''Flak: The Ultimate Flight Experience'' is a

vertically scrolling shooter A vertically scrolling video game or vertical scroller is a video game in which the Player (game), player views the field of play principally from a top-down perspective, while the background Scrolling, scrolls from the top of the screen to the bot ...

for the

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

, and

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

home computers. ''Flak'' was heavily inspired by the 1982 Namco arcade game ''

Xevious is a vertically scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Namco for arcades in 1982. It was released in Japan and Europe by Namco and in North America by Atari, Inc. Controlling the Solvalou starship, the player attacks Xevious for ...

''. Most critical reviews were middling or harshly negative.

Gameplay

The player flies a ship over a vertically scrolling landscape, firing on land bases, on the way to destroy a fortress containing an enemy CPU.

Reception

The game received mixed to poor reviews. In ''

ANALOG Computing ''ANALOG Computing'' (an acronym for Atari Newsletter And Lots Of Games) was an American computer magazine devoted to the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. It was published from 1981 until 1989. In addition to reviews and tutorials, ''ANAL ...

'', Steve Panak called ''Flak'' "the worst mistake your wallet ever made" and advised readers to "avoid it like radioactive waste", while ''

Electronic Games An electronic game is a game that uses electronics to create an interactive system with which a player can play. Video games are the most common form today, and for this reason the two terms are often used interchangeably. There are other common ...

'' called it "a challenging game that requires some almost impossibly fine maneuvering". ''

Your Spectrum ''Your Sinclair'', or ''YS'' as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993. History The ...

'' called the game a rip-off of ''

'', giving it a 0.8/5 and stating that it "should've been drowned at birth." ''

Commodore User ''Commodore User'', known to the readers as the abbreviated ''CU'', was one of the oldest British Commodore magazines. With a publishing history spanning over 15 years, it mixed content with technical and video game features. Incorporating ''Vic ...

'' was more lenient, giving the game a 3/5 in "value for money" and praising the presentation, though complaining about excessive difficulty, disappointing sound, and long load times. Writing for ''TV Gamer'', J.P. Thompson praised the Commodore 64 version's "ultra-smooth scrolling" and called it "a truly addictive game". The review, which gave it a 3.5/5, cited the game's difficulty as something that would have players "staying up most of the night attempting to reach tspenultimate phase". Contrary to other contemporary reviews, ''

Personal Computer Games ''Personal Computer Games'' was a multi-format UK computer games magazine of the early/mid-1980s published by VNU. History ''Personal Computer Games'' was launched in July 1983. The magazine was part of VNU and had its headquarters in London ...

'' remarked that the Atari 8-bit version is "too easy" and therefore "lacks any truly addictive qualities", giving it a 6/10.

References

External links

''Flak''
at Gamebase 64 *{{lemon64 game, id=4157
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in the November 1984 issue of ''Computer Games'' 1984 video games Apple II games Atari 8-bit family games Commodore 64 games Vertically scrolling shooters Video game clones Video games developed in Belgium ZX Spectrum games