Air Raid: This is not a Drill!

Bang!

The acrid smell of cordite, mixed with gun grease and fuel oil, hangs heavy in the air. You grip the firing controls of the Bofors AA cannon tightly, your ears ringing with the sound of the claxon blaring to your left. Off to the east, you can see the enemy aircraft carrier bearing down on your position and you are reminded once more that you are the only thing standing between them and the merchant convoy. A flock of black winged birds appears in the distance and quickly form into the shape of a dozen torpedo bombers, streaking at you out of the sunrise. You depress the firing studs and the cannon leaps into life, its staccato bark deafening you, its controls leaping and twisting in your hands.

The nearest bomber bursts into a black and scarlet flower, raining debris on the deck. One of the others screams directly overhead and you prepare yourself to wrestle the gun into a firing position. Shock hits you suddenly as the three ton fixed cannon quickly and gracefully performs an effortless 180-degree vertical arc and you are back in front of your PC, the illusion of warfare ripped away.

Defending the seas

Ka-blooey!

Air Raid: This is not a Drill! is a self-proclaimed "mind blowingly realistic battle simulation" based in World War II. Taking control of a deck mounted Bofors anti-aircraft gun, your mission is to blast away at the endless onslaught of enemy attackers, all of whom are trying to sink your battleship.

Air Raid creates a fictional battle scenario with options to engage in either single or LAN based multiplayer modes. In single player mode there are ninety-nine levels to be completed. The multiplayer mode allows up to six players to cooperatively defend their ship.

Defending your ship

Ack-ack!

With each new level, the enemies increase in number, evasiveness and aggressiveness. With limited ammunition, the player must shoot carefully to make sure he is not left defenceless. As well as fighters and torpedo bombers your ship is attacked by small torpedo boats and larger bombers.

Each of these enemies can be neatly dispatched with a burst from your cannon - if you can keep them in your sights long enough to do so. The movement of the attacking planes is a joy to see - the realism of the models and the physics is breathtaking. The explosions are full of the violence of rupturing petrol tanks, with black smoke pouring into the sky and twisted metal raining around you.

Reality TV

Ker-boom!

Sadly, the reality stops there. With so much care and attention obviously being lavished on the various hardware that appears throughout the game it's mind-boggling that there is no inertia, momentum, or even friction involved in the movement of your gun. You can spin a full three sixty degrees horizontally and a full one eighty vertically. This motion is carried out as fast as your mouse can track. Any realism which had you immersed in the game will at this point evaporate like communion wine in a vicar's cupboard.

This may sound like a minor grumble but it essentially takes a very good, very realistic, title and turns it into Duck Hunt with pretty graphics. There are a thousand point-and-click shockwave games on the net that provide this kind of mindless action - why on earth would anyone want to pay for it? The inconsistencies, however, continue. Although your gun is perfectly capable of reducing enemy aircraft to scrap metal in a matter of seconds, you can fire directly at your own deck, or even at your fellow gunners, without doing any damage at all. Fine in an arcade game, but I thought this was supposed to be a simulation?

World War II in 16-bit colour

Ka-pow!

There's no escaping the fact that the game looks gorgeous. The graphics are intricately detailed and very, very smooth, the game clipping along at 60 fps at 1024x768 on a fairly moderately specced machine. The action rapidly becomes frantic and the excellent sound helps to keep your pulse pounding as wave upon wave of enemy approaches, and you’re suddenly reminded of old-timer video game hits like Beach Head.

Air Raid is quite satisfying as a disposable blaster, so why go with the pretence of simulation? People buying the game because of the simulation claim will no doubt be disappointed. As a fan of mindless blasting games, I got on quite well with it. The difficulty level grows fairly smoothly, with reducing ammo and increasing enemies making the challenge gradually more difficult. Every now and again though I'd be struck with a "that would never work for real" thought after I'd pulled off some frantic two-sides-at-once shooting.

Air Raid: This is not a simulation

Insert favourite explosion sound here

Air Raid is a budget title and as such, it provides everything it needs to. It should be mentioned, however, that there are games like Command & Conquer and Thief, which are available for less money. Air Raid is fun - don't get me wrong - but I'd advise anyone considering buying it to download the demo first. In terms of gameplay, the retail version only offers more of the same.