SKY SHARK

 SKY SHARK from Taito Corporation offers good graphics, five missions, "V-Max!
Fastloader," a "Continue" option, a two-player option, joystick control, and
copy protection. This review is based on the Commodore 64/128 version of the
game; IBM-PC version notes follow.

 As home arcade games go, we've seen better; we've also seen worse, which puts
SKY SHARK somewhere in the middle. There is plenty of on-screen activity: enemy
tanks, planes, ships, flak, and explosions. With the Continue option, completing
the game's five missions in one sitting is a major possibility.

 The goal of SHARK is to pilot a P-40 aircraft over jungle, ocean, and desert
terrain, and withstand the assaults of the enemy. You begin with four P-40s,
each of which is armed with machine guns and three bombs. The action starts and
ends at airfields. A P-40 is lost when it's hit by flak or if it runs into
another aircraft.

 Enemies include groups of tanks, gun emplacements, squadrons of flying
fortresses and bandit fighters, gunboats, and battleships. Each has to be hit
more than once, and you should expect flak even as enemies are disappearing
off-screen.

 The C64 screen display consists of the current terrain, which scrolls
vertically. Enemies appear from the top and sides of the terrain; tanks like to
hide beneath the trees. In order to avoid flak and survive until you reach the
airfield, you must guide your P-40 back and forth and up and down the terrain.

 An extra P-40 is awarded for every 50,000 points; a completed mission earns
30,000 points beyond what you've already earned. Destroying a ground target
sometimes displays a "B" which, when flown over, adds a bomb; any bomb remaining
at the end of a mission earns 1,000 points. The machine gun fires two bullets.
Should you shoot down all eight planes in a red formation, an "S" appears; when
you capture it, your machine gun power is increased. This can be done six times,
and the second and sixth upgrades allow, respectively, four and seven shots to
be spread in wide patterns.

 Shoot down all eight planes in the white formation and the "1P" symbol appears;
capturing it adds a P-40. Shooting down all planes in the yellow formation is
worth 1,000 extra points.

 If you lose all your P-40s, the Continue option will let you pick up where you
left off, assuming you press the joystick button before the timer runs out.
Although the instruction manual says this option is available only three times,
it's really available five times.

 SHARK is controlled with a joystick, which moves your craft in any direction;
the button fires the machine guns. The spacebar drops bombs, and the Commodore
key pauses the action.

 The program disk is copy-protected. The V-Max! Fastloader (from Alien
Technology Group) loads the game and new missions with blazing speed.

 SKY SHARK looks good on the C64. Terrains and enemy attackers are clear and
understandable. The joystick worked fine, and the game played easily. Like other
Taito arcade games (ARKANOID, ALCON), SKY SHARK's goal is to destroy you
instantly, which creates frustration the first few times you play. Still, the
patterns of the attackers are always the same, and the game can be conquered
without getting a migraine.

 The Continue option is good because you can keep playing; it's bad because it
provides the opportunity to complete all five missions in one sitting, thus
transforming SKY SHARK into a shelf curio. Do you really need another
knickknack?

 IBM-PC VERSION NOTES

 SKY SHARK will run on the IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, Tandy 1000, and 100% IBM
compatibles. To run the program you will need at least DOS 2.1 or higher. SKY
SHARK supports many graphics modes: CGA, EGA, VGA, Hercules monochrome (512K),
and Tandy 16-color (640K). SKY SHARK also takes advantage of the Ad Lib sound
card. The program comes on two 5-1/4" disks and one 3-1/2" disk, and it is
copy-protected. The program uses the familiar key-disk method of copy
protection, so you can install it on your hard drive.

 The game comes with two manuals. One manual describes how to load the game and
how to install it on your hard disk. The other manual gives you all of the game
options. I would expect many of the options to be the same as in the main
review. As with most IBM games, SKY SHARK comes with an setup program that will
install the game on your hard disk. SKY SHARK also will let you use a joystick,
mouse, keyboard, or switched joystick. I used a joystick to play this version.
Controlling the plane is very easy. The plane moves swiftly across the screen
and responds infallibly to every joystick movement. Playing SKY SHARK isn't very
enjoyable when using a keyboard.

 I played SKY SHARK in CGA and EGA/VGA modes. CGA is bland; you can't really
tell what's going on when you're running SKY SHARK in CGA mode. EGA/VGA mode
(VGA runs in EGA mode only) looks great. Everything is clearly defined, and the
program seems to handle well. Being able to tell the difference between a tree
and your plane really helps things! The graphics did seem slightly choppy, but
this could be due to my current hardware setup.

 SKY SHARK is a nice arcade game. Nothing fancy, but it works. Unfortunately, I
don't have an AdLib or Tandy 3-voice sound, so I couldn't take advantage of the
superior sound quality.

 SKY SHARK is published and distributed by Taito Corporation.

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