Flight of the Intruder
System: NES
Release Date: May 1991
Developer: Imagineering
Publisher: Mindscape
Genre: Action
Head to Vietnam and try to win the war for the US in Flight of the Intruder! You’re the main navy pilot in command of the Linebacker Campaign picked specifically by President Richard Nixon. Well, we all know how that went in reality… Can you last twelve missions without dying?
This is a jet plane action game played over three types of levels. To begin, you take off from your aircraft carrier by holding the d-pad to the left. Then you are thrust either into a first person dogfight or a behind the back bombing run. The end of the mission tasks you with landing your plane on the carrier again without exploding.
The dogfights have a set number of enemies you must destroy in order to move ahead. You can shoot your machine guns all you want with the A Button. You have to get the enemy in your sights and hit them a few times to make them go ‘splodey. On the other hand, you can press the Select Button to switch to heat seekers. Your crosshairs become a square and if you get the enemy in your sights, you can press the B Button to send them to kingdom come. Be careful to avoid enemy missiles because it’s a one hit kill.
After winning however many dogfight levels there are, you move into a bombing run. Enemies scroll on screen and you move left and right to blast them with the A Button. You are granted a limited number of heat seekers with the B Button. You have to destroy most of the enemies that scroll by while avoiding the shots they send your way. The number under your score is how many enemies you can let by without losing the level. Like in the dogfights, getting hit once is all it takes to kill you.
The end of each mission requires you to land your plane safely. You’re given your thrust, altitude, vertical movement, and range to the carrier. You need to get your altitude low enough without coming down too fast to destroy yourself. You also have to remember to press the B Button to lower your landing gear and the A Button to deploy your arrestor hook in order to brake over the cables. If you miss them, you lift back off and get another try. Once you get the hang of it, landing is an easy task, until then, prepare to die a lot.
Graphics: 1.5
They aren’t wire frame graphics, I guess. The side view of the plane is alright.
Sound: 1.0
Sounds are annoying and music is sparse.
Gameplay: 1.5
The dog fights can be won quickly if you’re good with the heat seekers. Otherwise, it’s not a deep game despite three modes of play.
Difficulty: 1.5
Levels can be beaten, but do you really have the endurance to beat them all?
Fun Factor: 0.5
I found these missions quite boring and am mad at Nixon for sending me out on them… among other things…
Overall Rating: 1.2
Flight of the Intruder earns a D+. This is another miss that feels like it was shoveled out without much testing to make sure it was fun.