[{"TitleName":"Gunship","Publisher":"MicroProse Software Ltd","Author":"Andy Hollis, Arnold Hendrick, Darrel Deaniss, Iris Idokogi, David Phillips, Ed Valigursky","YearOfRelease":"1987","ZxDbId":"0002183","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 47, Dec 1987","Price":"£1.25","ReleaseDate":"1987-11-26","Editor":"Barnaby Page","TotalPages":148,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Managing Editor: Barnaby Page\r\nStaff Writers: Dominic Handy, Lloyd Mangram, Ian Phillipson\r\nSubeditor: David Peters\r\nPhotographers: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson\r\nOffice: Frances Mable, Glenys Powell\r\nTechnical Writers: Simon N Goodwin, Jon Bates\r\nAdventure Writer: Derek Brewster\r\nPBM Writer: Brendon Kavanagh\r\nStrategy Writer: Philippa Irving\r\nEducation Writer: Rosetta McLeod\r\nContributors: Robin Candy, Mike Dunn, Paul Evans, Ben Stone, Paul Sumner, Bym Welthy\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nArt Director: Gordon Druce\r\nIllustrator: Oliver Frey\r\nDesign: Markie Kendrick, Wayne Allen\r\nProcess and Planning: Jonathan Rignall (Supervisor), Matthew Uffindell, Nick Orchard\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Andrew Smales\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nEditorial and Production: [redacted]\r\nPlease address correspondence to the appropriate person!\r\n\r\nMail Order and Subscriptions: [redacted]\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting by The Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow\r\n\r\nPrinted in England by Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - member of the BPCC Group.\r\n\r\nDistributed by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced whole or in part without written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return any written material sent to CRASH - including written and photographic software and hardware - unless it is accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material which may be used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\n©1987 Newsfield Limited\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: MicroProse\r\nRetail Price: £9.95 (cassette), £12.95 (disk)\r\nAuthor: Arnold Hendrick and Andy Hollis\r\n\r\nFlying a military helicopter is a tough job at the best of times - and when you're in the thick of combat and they're using you for target practice, quick thinking and perfect control are your best weapons. MicroProse's Gunship, one of those complex simulations so popular in America, is an attempt to recreate the reality of flying a US Army armoured helicopter, the state-of-the-art AH-64A Apache introduced in 1982.\r\n\r\nTo add to the effect, Gunship's two cassettes and hard cardboard case (the American-style packaging which supported its great success on the Commodore 64 there) come complete with an 88-page 'operations manual' giving every detail of the game - and technical specifications of the real helicopter, its armament and its enemies.\r\n\r\nOnce in the chopper, you look through an armoured glass windscreen complete with cross hairs and gunsight. System-damage lights are situated above this, and below it is the main instrument console. This contains such navigational instruments as heading, course, and airspeed indicators; fuel gauges; weapon update systems; a radar jammer; and an enemy threat display. There's also information on the helicopter's ammunition, a sector map, a damage monitor and a radio which brings vital messages.\r\n\r\nThe helicopter is flown using two basic controls: the 'cyclic joystick', which controls the pitch and roll (direction of the copter), and the 'collective', which alters the angle of the rotor blades (and therefore the altitude).\r\n\r\nFlying can be simplified by choosing the 'easy' rather than the 'realistic' flight option. This limits the pitch and roll elements of flight. (Other flight difficulties include air turbulence at low altitudes.) Landing, weather conditions and the enemy's fighting skills can also be independently selected as easy or realistic.\r\n\r\nThe handbook recommends you use the realistic flying option as soon as possible, perhaps leaving the tricky landing and weather problems for later - and once the basics of the craft and combat have been mastered in practice attacks on the US training camp, actual combat missions abroad can begin.\r\n\r\nOne of four duty assignments can be chosen: Southeast Asia, Central America, the Middle East and Western Europe. Each assignment includes some missions which are more dangerous than others, and volunteer missions are exceptionally hazardous.\r\n\r\nBriefings before each operation give the essential information. A password and countersign are particularly important; when you're approaching a friendly base, ground control radios the password. And you'd better respond with the right countersign, or risk being blasted from the skies.\r\n\r\nBriefings also include other information on such matters as the weather, enemy equipment and tactics.