U. N. Squadron

STORY / GAMEPLAY
You are a skilled mercenary combat pilot and member of the U.N. Squadron that sets off to fight terrorist enemy forces and protect the world. After selecting one of three playable characters like Mickey Simon and his F-14 Tomcat, Shin Kazama with the F-20 Tigershark or Greg Gates and the almighty A-10 Thunderbolt, all of which were from the manga. There is a map with available levels to choose from, followed by a choice-menu of available fighter planes (out of six) and three available secondary weapons (out of eleven), such as cluster shots, napalm and powerful lasers, to buy before starting the mission. The interesting part here is to have enough money (initially starts with an amount of 3000) to buy these weapons and crafts within their price range. But as long as you progress and get points throughout the game, you earn more cash to spent wisely. Gameplay is straightforward. You move your aircraft about the screen shooting both airborne and land-based installations and tanks. There is a life / energy bar that is depleted over the course of a single life as the aircraft takes damage, a trait highly uncommon among other comparable arcade shooters that normally use a system of reserved and collected lives. At the end of each stage there is the end of level boss, ranging from a Stealth Bomber, a nuclear submarine to a fortress that requires several passes to destroy. Also, the game features a simultaneous 2-players option, adding more to the fun.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
OK, the CPC conversion surely sports some nice colors and backgrounds that resemble well the arcade original. But the game would be a fantastic coin-op conversion if it wasn't for that slow animation! Also, it suffers from some minor slowdowns when the screen gets too crowded. But it still is one of the best games for the Amstrad CPC. As for the sound, the CPC conversion features both music and sound effects, adding more to its combat atmosphere.

GAMEPLAY SAMPLE VIDEO
On our video below you may watch the original arcade and all home conversions of the game. The Amstrad CPC conversion is at 00:21.