Please login to submit a screenshot

"Foom, foom foom CHEEE bang!!"

James McGibbits, alias Jimbo Baby, was spending a quiet afternoon alone at his home/weapons lab/dinner theatre. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so naturally something out of the ordinary would have to happen, because as we all know, ordinariness operates on the honor system. A telegraph arrives.

''Jimbo Baby... We need your help at once! The Mad Leader is on the loose again! Penetrate his chemical labs and neutralize the vat of deadly nerve gas! Good luck!''

James shook his head and read the message another time. ''Isn't this the same one they sent last week?'' he muttered to himself. ''Help at once, mm-hmm... Mad Leader. Right. Couldn't the architect of all evil get a slightly more sinister name? Perhaps the man's just a moron - I've taken out seven of his tanks of nerve gas this month and he's still manufacturing and attempting to stockpile them. Oh well, on the job I suppose.'' And with that, he calmly incinerates the letter and hops into his Ultra-Sophisticated Gizmo DHX-3 Attack Chopper (seriously, folks, I didn't make that up) and prepares to infiltrate the Mad Leader's base!

At this point, the game begins (after you are treated to a theme song made entirely out of sound effects - foom, foom foom CHEEE bang!). You, the player, are transported into a first-person view of the Infiltrator's helicopter. You see a complex array of controls, and immediately are bewildered by them. So many buttons - this thing must be impossible to control. Oh, how right you are.

Upon lifting off and setting the navigation systems of the Gizmo DHX-3, you basically must fly in a straight line towards the goal. Your helicopter, however, is Ultra-Sophisticated, which means it is far too intelligent to fly in a straight line! It would much prefer to stop off at some Rally's on the ground. Therefore, it constantly struggles against your attempts to straighten up by twisting off to the left and pushing the control stick oh-so-imperceptibly downwards, until suddenly you notice your elevation is six inches or so off the ground. You struggle against the control stick, but to no avail - everything in view quakes and the sky turns red. You are dead. On your second attempt, you will make sure to keep a constant eye on your elevation and direction; a lesson learned the hard way.

Once you've gone about a thousand feet in the friendly skies, an aeroplane will buzz by you. You have until it leaves the screen to hit the radio and greet the pilot with a request for identification, before he nicely informs you that if you don't tell him your name in two seconds he will blow you into four million small pieces which will then rain down on a local 7-Eleven. If you're quick enough to get the Request ID order off, he'll tell you his name, and then ask for yours. Somebody named Warthog would most likely be a Real American Hero like you, so send back that you're the Infiltrator for a rousing cheer of ''Go get 'em Jimbo Baby!'' Conversely, if someone were to refer to themselves as Dedhed or the ever-intimidating Eugene, you'd better send off that you're the Overlord so they'll pass you by. If you give the wrong name and identify yourself as their enemy, then it's time for combat!

''Blow up real good scumbag.'' Uh-oh. It's time for a little bloodshed, baby. Get the missiles ready, because when the enemy plane comes blowing by again, the timing on your shot must be absolutely perfect, or else you're going to miss. The enemy will fire a round at you, and your LED for either ''C'' or ''F'' will light up on the heads-up display. ''C'' means that the missile is radar-targeted, so you select ''C'' to fire chaff at it, causing it to be distracted and miss. ''F'' signifies a heat-seeking missile, so fire a flare to get it to change its path. (Don't you feel a little jealous that your missiles only go straight, but the enemy gets heat-seekers and radar-guided rockets?) If you get hit once, you're most likely toast. A hit usually blows out at least one of your helicopter's resources (such as oil, fuel, batteries, navigation, or the controls), without which it is impossible to safely land. And if you can't land at their base, you're dead.

As you can imagine, the helicopter levels are quite frustrating. The chopper handles in the most sluggish manner possible. In addition, the battles, which somewhat amusing, are also pretty difficult and can lead to a quick demise. To add insult to injury, even if you somehow make it to the base, landing is almost impossible because the moment you get near the ground, your Gizmo DHX-3 will almost always turn just far enough to the left that it will blow up instead of land.