\r\n\r\nBut if you decide to be a chicken-livered cur you can go on sick call and get out of a mission.\r\n\r\nOn a mission, you're flying into the unknown. The sector map gives a localised view of the ground, and a full-screen map can be activated to give the entire layout of the combat zone. This larger map isn't entirely accurate, but does show all the major geographical features, friendly troops, installations and targets.\r\n\r\nThe AH-64A Apache is armed with standard weaponry, but before some missions it can be rearmed to your specifications. Cannon ammunition, flares and fuel can all be added (within a weight limit), or left behind if unnecessary.\r\n\r\nThe enemy strikes with ground fire from antiaircraft guns and surface-to-air missiles, and with its own airborne fighters.\r\n\r\nBut the enemy's ground radar can be disrupted and your movements disguised by releasing metal strips of chaff, or by activating missile jamming circuits.\r\n\r\nAnd combative Soviet-made HIND helicopters, sent up to attack, can be outmanoeuvred and blasted from the sky in a perilous battle of wits. (Note those HINDS; the enemies in Gunship are recognisably America's enemies, and there's even a warning that 'the Warsaw pact is the most formidable enemy on this planet'!)\r\n\r\nFighting in Gunship is very high-tech. The TADS (Target Acquisition & Designation System) tracks a target once you're close to it, so it's always in your sights.\r\n\r\nBut some weapons are only effective against particular targets: your 30mm cannon can destroy everything but bunkers, while Heilfire air-to-ground missiles (directed by laser to a TADS target) can take out bunkers as well as all vehicles. On firing cannons and missiles the helicopter recoils and must be quickly brought back under control.\r\n\r\nOnce a mission has ended and you've brought the copter to rest, the debriefing begins. You could be promoted; you could end up working for the US Army Sanitary Maintenance Corps; more usually, you'll have to make a decision on whether to refuel, rearm or repair the helicopter.\r\n\r\nRemember, however, that if you land in the wrong place you might spend the duration in a prisoner-of-war camp. Spectrum gaming, let alone war, is hell.\r\n\r\nBut is it fantasy or fact? Perhaps the playability is all that matters, though MicroProse may have a special insight. The American company's President and well-known eccentric, 'Wild' Bill Stealey, is an enthusiastic military man who even put a real helicopter simulator, used for training pilots, on MicroProse's stand at The PCW Show!\r\n\r\nAnd the company's releases next year will include Project: Stealth Fighter supposedly simulating an American fighter plane so secret that nobody but MicroProse has heard of it.\r\n\r\nIn the meantime, CRASH's reviewers have greeted Gunship as the best of the few helicopter simulations around. Others include Digital Integration's 1985 Tomahawk (93% Overall in Issue 23) and Durell's 1984 Combat Lynx (88% Overall in Issue 10).\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nJoystick: Kempston, Sinclair\r\nGraphics: vector graphics updated superquick\r\nSound: the occasional beep - but you can't hear much in the din of battle anyway\r\nOptions: retry a mission; easy/realistic modes of flight, landing, weather and enemy: a training camp and four combat assignments; sick call option for pilots who get cold feet","ReviewerComments":["Anyone out them considering jumping into the cockpit of an AH-64A Apache without an induction course, forget it! Even if you're not into reading pages of instructions, take time out to attack Gunship's operations menus. It's well worth it - and this is the best helicopter simulation yet. Gunship brings together the realistic aspects - helicopter controls, reactions from those controls, and travelling above ground - and the excitement of a thrilling, involved mission with deadly enemies.\r\nBym Welthy\r\n91%","Tomahawk was good but MicroProse's Gunship is out of this world. It's one of only a few games that simulate flying accurately and give you a 'real' feeling of being in the cockpit, at the helm of millions of pounds worth of machinery. And handling a helicopter is even more of a challenge than flying a fighter plane! Helicopters aren't as responsive as planes and Gunship's controls reflect this important aspect. The graphics aren't as fast and smooth as those of, say, Mercenary, but when you finish a flight you really feel drained. Gunship is probably the most realistic simulation you'll ever play.\r\nPaul Sumner\r\n94%","Gunship is the most realistic flight simulation around. The copter's response to controls is remarkably convincing, and the graphics are a good deal better than Tomahawk's - did I detect my helicopter flying through hills, though? Gunship has loads of playability; the manual makes good reading for a couple of hours, and the in-game presentation is excellent. It's the best in the ever more competitive world of flying on the Spectrum...