F-18 HORNET

 F-18 HORNET is a single-player, arcade/action flight simulator from Absolute
Entertainment and Mediagenic. Designed and written by John Van Ryzin, HORNET
features ten missions, solid 3-dimensional graphics, and joystick control. The
Commodore 64 version is the basis of this review.

 Obviously, F-18 HORNET is a cockpit game. The goals of the missions are to
destroy targets or drop supply payloads, refuel when necessary, and reach the
designated endpoint. During the missions, you'll do battle with tanks,
helicopters, and Russian MiGs. You can do some sightseeing, and attempt some
dangerous maneuvers to prove your courage. Unfortunately, this F-18 doesn't
handle all that well: Both craft and scenery respond sluggishly, making what
should be an exhilarating Mach-2 cruise feel like that bad childhood dream in
which Tyrannosaurus Rex (or Freddy Krueger) is chasing you, and your feet are
mired in soggy marshmallows.

 Following the title screen, a world map appears. Moving the joystick cycles
through the ten available missions. On selecting a mission with the button,
you'll be informed of the location and goal of the mission. Mission 1 is for
training; no enemies will attack. Other missions take place in Europe, Southeast
Asia, Central America; Bering, Mediterranean, and Yellow Seas; Pacific and
Arctic Oceans; and the Persian Gulf.

 The C64 screen display consists of the cockpit of an F-18/A Hornet: altimeter,
air speed, horizontal, and vertical indicators, fuel and engine thrust gauges,
missile availability, and threat radar. These displays are rendered as gauges
and as digital read-outs. When a target comes into view, the Heads Up Display
(HUD) device appears. Indicator lamps reveal targets within firing range, and
fired missiles locked on their targets.

 Outside the cockpit window lies scrolling, solid-modeled, 3-D scenery: runways,
bridges, aircraft carriers, hangars, mesas, buildings, Russian MiGs, tanks, and
helicopters.

 Although no HORNET mission is limited by time, a score can be achieved and is
based on six factors: completion of a mission, targets destroyed, successful
delivery of a payload, attempting difficult maneuvers, your condition and the
condition of your craft at the end of a mission, and the "textbook" quality of
your landing on the deck of a carrier. Based on relative success of these
factors, the results of a mission earn rankings ranging from AWOL to Top Gun.

 HORNET is controlled with a joystick, which works as both the throttle and
control yoke. You can start the engine and increase the throttle either on the
ground or in the air; you can also decrease the throttle in the air, and
reverse-thrust on the ground. The button fires missiles, and you can make th
craft bank, dive, and climb using the stick.

 Keystrokes perform various functions: abort the current game and return to the
Mission Selection screen; eject the pilot; open the cargo bay doors and drop a
supply payload; and control the landing gear.

 The instruction manual in the HORNET game package is clear and concise, and
includes overviews of the ten missions, as well as maps and intelligence
reports.

 Although you're in a cockpit, the craft flies, and there's scenery, it's
probably incorrect to describe F-18 HORNET as a flight simulator. The game i
nicely put together, the graphics are clear, and the solid-modeled scenery looks
good. The handling of the craft, however, leaves much to be desired. Worse,
there is no such thing as turning in flight: In order to return to your starting
location, you must land safely, turn around on the ground, then take off again.

 Handling in flight is not smooth; though the scenery moves in response to
banks, dives, and climbs, it doesn't seem to correspond well to the Mach speeds
at which the Hornet is moving. The missions offer varying degrees of difficulty,
and neat opportunities to fly through hangars at full throttle and land on
aircraft carriers and mesas.

 F-18 HORNET has solid looks but not much playability.

 F-18 HORNET is published by Absolute Entertainment and distributed by
Mediagenic.

*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253