible in the finished
version!
If you survive the first three
scenes you get to refuel your
fighter and load up with more
missiles, This can be a tricky
manoeuvre as you have to
position the fuel cable from a
tanker plane into your missile
sight and then trigger it. You
also get a hit count and points
summary every three stages, so
the more fighters you take out
the higher your points tally.
At the end of stage six you
get to battle a huge bock-fire
bomber which lobs missiles at
your plane. You have to dodge
and weave away while trying
to take it out_ If you succeed,
you ore given a landing
sequence where a tanker
refuels the fighter and you
zoom off back into the sky
again_
It is very fast to play and
may, at first, prove a little
confusing because of its speed.
The graphics are generally
sharp and smooth although I
must say I was surprised with
the general standard as it is a
• Head to head- as Takoushi yetis "eat photon death"
000 #000
•
500,000 byte cartridge and I
did expect a lot more of the
graphics.
The trouble with producing
home versions of such
graphically stunning arcade
games is that it's almost
impossible to reproduce on
exact copy of the orcade
machine. In many respects
comparisons are worthless.
Nevertheless Sego has done
an excellent job on
Afterburner, it is the first in a
new generation of console
games.
Afterburner couldn't have hit
at a better time for Sega. With
Nintendo blowing their
company trumpet about
having shifted millions more
systems than Sega — the quick
conversion of what is definitely
the coin-op of the moment is
bound to give Sega a boost.
Nintendo are so boastful
about their dominance right
now that they staged a mock
boxing match at a lavish press
do in Los Vegas recently Kid
Nintendo versus the Sego
Cissy. No prizes for guessing
who won — but our guess is
that Afterburner represents a
fair old punch back by Sega.
Don't miss it!
P. GRAPHICS 8
N. SOUND 7
PlAYABILIrt 9
OVERALL 9
TONY TAKOUSHI