Gunboat
1988 retro games Amiga gamesZX Spectrum gamesPC games
1988 simulator of American fast patrol boats that were used during Vietnam War to operate on the great rivers of Southeast Asia.
In 1988 Accolade published this simulator that is heavily inspired by the Apocalypse Now movie - PBR boat was used in the film to penetrate the enemy area and in Gunboat that is exactly what we are doing. Each mission is different - from attacking enemy tank unit, destroying strategic bridge to dropping special forces - but what is constant is the danger that is lurking behind every bend of the river. Different sorts of enemy are trying to stop us - from infantry patrols, machine guns, boats to tanks and even helicopters (although Vietnam forces never actually had them during Vietnam War).
Another interesting bit about the game is jumping between the posts - we can steer the boat, navigate on the map, takeover machine guns or grenade launchers in front or rear spot of the PBR. Even if we are in one spot on the boat we can give orders to pilot to choose the next crossing, we can switch the lights on to spot the enemy forces, we can consult the map to plan further journey, which makes this game quite complex. Also nice touch was the option to choose the configuration of our boat before starting the mission - based on the targets you are about to meet you could choose the standard machine guns or something with more power.
The graphics side was not bad for 1988, but today it seems hard to determine what exactly shoots at us in some points of Gunboat. Nevertheless the variety of missions, the variety of enemies and the constant danger made this game quite an experience back then.
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