SWIV

Copyright : Storm | Reviewed by : Scooby1970

This was the first time I had ever played SWIV on the CPC. I never owned the original at the time, and I have only ever played the Megadrive and SNES versions of this game (and the arcade version of course). So, my expectations were not set too high really, when comparing the game against the same series of games on superior machines.

Basically, this is a downwardly scrolling shoot-em-up, where you fly a helicopter (you can use a jeep, and if there are 2 players you can have one of each vehicle). The action comes thick and fast, as you shoot your way through hordes of enemy aircraft, ships and missile stations. So, lets take a look at the CPC version in some detail:

Graphics

The first thing that you notice about this game is it?s use of colour.... OR LACK OF IT! The screen is split into two sections, the left is the game area, which comprises of just a couple of colours, and the right is the score area, which is in 2 other different colours (or did I spot 3 colours there?). Anyways, once the game kicks in, you do not really notice the lack of colour that much.

The screen scrolls down at a decent enough pace (though I turned the emulator up to 150% by the second level) and everything flies around quite happily. Collision detection is great and everything feels as it should in this game.

What you really do notice about this game though (apart from the colour), is the attention to detail on the background graphics, awesome! You fly over various scenery such as military installations, jungle with blown out bridges, dock lands, and they all look pretty fantastic!

The only realy downside to the lovely graphics and lack of colour is that you sometimes do not see the enemy fire coming towards you!

Sound

The sound is very basic, no in-game menu sound, and you get some explosions and gun-fire sounds in the game.

Gameplay

So, how does this game play? Well, like a dream really... kind-of. It?s just a little too easy. I managed to complete the game (all 4 levels) on my first go and only lost one life, and that was when I went into the emulator settings and turned up the speed!

Now, I know this has always been a classic, and it is still fun to play today, however, it is just to damn easy! Either that, or all my 30 years of game playing have paid off and I am actually getting good at games!

Overall then it?s a great game, with some great, if blandly coloured graphics. Great if you have some spare time and want to relive your youth. I was a little let down by the CPC version?s easyness, and that is all that really let me down (Ok, they could have done the graphics the way Ikari Warriors was done, that would have been awesome!).