Thunderblade

Thunderblade puts you in control of a heavily armed helicopter and wastes very little time explaining why the neighborhood suddenly needs several hundred explosions. The action is fast, aggressive and deliberately arcade-like, with enemy vehicles, aircraft and ground installations filling the screen as you move through a series of combat zones. The helicopter's weaponry gives you plenty of opportunities to turn military hardware into expensive scrap metal, while the scrolling environments create a constant sense of movement. It is not a subtle game, but subtlety would be slightly out of place when your primary tool is a helicopter carrying enough firepower to make a small army nervous. Thunderblade captures the straightforward appeal of late-1980s arcade combat: jump in, blow things up and worry about the consequences later. The DOS version retains that energetic personality, even if the hardware occasionally struggles to keep up.