Developed by Gang of Five and published by Virgin Games in 1987, Action Force is a scrolling shooter set in the world of the Action Force toys by Hasbro/Milton Bradley (aka G.I. Joe toys in North America). Action Force was also released for the Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC, although the Spectrum version is notably different to those versions.

You control a lone operative, called Snake Eyes, who is wearing a custom-built helicopter backpack (similar to the one seen in H.E.R.O.), and must clear the way for the A.W.E. Striker vehicle to make its way through eight levels of barriers, traps and canals, in order to retrieve some vital classified data.

You must dodge or shoot rising missiles, floating mines, and electric charge generators, and pick up and drop pontoon bridge parts over water, and destroy any barriers on the ground. The manual also says that you must “protect” the Striker vehicle, but I think that’s just “puffery”, because I didn’t see any of that in the game.

Your helicopter backpack has a limited supply of fuel, and can be topped-up by picking up fuel cannisters. You can also top up your gun ammunition by picking up bullets too. You should only pick up fuel and ammo if you need them, though, otherwise you’ll waste them.

The controls in Action Force take some getting used to. Specifically, stopping Snake Eyes where you want him to be can be a bit of a ball-ache, because he moves constantly, unless you try to land on the ground or on a building. This, I think, was a mistake on the part of the game’s authors, because it leads to a lot of frustration.

Personally, I think Action Force is disappointing, and it could’ve been a lot better. The graphics are pretty good, but since you spend a lot of time in the air, you don’t get to see the good-looking stuff on the ground very much. The gameplay is repetitive and limited; the missiles are hard to avoid; the various ‘traps’ are a bit silly (electrical arcs that you can shoot holes in and fly through?), and there are some great-looking tanks that do nothing, and don’t even pose any risk to your vehicle, which I thought was very disappointing. The various levels are all very samey, and positioning pontoons is annoying because of the daft control system. Overall, Action Force is not very interesting to play, and the majority of the screen is taken up with a largely useless border, with just a small play window for the action.

A sequel to this game, Action Force II, was released the following year, and that too is disappointing.

More: Action Force on Wikipedia
More: Action Force on World of Spectrum