A-10 Tank Killer

STORY/GAMEPLAY
There are seven different missions which you can undertake (but all must be played in succession), ranging from tank busting to taking out bridges to stop the enemy advance. It's interesting that you don't earn your laurels as a lone fighter here, but mostly have to work in a team with other pilots. Before getting into "real" action, there is an obligatory training, taking out ground targets (preferably tanks), defending positions and a complete small war scenario. In the real missions there is s variety of main and secondary objectives to complete, such as hit a supply dump as your primary mission, but also provide close air support for a platoon of tanks which will take out the SAM sites, and keep a nearby bridge open for allied support.
The aircraft itself is just as easy to operate, which is very pleasant for new pilots, but does not exactly speak for a high degree of realism, as it lacks many of the more complex flight controls you'd expect from a flight simulation.
All in all, A-10 Tank Killer is a somewhat disappointing implementation of what is actually an excellent flight simulator, but knocking out various bridges, convoys and of course tanks is an excellent way to relieve aggression.

GRAPHICS/SOUND
Game's visuals are fine for a flight simulator and they offer 3D solids with up to 32 colors on screen on the Amiga version, with a surprising amount of detail at times, while the physics are well programmed. Note that, in the options menu you can choose the level of graphics detail. Things can slow down though to an annoying crawl when the action really starts, compared to other combat flight sims of the same era such as the F29 Retaliator or Activision's Bomber, even if you run the game on a faster Amiga 1200 or an accelerated A500\A600. The speed is still satisfactory on the lowest detail level, but indescribably sluggish on the highest level. It's just a shame Dynamix hadn't managed to get things running at a slightly faster frame rate. On the other hand, there's a whole bunch of digitized main-menu/option screens such as, real actors taken on locations, kitted out with real flight gear, screens of the aircraft itself etc, that add a great deal of atmosphere to the game, but still, it is not to add any extra value at the flight simulation itself. The cockpit itself is also made up with digitized graphics, but it looks like, Dynamix intended A-10 Tank Killer to be more of an entertainment package.
The sound effects are particularly good, but it's a shame you don't get to hear them more often. The game also offers a nice main-menu/options theme.