Is ''mmmgmaaaaaaaaah!!!!'' a word?

If you manage a landing, you get to play the other style of level this fine game features. That would happen to be the base level. The graphics take somewhat of a drop-off here, with things moderately detailed but incredibly small. Basically (get it? BASE-ically? ha ha, I'm so funny), you run around enemy base disguised as one of their own, with a stack of fake ID papers proving exactly who you are. Naturally, since you're not pacing back and forth like an imbecile, everyone will be curious as to who you are. The message ''Halt! Where are your papers?'' will come up very often. When these words are spoken, the guard who said them will suddenly develop an amazing skin tan. You must walk up to the bronze wonder among the pasty guards and show him the papers. Then, based on sheer luck alone, he will either miss the fact that ''Fluffy McPoodle, Esquire'' is probably not a member of the Mad Leader's empire, or ring an alarm. The real game happens during the alarm.

You see, you've got more than a stack of ID papers and your wits to go on. Accessories ARE included with this secret agent in blue pajamas. Want a snazzy mine detector? How about some sleeping gas? Wait, even better - sleeping gas grenades? That's great! You can have all of them for free with the purchase of one copy of Infiltrator! However, you do NOT get any lethal weapons, so once somebody's down, you'd better make your business quick before they get back up.

With the alarm activated, all the guards will wait a second, and then dash at you as fast as their solid-color legs can take them. If they touch you, you are captured. This is a nice way of saying your head has been cut off, I believe. If you use a weapon, then any enemy caught in the blast radius will be KO'd, enabling you to escape into the buildings.

Inside the houses of the Overlord's sinister fortress, the graphics go through another transmogrification. Suddenly everything is of respectable size; however, the detail level remains the same as outside. You get a generic-looking mess of solid colored uniforms and perfectly pale white skin. Control remains as responsive as ever, though. In fact, it's even easier to control McGibbits inside the building than outside, since Gas Grenades go from being a useless variation on the Sleeping Gas to a room-clearing detonation that stops all enemies cold in their tracks.

During the interior sections of the base stages, you are to basically ransack every building that is in the base until you find the security keys and security rooms that open up the goals of the missions. You have to go to every cabinet around in hopes that instead of ''Stick Of Chewing Gum'' or ''Poster Of Elvis,'' you get a security card that will open the path to the security room. Be careful among guards, learn to ration your Sleeping Gas, and make sure you learn the correct timing on your weapons, and you'll be doing just fine.

The game is laced with sarcastic wit the whole while through. In addition to the amusing items and silly scenario, the game delivers the comedic punch with little phrases when you die. For example, accidentally walking into the water will grant you a quick ''Too bad you never learned how to swim.'' Time-limit? ''Your time has expired, and so have you.'' Crashing your chopper? ''Gee... not the most impressive landing.''

When all's said and done, Infiltrator is an amusing game. Although it is difficult to control the helicopter, the base stages are pretty entertaining. Racing against the clock trying to remain undiscovered is a Metal Gear-like thrill and I would recommend it. If only the chopper didn't fly slower than a World War I biplane in a straightjacket, this game would probably be considered among the best games of its era. Sadly, the frustration factor overwhelmed it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/03/02, Updated 05/03/02

Infiltrator is a 1986 video game published by U.S. Gold/Mindscape. It was developed for the Atari 8-bit family, Apple II, DOS, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum by Chris Gray Enterprises.

The player takes on the role of a master-of-all-trades hero named Johnny "Jimbo Baby" McGibbits. The player''s objective is to fly an Airwolf-like helicopter named the Gizmo DHX-3, land at enemy bases, and infiltrate compounds to stop the mad leader.

