OPERATION WOLF

 The problem: U.S. Embassy officials are being held prisoner by heavily armed
terrorists in a concentration camp in South America. The solution: you. You've
been sent by Special Forces to rescue them. You're trained, you're armed to the
teeth, and you're dedicated to the task.

 OPERATION WOLF is one of the most famous "one-man army" arcade games ever to
hit the streets, and now Taito has converted it for home computers. (This review
is based on the Amiga version; Commodore 64/128 version notes follow.)

 You begin at the Communications Center, where you must complete six missions to
finish one level of the game. After you've reached mission five, you find the
hostages, and have to shoot your way to a rescue plane at the airport. The
hostages are considered rescued when they make it unharmed across the screen
from left to right (i.e., without your accidentally shooting them). Your success
is based on the number of hostages who survive. The next level repeats this
scenario, but each mission adds more troops, helicopters, and vehicles for you
to deal with.

 I consider OPERATION WOLF to be one of the most difficult arcade games I've
ever encountered. The challenge lies not only in aiming and firing precisely (as
in most good arcade games), but in holding your fire until your kill ratio is at
its maximum. You have only a limited supply of ammunition (machine gun
cartridges, bullets/cartridge, and hand grenades) at the start of each mission,
so you must be very conservative in its use. Along the way, there'll be chances
to re-supply yourself -- by shooting (and hitting) pigs, vultures, chickens, and
other animals, and then shooting at the cartridge or grenade that appears when
you hit an animal -- but those chances are limited.

 More importantly, the targets blend with all the other objects: soldiers,
commandos, trucks, tanks, helicopters, gun-boats, and more. You have to divide
your attention between returning enemy fire, and shooting at the animals to earn
more weapons. You may also improve your physical condition by shooting at static
items on the screen -- boxes, bushes, etc., depending on the mission -- and
collecting "Power Drinks." Additionally, there are items behind the static
objects, like dynamite and "Super Bullets" (free firing for ten seconds), all of
which help you along.

 It'll take quite some time for you to master even the first few missions at
level one, with everything going on. But after playing a number of times, you
learn to anticipate the approach of various enemy formations, to wait until
they're grouped properly for a single shot or two, to focus on those enemies who
do the greatest damage. You figure out where all the hidden objects are, and you
develop a strategy that guarantees the maximum amount of armament available at
the start of the next mission.

 All sorts of things are possible in the process of your self-defense. You can
deflect knives with a well-aimed shot, explode grenades before they come too
close, and sometimes hit a helicopter without using a grenade. In each mission,
there are other civilians who cross the screen (before you find the hostages),
so you have to be careful; if you hit them, your damage level goes through the
roof. Trouble is, as with the pigs, vultures, etc., the civilians blend right in
with the soldiers, so sometimes it'll be virtually impossible to shoot at the
latter without hitting the former.

 Whether you complete all six missions or die in the attempt, you're greeted
with a final speech from the President, who assesses the quality of your
efforts. You then go to the scoring screen to enter your name, after which the
whole game begins again. There's no opportunity to see or try missions higher
than those you've completed successfully, although you earn three "continues" if
you fail during either the first mission or the Concentration Camp mission.

 Unexpected things happen. For instance, if you take too long to shoot your way
through the Communications Center (first mission), you're told the enemy has
spotted you; you're then sent on a special sub-mission, where you're confronted
with wave after wave of helicopter attacks (I've never survived this onslaught).
These surprise elements give the game more depth and prevent the potential
tedium of repetition -- even if they do force you to start over from the
beginning every time.

 I played the game on an Amiga A500 with 1MB of RAM. The game will run with the
standard 512K of memory, but makes use of 1MB (if available) for enhanced play.
You use the mouse to aim your gunsight; the left button fires the machine gun,
the right button throws a grenade. The mouse control is simple, easy, and
effective.

 The graphics and sound on the Amiga are simply superb. Full-scale figures
(almost as large as those in SWORD OF SODAN) cross the screen smoothly, and
despite the fact that there's so much happening in each scene, the animation
never flickers or slows down; its design and colors are subtle, and echo the
comics-style illustrations on the package. (I understand the graphics in this
conversion have been lifted intact from the arcade game.) All sounds are full
and convincing: Weapons fire, vehicles drive by, enemies (and civilians) scream
when hit, and glass breaks as you shoot out building windows. The digitized
voices at certain points (the President's speech, for instance) are effective
and very natural.

 There's no music throughout the game; however, the soundtracks during the
opening and at the score-screen are well done. I'm grateful that the seemingly
inevitable, repetitious accompaniment is missing from at least one arcade game:
OPERATION WOLF thrives without it during play.

 OPERATION WOLF is a complete success. There are numerous "one-man army" games
available, all attempting to capitalize on the popularity of the Rambo image.
But none even comes close to the complexity, challenge, and realism offered in
this game. For some, it could be _too_ real: If you have qualms about subjecting
younger people to graphic violence, be sure to examine the game carefully before
purchasing it.

 COMMODORE 64/128 VERSION NOTES

 The C64/128 version of OPERATION WOLF is a hokey, bug-riddled program that
doesn't come close to its Amiga counterpart. All this version has to recommend
it is support of the CBM 1351 mouse as an alternative to a joystick, and the
V-Max! fastloader. Drawbacks of this version are copy protection, and graphic
glitches that make V-Max! pointless: Loading bad screens with great speed is
silly.

 When the graphics aren't glitched, they look okay, although they become less
than okay when you study the Amiga, IBM, and Tandy screen shots on the back of
the package. Useful objects, such as extra magazines and grenades, do not appear
when you destroy an animal (as in the Amiga version); there are no animals to
destroy, and the items appear onscreen as the items. 99% of the sound is machine
gun noise; the other 1% is silence.

 The most notable screen problem occurred immediately after Mission One began:
Animation and scrolling slowed considerably, and the entire bottom half of the
screen shifted to the right. Even when the screen managed not to shift, the
effect was akin to looking at a 3-D movie without wearing special glasses. This
lasted perhaps ten seconds, after which everything returned to normal; yet the
same thing happened, in the same way, when Mission Two began.

 Other screwups included soldiers who, after running into view, disappeared for
no apparent reason, and armored cars with no front end (perhaps it was a new
kind of weapon?). All glitches had the earmarks of the "advanced programming
techniques" that are necessary in order to pound an arcade program into 64K.

 The only purpose of this version of OPERATION WOLF is to absorb injury so
you'll die and the game will end -- an invalid excuse for its translation from
cabinet to computer. All this can be avoided if you refuse to purchase it.

 OPERATION WOLF is published and distributed by Taito Corporation.

*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253