Black Shark 3D

If any of you have had the sheer unbridled joy of getting excited about watching the A-Team without any fashionable irony, then chances are you were a child of the '80s and hence also a fan of Airwolf by default.

Those of you who think we're talking about that giant flying dog from The Never Ending Story (another fond memory for children of that era) then you couldn't be more wrong. Airwolf was a show about a supersonic helicopter that was fabricated out of pure uncut American heroism and reconstituted badass.

And following in the footsteps of that honored template, 3D Black Shark is a mobile game about being heroic via the cunning use of attack choppers. Strangely, the formula all seems a little bit less joyful now than it once was.

But let's start with what works here. Nice fluid animation, check. Reasonably varied terrain, check. Simple easy to pick up controls, check. Upgradeable weapons, check. Unintentionally amusing badly translated backstory, check. Lots of fun with lots of repeat play value, che… Er, hang on a moment.

You see, the problem here is that the game just isn't much fun. As you travel from left to right of the side-scrolling stages, the enemies that appear don't really present a great challenge. Their attack patterns are slow and their rate of fire even slower.

To this you can add the fact the game is also high on frustration, as it's very difficult to kill enemies on the shallowest parts of the terrain unless you a) drop a precious bomb on them or b) fly as low as you can to despatch them with your machine gun. The former is wasteful as you need those bombs for buildings, while the latter invariably results in crashing into the scenery unless you're name is Stringfellow Hawke.

For every enemy you kill you earn cash which you can spend upgrading your chopper in the shop between sorties. Extra bombs, missiles, machine gun upgrades and armour can all be had for a fee and are essential purchases if you're to be in with a hope of making it to the end of each stage with enough ammunition.

The game treads a fine line between more modern mobile gaming fare and old-skool dynamic. For example, the isometric maps are peppered with 3D polygonal enemies, jeeps and other vehicles that seem quite accomplished, though their three-dimensional nature can be lost against the flatness of the rest of the game at times.

Less progressive is the three lives and out limit that is enforced on the player, with no continues or checkpoints to be had anywhere. This makes getting to the boss fights (one of the game's more exciting aspects) feel about as futile as hitching a ride on the back of an elderly housefly, armed with a rubber band gun and intent on taking down the RAF.

Black Shark 3D isn't dreadful. There are times when dropping bombs on the heads of the Children of Danava (nuke-toting terrorists holed up in Hawaii, apparently) can be quite satisfying. Frustration is never far away, however, and where there could have been some spark and personality between levels to spice up the so-so gameplay there is only a hackneyed narrative told in (admittedly amusing) pidgin English.

Not really worth the time, then, unless you're the sort of person who never let Airwolf fly out of their system. Because if you're just a teensy bit obsessed with attack helicopters, then this might entertain you for a bus ride or two.