We couldn’t arrive at anymore of a different place than like we witnessed yesterday; gone are serene Hyper Sports gamely locations, as today’s Your Sinclair Top 100 game – Number #58 – is a slice of violent, brutal and unabashed slaughter! Operation Wolf has loaded up and it’s taking no prisoners.
Operation Wolf started its gun-toting life as a Taito arcade machine back in 1987 and this machine was truly famous for the replica Uzi submachine gun it had strapped to the front of it for gamers to lay waste to droves of enemy soldiers, tanks and helicopters that came towards them. It was Ocean Software that picked up the licence for the home computer release and in 1988 it arrived on our television screens.
Both Andrew P. Deakin and Ivan Horn – with the music delivered from Jonathan Dunn – brought a near perfect conversion to the ZX Spectrum. It looked truly fantastic! Yes they had gone for the simple monochrome colour scheme, but in-truth this is what the ZX Spectrum did best; colour clash was gone and speed was guaranteed. The only issue with the game which could never be accomplished was the speed of aiming, this could only be brought up to scratch if every game came with free Operation Wolf cabinet and a calibrated replica Uzi.
Operation Wolf was also released with the Magnum Light Phaser, a light gun for the ZX Spectrum, though this does sound amazing and it did look – at the time – fantastic, when you pulled the trigger a huge black bar would flash across the screen, killing the moment really.
Everyone should play Operation Wolf. It’s a great looking game however the “not so instant” targeting may dissuade a return play or two from some people, but try to ignore that and appreciate what’s being delivered on the ZX Spectrum.
Originally published July 1, 2016. Updated October 26, 2022.
