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Johnny 'Jimbo-Baby' McGibbits, Infiltrator, is the sort
of man your mother would like you to bring home. He's
everything a man should be: tall, dark, handsome, well
endowed and . . . talented. Very. If he's not performing
vital operations on famous people and christening cathedrals,
he's climbing the tallest of mountains and helping old
ladies cross the road.
In
his spare time he likes to save the world from deranged
megalomaniacs -- such as The Mad Leader, who has recently
threatened to destroy the whole of the human race. Most
men would go weak at the knees and wee themselves at
the thought of trying to infiltrate a top secret, heavily
guarded enemy base before taking on a whole army. But
not our Johnny, oh no, he's as hard as they come and
is only mildly perturbed about missing his dinner date
with the President in two hours time. Still, there's
always tomorrow afternoon . . .
The
mission is split into three sections and the first part
(a 'flight simulation') starts outside Johnny's country
estate, inside his Whizbang Enterprises Gizmo TM DHX-1
Attack Helicopter. This marvel of the military world
contains many useful items, such as cannon, heat seeking
missiles, flares, chaff, a Heads Up Display (HUD), a
turbo booster, an on-board computer, designer alloy
skids, and even real imitation bearskin sport bucket
seats (with lumbar adjust).
Once
in the air, the Automatic Direction Finder (ADF) has
to be set for navigation purposes. By calling up the
Tactical Map -- via the on-board computer terminal --
the relative position of the enemy base is shown. The
course can then be entered into the Communications unit.
Other
aircraft occasionally make an appearance and are either
the enemy or other infiltrators on the same mission
as Johnny. However, they are unmarked, so their identity
has to be established before any action can be taken.
On requesting identification, the mystery pilot gives
his codename, to which one of two responses can be offered
-- INFILTRATOR or OVERLORD -- depending upon the codename
given.
For
example, if the ID of an aircraft is SCUM and the response
is OVERLORD, then Johnny is allowed to continue since
the enemy think that he is on their side. If, however,
the response to an enemy codename is INFILTRATOR, then
a fight to the death ensues. This is where the HUD,
cannon, heat seeking missiles, flares, chaff and a cool
head all come in handy.
Switching
to the Heads Up Display provides a set of cross hairs
to aid aim. The cannon and missiles are, quite obviously,
used to shoot attacking aircraft, and the flares and
chaff confuse any incoming heat seeking and radar guided
missiles.
When
the ADF dial goes haywire it is an indication that the
base is directly below. But before a safe landing can
even be attempted, the Gizmo must be put into WHISPER
mode so that the enemy aren't alerted. Landing successfully
(ie, without crashing or getting caught) initiates the
second stage of the game -- Ground Installation Infiltration.
After
a quick flip of the disk and a short wait, the screen
display changes to show an 'overhead' perspective view
of Johnny's surroundings, and the screen flips from
one location to the next as he moves. His objective
is to penetrate the enemy base, within a given time
limit, by pretending that he is an enemy guard.
Johnny
is initially armed with only a handful of objects; a
camera, five gas grenades, a can of gas spray, a mine
detector (the woods surrounding the enemy base are usually
abundant with landmines), some explosives, and some
forged papers. The camera is for photographing vital
enemy documents when inside the base, and only five
shots are provided. Both gas grenades and spray perform
the same function (they put people to sleep when activated),
although the former has a greater range.
Pressing
the space bar accesses this inventory and allows Johnny
to choose which item is to be used, and then pressing
the fire button actually uses an object being 'held'.
Whenever Johnny is confronted by a guard, he must show
his papers. Failure to do so results in an alarm being
set off and all hell breaking loose, which makes the
mission harder still. To make matters worse, some of
the guards are a bit cleverer than your average enemy,
and can spot a forgery a mile off. Fortunately, the
alarm system can be temporarily disabled by finding
a special electronic key, and inserting it into the
alarm control unit.
There
are many buildings to be explored within the enemy base,
and entering one changes the viewpoint yet again. This
time, a cross section of each room is displayed as Johnny
moves through them, and a mapping unit at the bottom
of the screen follows his progress.
In
most of the rooms there are various pieces of furniture
which need to be searched for vital documents. A majority
of the decor contains useless items, such as bottles
of vodka and used chewing gum (yeuch!). If found, these
are ignored and not added to Johnny's inventory.
Guards
also patrol certain rooms and depending upon the situation
they must either be shown identification or disposed
of -- quickly!
Once
all of the relevant documents have been photographed,
Johnny has to escape from the base to get back to his
helicopter and eventually home -- where another
mission awaits. Oh well, nobody ever said that being
a super soldier, engineer, neurosurgeon, politician,
movie actor, rock star, world-class motorcyclist, explorer,
karate expert, and devil-may-care all round nice
guy was easy . . .
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