Seek & Destroy Download (1993 Amiga Game)

The helicopter has been something of a tour de force in 1993, what with the brilliant Desert Strike, the fantastic Gunship 2000, and the slightly less impressive Firehawk. Noel Edmonds has still got his, I think; and Leonardo Da Vinci almost invented it. And Guns 'n' Roses go to concerts in them, apart from when they go by bus. Or by limousine. Next up is Vision Software's Seek and Destroy, a blast-em-to-smithereens affair. Four different terrains (desert, water, snow and jungle) and a heap of missions are an offer in this easy-to-complete number.

I'm lying actually. This game is not easy. I've got a fax from Vision headed 'Hints and Tips'. At the bottom of the sheet it states: "everyone at Vision has been able to complete all 15 missions and continue playing for points". Fair enough, they wrote it, but they're so matter-of-fact about it. I haven't seen sight nor sound of snow or jungle. So this is a shoot-em-up that will keep you in business for some time.

Seeking the folk that you must destroy is achieved by using the radar which is permanently on the tail of the chopper. Coloured dots represent the different enemies which include 'copters, tanks, and ships. Buildings are yellow (not scared, yellow dots, I mean). There is also a built-in map screen which you can refer to in times of need - in my case this was constantly.

Tactical manoeuvres Seek and Destroy has a two-player simultaneous mode. One player flies the chopper while the other acts a gunner, using a joystick from the other port. It's also possible to play in two-player mode on your own using a joystick in one hand, and bashing away on a mouse or stick with the other (if you're a bit clever, unlike me). There's a decent array of weaponry at hand, accessed using F1 to F6 on the keyboard (if you're ambitious -you need three hands) including interceptor and ground missiles, nicely complemented with a generous helping of napalm bombs.

Some enemy buildings, when blown to pieces, reveal pick-ups which replenish either fuel, shield or weaponry. Trouble is, you have to land to acquire them and often, you face a barrage of fire when attempting to do so. But no matter, practice makes perfect (and practice, you will need to).

Slick and smart

But don't be put off by the difficulty of Seek and Destroy. It's very slick and well presented, with smart graphics, and dandy kabooms and 'Return to base' sound effects. When used with an A1200 or A4000, it recognises the AGA chips and automatically enhances both the graphics and sound by some four times. The scrolling is super-smooth and the chopper easy to manoeuvre; and when you are spinning the chopper around, the scenery rotates in such a way that you still feel in control, unlike with Firehawk where you seemed to spin wildly.

Out-and-out blasting

Yes, there are many shoot-em-ups out there. And Seek and Destroy is by no means an original example of the genre, but in successfully combining elements of the best Vision have come up with a winner. If one were to be unkind, one might suggest that it's Desert Strike without the drama. But as an out-and-out blast-em affair, it's up there with best of them.

Very fast, but simple shoot'em up action game, which can run on any hardware. But it likes AGA graphics, 68020 cpu and more memory. You fly a helicopter and have to blast everybody :)

Action

Quite interesting action game from Vision. You will fly your helicopter and be free to fly in any direction you want (the view is top-down). You will be given missions such as "Destroy enemy tank convoy" or "Destroy all enemy resistance nearby ancient ruins" and such. You could even consider Seek & Destroy as a third person view flight simulation due to it's unusual gameplay, but I still think that this is just an action game. A lot of mission, many weapon types and a lot of entertainment.

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

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