You’ve always wanted to be Tom Cruise… now here’s your chance. Review

You’ve always wanted to be Tom Cruise… now here’s your chance.

Remember watching Top Gun way back when and thinking how utterly
cool Maverick and his pals were? Remember dreaming of flying in one of
those killer Tomcats and gunning down the bad guys only to hit the sack
with a beautiful blonde? What a life . . . Well, with Fire at Will
loaded in your drive, you can enter the world of Top Gun and
play as Maverick himself. Strap yourself into the cockpit of an F-14 Tomcat
with Merlin as your co-pilot and take to the skies.

You begin Top Gun just like
the movie: you and Merlin are selected to attend the Top Gun flight school under
the instruction of Hondo (James Tolkan returns in this role). After some intensive
training and combat simulation, you are stationed on an aircraft carrier and are
ready to engage in some real dog-fighting. At this point, the game veers away
from the movie and becomes more of a typical flight simulator: lots of missions
with lots of combat. You must mix it up with everything from MiG-29s in the air,
to structures on the ground, to destroyers in the seas. Fire at Will has
over 40 missions that you must conquer, each one interspersed by video clips that
provide the story line to the game. The constant dialogue during flight adds another
cinematic aspect to the game and elevates it above other flight simulators into
another level: that of a true interactive movie.

At the heart of it all, though, Top Gun is still a flight
simulator, and it has to be judged as one. I have played many flight
simulators in my time, and I rank this as one of the better ones. Though it
is tougher to get kills in this one, and therefore the dogfights are longer
and more involved, it’s high level of realism and great play control make it
enjoyable. You really feel like you are at the throttle of a F-14 when you
play this game. Your cockpit is fully loaded with Heads up Displays and
radar screens and the like to help you out and make the game more exciting.
With Merlin’s coaching and guidance and all sorts of gadgetry at your
fingertips, you are able to fly like Maverick really would, racking up the
kills like a top-notch pilot.

What is really impressive about
Top Gun was how “professional” and well-made game is. The designers of
this game took into account every detail of flight and spent time researching
the various weapons, planes, and ships you encounter during gameplay. Check out
the little encyclopedia of the above that is included on the CD, complete with
voice narration and history of each object. The cinematic sequences that follow
each mission are also top-grade. If you have a fast Pentium and a good video card,
you can put the game into 640×480 at 64,000 colors and the cinema is positively
astounding. You must have a fast computer/video combination to get high frame
rates. Even at 256 colors the video looks great. The acting and dialogue is actually
tolerable (something you don’t often see in a computer game) and I would even
go as far as to say it was good. The real footage and great scenery were also
appreciated.

All told, Top Gun is a game that will be wholly enjoyed by
flight-sim enthusiasts and others alike. It compares well with Wing
Commander III/IV, combining cinema and action seamlessly. In an age where
computer games are often put together way too quickly, without any
attention to compatibility and quality, Spectrum Holobyte has come out with
a rare gem of effort and dedication to the gamer. If you’re looking for a
game that is definitely worth the money or you were one of those die-hard
Top Gun fans, this is the game for you. My only complaint: no Kelly
McGillis.