Missions

Infiltrator is divided into six missions: three helicopter flying missions, and three ground-based missions, which are paired together.
During the helicopter missions (the first, third and fifth missions), the goal is to take off in the helicopter, program the ADF (Automatic Direction Finder) to set the correct course, maneuver the helicopter to the landing area while hailing nearby planes to determine if they are friend or foe, and engaging in firefights if the player responds incorrectly, and finally land the helicopter safely without detection through use of whisper mode.
There are eight options on the helicopter console. M to fire missiles, G to fire guns, C to release chaff, F to release flares, R for Radio Communications panel to send and receive messages and the ADF controls, S for the Status terminal, T for the Turbo engine, and W for whisper.
Once the player lands safely, the ground base mission begins. The player has access to five different items in their inventory. The papers are used to trick the enemy into thinking that they are part of the mad leader''s forces. If the guards get suspicious the player must use their gas canister or gas grenades to knock them out. The mine detector is used to discover buried mines while walking about. Finally, the explosives are used in the final ground mission to destroy the mad leader''s base.
The player''s goal in each mission is to find a security card hidden in a cabinet in one of several multi-room buildings. Once located, the card will open up the locked security doors protecting the goal for each mission. In the second mission, the player must find the four chemical containers and take them to the lab for analysis to determine which is the nerve gas neutralizer, and then find the vat of nerve gas to neutralize it. In the fourth mission, the player must find and rescue Dr. Phineas Gump, a scientist who has been captured by the mad leader. The player must feed him the invisibility pill to make their escape. In the sixth mission, the player must find all seven of the mad leaders missile control rooms and plant explosives in them, then escape before the 10 minute timer (which lasts for 20 minutes of actual time) counts down to zero.
After completing the ground mission, the player must return to the helicopter and fly back to home base. The return flight is much shorter with fewer enemy planes than the missions to get to the enemy base. Once the player completes a mission, they are given a four letter passcode, so that they can return to the same mission during subsequent plays.

Legacy

Infiltrator was followed by a sequel, Infiltrator II, released in 1988 for the Apple II, Commodore 64, DOS, and the Nintendo Entertainment System. Because the original was never released on the NES, the sequel was released as "Infiltrator" on that platform. The game was novelized by Peter Lerangis, as part of the Worlds of Power series published by Scholastic Books.

Johnny 'Jimbo-Baby' McGibbits, Infiltrator, is the sort of man your mother would like you to bring home. He's everything a man should be: tall, dark, handsome, well endowed and . . . talented. Very. If he's not performing vital operations on famous people and christening cathedrals, he's climbing the tallest of mountains and helping old ladies cross the road.

In his spare time he likes to save the world from deranged megalomaniacs -- such as The Mad Leader, who has recently threatened to destroy the whole of the human race. Most men would go weak at the knees and wee themselves at the thought of trying to infiltrate a top secret, heavily guarded enemy base before taking on a whole army. But not our Johnny, oh no, he's as hard as they come and is only mildly perturbed about missing his dinner date with the President in two hours time. Still, there's always tomorrow afternoon . . .

The mission is split into three sections and the first part (a 'flight simulation') starts outside Johnny's country estate, inside his Whizbang Enterprises Gizmo TM DHX-1 Attack Helicopter. This marvel of the military world contains many useful items, such as cannon, heat seeking missiles, flares, chaff, a Heads Up Display (HUD), a turbo booster, an on-board computer, designer alloy skids, and even real imitation bearskin sport bucket seats (with lumbar adjust).

Once in the air, the Automatic Direction Finder (ADF) has to be set for navigation purposes. By calling up the Tactical Map -- via the on-board computer terminal -- the relative position of the enemy base is shown. The course can then be entered into the Communications unit.

Other aircraft occasionally make an appearance and are either the enemy or other infiltrators on the same mission as Johnny. However, they are unmarked, so their identity has to be established before any action can be taken. On requesting identification, the mystery pilot gives his codename, to which one of two responses can be offered -- INFILTRATOR or OVERLORD -- depending upon the codename given.

