Reviews

Its good but not the best conversion of the arcade classic it has to be said. Monochrome graphics are very commonplace in Spectrum games but here they really spoil the game, not so much the yellow in the first and third levels, but definately the green in the second level. Makes it very hard not to shoot the innocent. But its still very playable, it plays at the right speed with nice sound effects along the way, not forgetting great music from Jonathan Dunn.

Operation Wolf is good, very good, just falls a little short of greatness.

I have a habit of reviewing Spectrum versions of arcade classics, and here's another one, this time I look at Taito's Operation Wolf, ported to the Spectrum by Ocean.

The game sees you on a mission to rescue hostages from the concentration camp. There are six stages in the game where you shoot a swarm of solders, tanks and helicopters, you need to shoot the exact amount of enemies the level states in order to progress. You are equipped with ammo for your gun and grenades but of a limited supply. Power ups can be collected which increases ammo and grenade supply as well as improve health and increase the fire rate of your gun with unlimited ammo. You must also avoid shooting innocent civilians. If you have taken too much damage your game is over.

The game is played with a crosshair rather than a lightgun. A lightgun version of this port exists through a compilation but for this review it's the crosshair, and it's quite sensitive which makes it quite tricky to make your shots but it's better than an unresponsive crosshair, at least this responds well.

The graphics are very nicely detailed, the design of the soldiers, tanks and helicopters are impressive. The graphics are monochrome which works given the amount of detail already, having a multi-colour playing area would probably have destroyed the detail. However, the dark green in the Jungle level (level 2) is quite a downer but thankfully it doesn't damage the gameplay nor its detail too much.

The music is pretty nice too, the title music is the arcade version's high score tune and is actually better than the arcade version. All the other jingles from the arcade version are present as well and sound pretty well.

Operation Wolf on the Spectrum is a very favorable port. It's probably not the best port but on the Spectrum it's very playable and enjoyable.

This is a good conversion but it's far from perfect. The crosshair can be deceptive in movement, one moment it can't reach the enemies quick enough and the next it goes too quick you go past them. The third level is a right bugger once a lot of enemies reach the screen at once, it causes a lot of slowdown on the screen. The game has a good amount of playability and despite being short and repetitive it also has one of the catchiest title musics. I always liked this game but it's not superior to say the least, certainly not for Ocean's standards.

The 5 goest to the 128K version.
certainly the lack of colours compared with the arcade is a pity.

But technically is a great game that you can enjoy.

This was always going to be a tricky conversion to do, but I think they managed it well. It was never going to be perfect but it simply needed to be playable and enjoyable, and thankfully it is. It's always had a "one more go" feel with me.

It has a few nigglings, like the monochrome graphics and the crosshair being more sensitive than you'd like it to be, but it works well enough to be enjoyed. Quite a nice conversion.

1988 Ocean Software (UK)
by Andrew Deakin, Ivan Horn and Jonathan Dunn

Its a good conversion of an arcade classic, but due the graphic and color limitations of the Spectrum, this conversion suffers from it.
Monochrome graphics are usually never pleasant, and can spoil badly some games, it's not the case here, because playability is high and very well done, but stills manages to generate a bit of a mess here and there, specially when it comes to recognizing the innocent by standers. But it's still very playable, with great sound fx's and good tunes, which greatly enhance enjoyment.