\r\nMike Dunn\r\n90%"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: A challenging and complex simulation, the strongest contender for King of the Clouds yet!","Page":"18,19","Denied":false,"Award":"Crash Smash","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Bym Welthy","Score":"91","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Paul Sumner","Score":"94","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Mike Dunn","Score":"90","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Arming the AH-64A Apache before a mission."},{"Text":"The detailed sector map (centre of console) guides you through the intricacies of air-to-ground combat."},{"Text":"The scanner (centre of console) shows the building visible through the windscreen."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"The real thing: this $8.4 million AH-64A Apache weighs 10,268 pounds empty, and is 58 feet 2 inches long, 48 feet wide and 15 feet 3 inches high. The engines are two T700-GE-701 turboshaft jets with a maximum engine static horse-power of 1,896.4 running one one engine. The maximum horizontal airspeed is 184 miles per hour the maximum climb is 2,880 feet per minute and the service ceiling (ie the highest point at which it can operate) is 20,500 feet. At least, that's what the operations manual tells us."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"94%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"88%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"87%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"92%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"92%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 25, Jan 1988","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1987-12-10","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":126,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nArt Editor: Peter George\r\nDeputy Editor: Marcus Berkmann\r\nProduction Editor: Lucy Broadbent\r\nTechnical Editor: Phil South\r\nDeputy Art Editor: Darrell King\r\nContributors: Richard Blaine, Audrey & Owen Bishop, Jonathan Davies, Chris Donald, Mike Gerrard, Gwyn Hughes, Joe King, Tony Lee, John Minson, David Powell, Nat Pryce, Rick Robson, Peter Shaw, Rachael Smith, Mischa Welsh, Tony Worrall\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Simon Stansfield\r\nProduction Manager: Sonia Hunt\r\nPublisher: Kevin Cox\r\nPublishing Director: Roger Munford\r\nManaging Director: Stephen England\r\n\r\nPublished by Dennis Publishing Ltd, [redacted] Company registered in England.\r\nTypesetters: Carlinpoint [redacted]\r\nReproduction: Graphic Ideas, London\r\nPrinters: Chase Web Offset [redacted]\r\nDistribution: Seymour Press [redacted]\r\n\r\nAll material in Your Sinclair ©1988 Felden Productions, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of the publishers. Your Sinclair is a monthly publication."},"MainText":"MicroProse\r\n£9.95\r\nReviewer: Jonathan Davies\r\n\r\nThe game that's been causing Commodore (spit spit!) owners to emit grunts of delight for the last year or so has finally been converted to the Spectrum. Yes, at last Gunship is finished, and now we can experience the joys of some real serious Commie-bashing.\r\n\r\nIn case you hadn't heard, Gunship is a helicopter simulation, and a pretty comprehensive one at that. It's along the same sort of lines as DI's Tomahawk, but a little bit more complicated, to say the least. For a start, one glance at the 84 page manual will be enough to put many people off. But don't be one of them, 'cos Gunship should be at the top of your Christmas present list.\r\n\r\nHaving fought your way through the box-load of bumph that accompanies the game, (the box would be great for carrying groceries home from Waitrose once you've finished with it), selected which of the two tapes is the one you're after and loaded it up you'll be able to start the pre-flight checks.\r\n\r\nIt's not just a case of jumping into the seat, switching on the ignition and taking to the skies like they do in Airwolf. A lot of options need tweaking first, such as scenario, weather conditions, enemy skill and simulation level (simplified or realistic). Once you've done that you'd be advised to read the mission briefing and intelligence report. Finally a few adjustments to the chopper's armaments and you're ready to go.\r\n\r\nActually getting off the ground is the next obstacle. You'll need to wade through pages of explanation of flying principles and equipment descriptions before you can get onto the meaty stuff: switching on the engines. Then, with your joystick between your knees and a cigar between your lips, engage the rotors, twiddle with the collective and you're flying.\r\n\r\nThe improvements over previous simulations quickly become apparent. The ground is covered in buildings, rivers, roads and, of course, those dastardly Commies. Mountains are property filled in, so there's none of that wire-frame rubbish we've been used to.