Gee Bee Air Rally
| Gee Bee Air Rally | |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | Activision |
| Designer(s) | Rob Swigart |
| Platform(s) | C64, Amiga, Amstrad CPC ZX Spectrum |
| Release date(s) | 1987 |
| Genre(s) | Racing |
Gee Bee Air Rally is a 1987 flight simulator by Activision. It was developed for Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. It is set in the 1920s and early 1930s in which the player is the pilot of a small airplane. The player's goal is to increase the score by flying the airplane through several races and special events. The player's aircraft is modelled on the Granville Brothers Gee Bee Super Sportster Model Z, a "flying engine" which was the predecessor of the more famous, and even more extreme, Model R.
This game is single-player only and has three difficulty levels, which the player must choose between before beginning play. The player's airplane is always yellow, and the races follow a pattern of three main events and one special event, which alternates between popping 30 balloons and flying to the right of red pylons and to the left of blue ones.
One main obstacle is avoiding collision with other aircraft. After two collisions, the plane will falter and the player's pilot is parachuted out. The player hears the sound of a parachute opening and sees an animation sequence of the pilot drifting to the ground. This is followed by one of several amusing pictures depicting the pilot in various landing places, such as a pigpen, a parched desert, a tree, or a barnyard of chickens, for example.
Following successful completion of the special event, a picture of the pilot at an awards ceremony is shown, accompanied by period music. A photographer may be seen photographing the pilot.
Reception
Compute! criticized the game's copy protection and repetitive cut scenes but praised the graphics and audio, concluding that "Gee Bee Air Rally is worthy of repeated play".[1]
References
- ↑ Anderson, Rhett (May 1988). "Gee Bee Air Rally". Compute!. p. 12. Retrieved 10 November 2013.