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Primary navigation is by ADF with each truck having its own
frequency. Throughout the game, you move from truck to truck
gathering up the ransom money. A touch and go is all that is
required to "snag" the ransom with your "tail hook". As a matter of
personal experience, a touch and go is all the time you have between
trucks. After failing my mission several times (the running voice
commentary called me a "Loser"!), I tossed all real-time power
management to the wind and moved from point to point at full
throttle. This made for fairly achievable times but very interesting
landings! If nothing else, FS98 has captured the "balloon" flight
characteristics of the full scale Cessna 182 quite accurately!
Since the main gaming engine is FS98, additional aircraft selection
is possible. I also tried the mission using the Bell Jet Ranger
which makes for a fairly straight forward game, providing you're an
accomplished rotor wing pilot! Although easier to pick your spots
with a helicopter, if you're prone to crashing on landings, better
practice up first before you try and tackle the extra pressure of the
30 minute clock! Besides, there's plenty of room for the fixed wing
approaches.
The chatter of ATC (called "mission control") adds to the
excitement and pressure during the game. Other pilots and ground
personnel are heard throughout the game as they try and decode radio
transmissions or spy on the terrorists. As you approach the final
minutes, ATC will constantly berate you to hurry with phrases like
".....what are you doing out there? I suggest you fly faster!". If
you fail your mission, you will be publicly chastised!
SYNOPSIS
Terror In The Air is a flight adventure add-on for Microsoft's Flight
Simulator 95/98. Terrorists have armed a nuclear device in New York
City (or Paris or Washington) and are demanding the return of their
leader and a $10 million ransom. Your mission is to use your ADF as
a guide as you fly around the city collecting the ransom money in $2
million chunks located in strategically placed armored trucks.
Return the money to the terrorists in 30 minutes or there's no reason
to come back at all!PLAYING the GAME
From the standpoint of complexity, Terror is a simple game. It's
easy to understand and follow. The challenge of the game is two-fold
- flight skills and time management.
There are several key elements to successfully completing your
mission. As you will soon find out, it is necessary to have fairly
competent flying skills to even come close. Low level flying is the
order of the day with maximum altitudes of about 300 feet AGL. Any
higher than that and you enter a thin (but dense) fog level which
obscures the ground completely. As the object of the game is to find
the armored trucks, which usually are at ground level, you must stay
below this fog to see them.
One of the four ransom trucks ready for delivery.
If you're successful in collecting all of the ransom, you're vectored
back to the airport to meet the terrorist's helicopter. Oh yeah, by
the way, delivering just the money won't do ... you've got to pick up
a bomb defuser along the way too. Whatever you do, make sure you're
back in 30 minutes ... or else!
Not much to see if you're abot 250 feet -- just the clue!
The trailer truck hiding under the bridge contains the
coveted Defuser!
CRITIQUE
If you're tired of flying patterns in FS98 (or FSFW95), Terror will
break up the monotony! There are three different scenery areas, each
with their own degree of difficulty. I could not honestly determine
much difference between the three. Washington (the most difficult)
did have a truck near a bridge, but it wasn't all that difficult to
set up a close approach. The audio track is rather repetetive and
becomes kind of "ho-hum" after a while. The same basic scenario and
chatter is used from city to city with the name of the city
substituted in each case. However, not to worry, the "fun" of Terror
is flying with a purpose! If you enjoy a challenge, Terror will
provide you with hours of entertainment.
kens@gdi.net
| Terror in the Air | |
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PO Box 274112 Tampa, FL 33688 (813) 933-0610 |
Head Games Publishing Saint Paul, MN 55114 www.headgames.net |