\r\n\r\nAnyway, you're flying along, minding your own business, when suddenly your VDU flashes up \"Target\". Press fire and a close-up of the target, be it friend or foe, appears on the screen. Yeurch! Time to reach for the manual again.\r\n\r\nYour AH-64 Apache is armed with four types of weapons. Firstly there's your basic chain gun. This is aimed automatically by the TADS system, so all you have to do is press fire when the target is in range. Then you've got unguided rockets, Sidewinders for knocking down enemy helicopters and Hellfire guided missiles for those really tricky targets.\r\n\r\nIt's not all fun, though. In your briefing you're given the location of a primary target which must be found and destroyed. It's normally one of the enemy bases which are dotted around the map, and if you manage to reduce it to rubble and get safely back to base you'll be given a medal, promoted and set out on another even harder mission.\r\n\r\nThe missions vary from training nice and safely in America, to full blown combat against the Reds in Europe. I couldn't even get past the second mission, described as \"Easy\" in the briefing, it's going to be a real long-term challenge to work up the ranks to a Colonel with a Congressional Medal of Honour.\r\n\r\nObviously Gunship is only going to suit the sort of people who beat Elite while they're waiting for the kettle to boil for a cup of tea and eat Starglider for breakfast. However, persevere and the rewards are worth it. Totally compulsive and thunderin' good value!","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"The ultimate flight simulator. It'll take a lot of practice, but puts the rest to shame.","Page":"108","Denied":false,"Award":"Your Sinclair Megagame","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jonathan Davies","Score":"9","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"No, not the interior of the USS Enterprise but your control panel. In the middle's the view out of the cockpit. Below this is the VDU which normally displays a scrolling map, but also gives close-ups of targets and messages. On the left, the fuel and throttle indicators. Hang on! They're both on zero! Oh shh..."},{"Text":"This is the armaments depo, where you load up you Apache's wings with the hardware you'll need to wipe out the enemy. Ammo for you ultra-powerful chain gun is worth having in large quantities. It's automatically aimed at the target you select, and will dispose of almost anything on the battlefield."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"9/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 67, Oct 1987","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-09-18","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: David Kelly\r\nDeputy Editor: Graham Taylor\r\nStaff Writer: Jim Douglas\r\nStaff Writer: Tamara Howard\r\nArt Editor: Gareth Jones\r\nAdventure Help: Gordo Greatbelly\r\nZapchat: Jon Riglar\r\nHelpline: Andrew Hewson\r\nContributors: Richard Price, Andy Moss, Gary Rook\r\nHardware Correspondent: Rupert Goodwins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Louise Fanthorpe\r\nDeputy Advertisement Manager: Mike Corr\r\nProduction Assistant: Alison Morton\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Linda Everest\r\nSubscriptions Manager: Carl Dunne\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\nTelephone [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries [redacted]\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Jerry Paris\r\n\r\nSinclair User\r\nEMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1986 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nABC 84,699 July-Dec 1986"},"MainText":"Label: Microprose\r\nPrice: £9.95 (tape), £12.95 (disk)\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Jim Douglas\r\n\r\nWell, it's been a long time coming, hasn't it?\r\n\r\nGunship from Microprose was around ages ago on the C64 and everyone thought it was the best thing to happen to the future of combat simulations since sliced bread (What's that got to do with combat? - Ed).\r\n\r\nUnfortunately, it took so long being ported across to the Spectrum many people lacking the faith of us at SU began to doubt the possibility of the conversion, and complain that it wouldn't turn out at all well.\r\n\r\nWell, nyah booh sucks to them, because they're totally wrong in every way. The boys at Ver Prose have come up trumps and produced what is arguably the best flight simulator yet on the Spectrum.\r\n\r\nIn the game, you get the chance to take to the skies in an Apache attack helicopter. Armed with a staggering array of weapons and protected by armour plating, it can chew up and spit out just about anything thrown at it.\r\n\r\nTalk about fools rushing in. Within seconds I had come to more grief than you could imagine. I hadn't a clue where I was, and was struggling with a machine that's not easy to control in the best of conditions, let alone in a strong sidewind at night with full enemy frontline forces attacking.