THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE

CONVOY RAIDER

PUBLISHER
Gremlin

AUTHOR

YEAR
1987

CATEGORY
Strategy

DESCRIPTION

CONTROLS
Keyboard, Kempston

 KEYS :   Left - Z
          Right     - X
          Up   - L
          Down - .
          Fire - ENTER

INSTRUCTIONS
The seas are filled with enemy ships and submarines - and it's
your job, as commander of a brand-new warship, to make the seas
safe for shipping again...

A map screem shows your position, marked by a flashing white
circle, and that of the enemy in the area, while a compass and
speed readout help as navigational aids. A highlighted inset in
the map shows a land-sea overview. Meanwhile, three radar screens
show the position of enemy aircraft and missiles, surface
shipping and submarines. An on-screen alert indicates the
proximity of enemy forces. An enemy base on the map is indicated
by a flag of the Rising Sun and from here waves of attacking
aircraft will threaten your ship.

Against all this, you do have some weapons to back you up -
Seawolf and Exocet missiles and submarine-hunting helicopters.
Wire-guided Seawolfs can destroy aircraft and anti-ship missiles,
whilst Exocets are themselves anti-ship missiles. Having fired
one, four video screens appear - the largest shows the view from
an on-board camera (a la Gulf War), and the others show such
things as remaining flight time and height above sea level. If
flown too high, the Exocet's signals can be jammed and control
lost. Deployment of the Exocet is in two stages; first, the
missile is flown to the target's last known position and once
there, a target silhouette on the horizon can be chosen. Missiles
must be reach their target before the flight time expires
(otherwise they'll just run out of fuel and drop out of the 
sky!)

To attack underwater, an anti-submarine helicopter can be used
by stationing it above the sea's surface, seen as a 3D map
showing the seabed underneath. The chopper drops depth charges
which explode at a depth determined by the position of a moving
arrow at the moment the charge was dropped. The submarines can
fire back though with anti-aircraft missiles, and if too many hit
the chopper it'll be destroyed.

Any damage to the ship itself is indicated by a red section on
the ship's silhouette on the map screen. This damage can be
rectified by docking with a repair ship. A flag symbol on the map
screen indicates its position which is changed when repairs have
been undertaken.

SCORES RECEIVED
Crash: "An interesting collection of games that doesn't quite add
up to a great game, and with limited appeal". 56% (CRASH #43,
August 1987)