For example, if the ID of an aircraft is SCUM and the response is OVERLORD, then Johnny is allowed to continue since the enemy think that he is on their side. If, however, the response to an enemy codename is INFILTRATOR, then a fight to the death ensues. This is where the HUD, cannon, heat seeking missiles, flares, chaff and a cool head all come in handy.

Switching to the Heads Up Display provides a set of cross hairs to aid aim. The cannon and missiles are, quite obviously, used to shoot attacking aircraft, and the flares and chaff confuse any incoming heat seeking and radar guided missiles.

When the ADF dial goes haywire it is an indication that the base is directly below. But before a safe landing can even be attempted, the Gizmo must be put into WHISPER mode so that the enemy aren't alerted. Landing successfully (ie, without crashing or getting caught) initiates the second stage of the game -- Ground Installation Infiltration.

After a quick flip of the disk and a short wait, the screen display changes to show an 'overhead' perspective view of Johnny's surroundings, and the screen flips from one location to the next as he moves. His objective is to penetrate the enemy base, within a given time limit, by pretending that he is an enemy guard.

Johnny is initially armed with only a handful of objects; a camera, five gas grenades, a can of gas spray, a mine detector (the woods surrounding the enemy base are usually abundant with landmines), some explosives, and some forged papers. The camera is for photographing vital enemy documents when inside the base, and only five shots are provided. Both gas grenades and spray perform the same function (they put people to sleep when activated), although the former has a greater range.

Pressing the space bar accesses this inventory and allows Johnny to choose which item is to be used, and then pressing the fire button actually uses an object being 'held'.

Whenever Johnny is confronted by a guard, he must show his papers. Failure to do so results in an alarm being set off and all hell breaking loose, which makes the mission harder still. To make matters worse, some of the guards are a bit cleverer than your average enemy, and can spot a forgery a mile off. Fortunately, the alarm system can be temporarily disabled by finding a special electronic key, and inserting it into the alarm control unit.

There are many buildings to be explored within the enemy base, and entering one changes the viewpoint yet again. This time, a cross section of each room is displayed as Johnny moves through them, and a mapping unit at the bottom of the screen follows his progress.

In most of the rooms there are various pieces of furniture which need to be searched for vital documents. A majority of the decor contains useless items, such as bottles of vodka and used chewing gum (yeuch!). If found, these are ignored and not added to Johnny's inventory.

Guards also patrol certain rooms and depending upon the situation they must either be shown identification or disposed of -- quickly!

Once all of the relevant documents have been photographed, Johnny has to escape from the base to get back to his helicopter and eventually home -- where another mission awaits. Oh well, nobody ever said that being a super soldier, engineer, neurosurgeon, politician, movie actor, rock star, world-class motorcyclist, explorer, karate expert, and devil-may-care all round nice guy was easy . . .

The review and ratings are based on the disk version of Infiltrator. Ratings for the cassette version will follow when (if?) it becomes available.

What a great game; as disk products go Infiltrator really has got its act together and is the best implementation of a 1541 dependent game I've seen. It's all great stuff and fairly exciting, the flight sequences and the base infiltration bits are both top hole games in their own right. The main problem is that I can't see how US Gold are going to get Infiltrator onto tape without severely compromising the game. I can quite easily see a good game getting ruined. if you've got a disk drive then get a copy, if not, have a good look at the tape version when it appears and check out if it's really the sort of thing you would like to possess.

Presentation 98%
Humourous and informative instructions, superb in-game appearance and many neat touches.

Graphics 88%
Initially excellent, but unfortunately deteriorate in quality with each mission.

Sound 70%
No music, but good spot FX.

Hookability 94%
Instantly impressive and playable.

Lastability 93%
The three stages are tough, demanding and addictive.

Value For Money 93%
A little pricey, but a worthy package all the same.

Overall 92%
An unusual, but impressive approach to an arcade adventure.