\r\n\r\nBack in base I admitted that maybe the instructions and options could bear a once over and I was happily surprised to see quite how easily accessible they were.\r\n\r\nWhen you're starting out you can select a number of options to make life easier in the early stages. The background for the menus is a rather nice illustration of the helicopter, and the tasteful grey boxes containing the options overlay themselves from top left to bottom right.\r\n\r\nYou can tailor the basic elements, like weather conditions and the skill of the enemy. Also highly inexperienced pilots - like myself - can also choose the 'perfect landing' option which prevents almost any encounter with the ground from turning into a crash.\r\n\r\nThe best thing about Gunship is the realistic way the missions are detailed. Cycling through more grey screens, you gradually learn more about the nature of your assignment - the strength of the repelling forces, location of primary and secondary targets and difficulty, etc.\r\n\r\nMissions vary from easy stuff like taking out a tank somewhere to seriously tough Purple Heart material that no- one in their right minds would try.\r\n\r\nOnce you've selected your mission equip yourself with varying combinations of cannon, rocket and missile ammunition, together with fuel. It's up to you to decide upon the correct combination, depending on your mission.\r\n\r\nOnce you get going, having grasped the engine, rotor and thrust controls, you can start darting around the vector graphic landscape looking for trouble. Soon enough your on- board computer will flash up a message either indicating that a target of some description is in range or than an enemy helicopter is now airborne. Unfortunately, as far as on-board computers go, this one isn't too smart and will happily inform you that your own base in a target. Anyway, when in range, it's a fairly satisfying affair to lock on and let rip with whichever weapon is appropriate.\r\n\r\nYou can flip to a map screen, too. So you know where you're going and so you can make more economic use of fuel than if you were to simply bumble around.\r\n\r\nGraphically the actual 3D, it has to be said, isn't particularly exciting to look at. Let's face it, vector line graphics aren't much cop. In Gunship. though, Microprose has managed, by keeping everything fairly functional, to make sure the game plays at a sensible speed.\r\n\r\nGunship is a game of great depth, incorporating nearly all the things that give real combat pilots a headache.\r\n\r\nIt's very entertaining for both serious sim-heads and people, like me, who aren't too fussed about the more high-brow intellectually challenging elements of flight control.\r\n\r\nIncidentally, Gunship also looks set to be one of the first titles out on disc for the 128K +3.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Highly impressive combat simulation and there's enough action to interest the non-simulations player.","Page":"36","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jim Douglas","Score":"9","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"PROGRAMMER\r\n\r\nDarrel Deaniss has been programming for a few years and produced Gunship after a couple of big hits with Fighter Pilot and Tomahawk for Digital Integration.\r\n\r\nSoftography: Fighter Pilot (Digital Integration, 1985), Tomahawk (Digital Integration, 1986), Gunship (Microprose, 1987)"}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"9/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) Issue 5, Feb 1988","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1988-01-07","Editor":"Peter Connor, Steve Cooke","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Advanced Computer Entertainment\r\nFuture Publishing [redacted]\r\nTelephone [redacted], Fax [redacted], Telecom Gold 84:TXT152, Prestel/Micronet [redacted]\r\n\r\nCo-editors: Peter Connor, Steve Cooke\r\nReviews Editor: Andy Wilton\r\nStaff Writer: Andy Smith\r\nArt Editor: Trevor Gilham\r\nArt Team: Angela Neal, Sally Meddings\r\nPublisher: Chris Anderson\r\nAdvertising Manager: Jon Beales\r\n\r\nCOVER PHOTOGRAPHY\r\nStuart Baynes Photography [redacted]\r\n\r\nSUBSCRIPTIONS & SPECIAL OFFERS\r\nCarrie-Anne Porter [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOLOUR ORIGINATION\r\nWessex Reproduction [redacted]\r\n\r\nDISTRIBUTION\r\nSM Distribution [redacted]\r\n\r\nPRINTING\r\nChase Web Offset [redacted]\r\n\r\nCopyright - FUTURE PUBLISHING LTD 1988 - No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without our permission."},"MainText":"Atari ST, £24.95dk\r\nIBM PC, £34.95dk\r\nC64/128, £14.95cs, £19.95dk\r\nSpectrum, £9.95cs, £12.95dk\r\nCPC, £14.95cs, £19.95dk\r\nAmiga, £24.95dk\r\n\r\nHughes AH-64A Apache\r\n\r\nMajor Wild Bill Stealey has carved quite a reputation for himself in the UK games industry. His company Microprose do have a knack for turning out impressive products with quality packaging and a good dose of healthy gung-ho aggression. Hostiles beware as Wild Bill sends you off on mission after mission with the promise of promotion to Colonel and the award of the Congressional Medal of Honour.