Ah yes, I remember the days of Operation Wolf, an arcade game that captured the hearts and eyes of the masses. Violent it may have been, but the kids loved it to bits. News from afar reached our merry land. The arcade blast-'em-up was being converted to home computers. Oh yes, one single payment and your mouse became your lethal weapon and no longer would you ply the arcade machine with ten pences a plenty.
Operation Wolf had arrived and games players around the world smiled... a lot. The sequel, Operation Thunderbolt, didn't cause as much of a stir and came and went, but for a long time now gamers have gone without a decent Operation Wolf style shoot-'em-up.
Virgin and Acclaim have got together to rectify this little problem and the answer was to convert the highly successful Terminator 2 arcade game to your home computer screen. The arcade version of Terminator 2 ranks very highly on my list of top ten arcade blasters not least because you could get to grips with an Uzi (with realistic firing action!).
I was quite worried when I heard that a home computer version was on its way. The reason is the fact that although both of the Operation games transferred quite well to the monitor screen, they didn't quite manage to capture the atmosphere and excitement of the arcade versions. But remember, never look a gift horse in the mouth, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, err or something!
Everyone should know the story of Terminator 2 by now, but for those who don't here is a brief synopsis. Ten years ago the machines of Skynet sent a Terminator from the future to kill Sarah Connor. They failed to achieve their objective. Hey, if at first you don't succeed!
So the machines changed their target, this time turning their attentions on the future leader of the resistance, the young John Connor. This time a re-programmed Terminator is sent to protect him and thus the action and adventure starts once more.
You play the part of Arnold Schwarzenegger and have to shoot it out with loads of enemy characters who featured in the films, all the time trying to avoid shooting innocent humans.
There are eight levels to complete and each one is inhabited by hundreds of T-800 endo
Your mouse (or joystick) plays the part of your gun which can be enhanced with the likes of guided missiles and smart bombs. As with Operation Thunderbolt, there is the opportunity to let a second player join the intense action. There isn't a lot more to tell you about Terminator 2 because it is such a basic game, so it looks like a good time to give you my final opinion on Virgin's frenetic blaster.
First of all I have to give a nod and a wink in Probe Software's direction because they have made a really good job of converting a massive arcade hit to the Amiga.
NICE TOUCHES
Obviously it is not quite as good as the arcade version, but I don't think a better job could have been achieved by another software developer.
The graphics are brilliant and have been faithfully re-created form the arcade version. There are some nice touches in there such as the T-800 Terminators getting their heads shot off.
The sound is not too bad with a liberal sprinkling of samples such as "Hasta la vista baby", but the music is not that good and had me reaching for the volume switch.
The control method is much more accurate than the arcade machine could be, but sometimes seems to suffer and I found that the guided missiles don't always guide themselves.
It is a bloody hard game and after much playing I managed to get to level five, but I had to use all five credits to get there. Sometimes the game seems to slow down when there is too much on the screen, but maybe that is because I was crap and couldn't clear the enemy from the screen quick enough.
Terminator 2 was an ambitious project by Virgin and they seem to have pulled it off. A lot of people out there will love this game while others will frown and prefer the arcade version, but that's public opinion for you. If you like it, buy it. If you don't, don't.