STREET HAWK By: Ocean Download: shawk.zip Eighties TV seemed to have an unhealthy fascination with vehicles. There was Knight Rider with KITT the talking car, Airwolf the state of the art helicopter and Street Hawk. Street Hawk was probably the least popular of those three. I don't think the series lasted for more than a season before disappearing from the airwaves for good. Still that doesn't matter, we are reviewing Ocean's game based on the television show and not the series itself.

In Street Hawk you control Jesse who battles crime on his trusty motorcycle. The action is viewed from above much like micro machines or the original Grand Theft Auto. You don't have much control of where you go though, you steer left and right to avoid traffic but you'll always be travelling forward down a straight road.

The game's plot is rather lame (perhaps the show was axed because it had similar lame stories.) A group of kidnappers have taken an innocent girl hostage and it's up to you to save her. Most of what you do in the game however doesn't really see you tackling these kidnappers. You drive around avoiding traffic and shooting the dark coloured cars (which are driven by villains I suppose.) Every so often you'll hear that a wine store is being robbed so you must dash to the location (a counter on the right of the screen tells you the distance between you and the robbery.)

When you reach the place being robbed the game switches to a shoot em up. You'll get a picture of a store and a van parked nearby. You'll control a target and you have to shoot the robbers as the dash from the store to the getaway van. If you manage to shoot all the thieves you will return back to the driving section. A kidnapper will appear driving a black car and if you shoot him the level ends. You'll then move onto the next stage where you repeat the process. The scenery will change a bit and things will get harder as the amount of cars on the road increases.

If the traffic gets a bit much you can always blow up cars with your trusty laser. Ah if only my trusty Peugeot came with one of those. The problem with doing that too much is that you will attract the attention of the police. Police cruisers will start chasing you and if they hit you it's game over. Your only chance of escape in such cases is to use your turbo boost but be careful as it runs out after a while. Your best choice is to avoid traffic by driving around them or jumping over them. This option is also risky because each time you accidentally hit a car your armour level drops.

Street Hawk is an enjoyable game. It's simple but has enough things going on to keep the player occupied. Your basically driving to a robbery and avoiding cars but you have to watch out on your speed or the engine will overheat, snipers who appear out of manholes and other perils. I recommend that you play this using the keyboard as you need to press T and space to use the turbo and jump.

Rating: 75%