\r\n\r\nGunship makes an interesting comparison with Tomahawk from Digital Integration. The former has all the hallmarks of an American up-market product, with an excellent manual and a lot of backslapping throughout the game that helps keep interest from flagging. Disk versions have a Hall of Fame, and the structure of the program is cleverly designed with enemy recognition tests, training missions, radio transmissions from base, armament screens and so on. Some versions even have a cassette tape featuring a live tutorial from Major Bill himself. Yee har!\r\n\r\nBy contrast, Tomahawk seems a rather restrained affair, but once you've put down the bulky manual and started flying, Gunship shows definite disadvantages over its UK rival. It's easier to fly, but somehow less convincing, and the landscape (although more colourful) is less effective. Instrumentation is as complete but not as neatly laid out and as a result rather more tiring to look at after a long time in the air. There's even a rather clumsy screen glitch that regularly flickers across the screen on the Commodore version.\r\n\r\nThese niggles apart, this program still represents reasonable value for money - but Major Bill has some tough competition in Tomahawk.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"71,72","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Airspeed."},{"Text":"Altimeter."},{"Text":"Artificial horizon."},{"Text":"Compass."},{"Text":"Fuel."},{"Text":"Gunship (Commodore version) Unlike Tomahawk, Gunship gives you three viewing options from your cockpit. Here we're looking straight ahead, but the wire frame graphics are just a bit too crude to be really convincing."},{"Text":"Map message area."},{"Text":"Threat display."},{"Text":"VSI."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Display Quality","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Instrumentation","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Documentation","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Ace Rating","Score":"6/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 75, Jan 1988","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-12-16","Editor":"Tim Metcalfe","TotalPages":164,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"C+VG TEAM\r\n\r\nEditor: Tim Metcalfe\r\nDeputy Editor: Paul Boughton\r\nEditorial Assistant: Lesly Walker\r\nSub-Editor: Seamus St. John\r\nArt Editor: Craig Kennedy\r\nAdventure Writers: Keith Campbell, Steve Donoghue, Matthew Woodley\r\nAmerican Correspondent: Marshall M. Rosenthal\r\nArcades: Clare Edgeley\r\nSoftware Consultant: Tony Takoushi\r\nPublicity: Clive Pembridge\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Garry Williams\r\nSenior Advertisement Executive: Katherine Lee\r\nAd Production: Lora Clark\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\nCover: Mark Bromley\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nJuly-December 106,571"},"MainText":"Computer games are not all zip and zap. Wargames, which on the face of it could be thought of as very violent, are often the very opposite. They require careful thought, planning and the ability to think ahead. C+VG's Steve Badsey takes a look at the latest games to declare war on your computer.\r\n\r\nMACHINES: CBM64/128, Atari XL/XE, Amstrad 464,664,6128, Apple, Amiga, Atari ST, IBM, Spectrum 48/128\r\nSUPPLIER: Microprose\r\nPRICE: £? (disk) - (tape)\r\nVERSION TESTED: Spectrum 48\r\n\r\nThis is the Spectrum version of Gunship, the best flight/combat simulator available on the market today, based on the American-built Apache combat helicopter now coming into service with the US Army. Microprose has now produced Spectrum versions of most of their best-sellers. But Gunship has so much in it that the question was always whether they could fit it all into a Spectrum's memory and graphics.\r\n\r\nI'm afraid that the short answer is no. The scenarios have all been kept, but the solid landscape view and multi-coloured map have been replaced by wire-frame hills and trees, and the cockpit layout is far harder to read than in other versions.\r\n\r\nThe problem is that Gunship is in fact so good. It is such a realistic and complex simulator that it needs split-second responses from the player, just like flying a real combat helicopter while trying to engage an enemy. This version, with its fuzzy graphics and trick controls, just isn't up to it.\r\n\r\nThe good news for Spectrum 128 owners is that if they send the game back to Microprose they will provide a single-cassette version, instead of the three sides of tape.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"46,47","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Steve Badsey","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"5/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]