1985 · Costa Panayi · Arcade · Strategy

Cyclone

The player controls a rescue helicopter and must retrieve five supply crates from a collection of islands, while a dangerous cyclone is in the area.

Released: 1985
Platforms: ZX Spectrum
Genres: Arcade Strategy Tactical
Developers: Costa Panayi
Publishers: Vortex Software
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Action
Country: United Kingdom
Languages: English

About

Cyclone is a multidirectional helicopter game for the ZX Spectrum released by Vortex Software in 1984. It was written by Vortex co-founder Costa Panayi who also coded the similarly styled Tornado Low Level.

Keywords

helicopter

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The player controls a rescue helicopter and must retrieve five supply crates containing essential medical supplies from a collection of 14 islands, while a dangerous cyclone is in the area.

While searching for the missing crates, the player may optionally earn bonus points by rescuing refugees from the islands. There is no limit on the number of crates or refugees the helicopter can carry, and the player only needs to return to Base Island after the last crate has been found and loaded.

Reception

Following on from the success of Tornado Low Level, Cyclone met favourable reviews, again praising the 3D visuals, but there were some reviewers that believed that these 3D visuals were actually a downgrade. The gameplay itself was again met favourably, with some favoring the departure from the "attack" gameplay of Tornado Low Level, and the move towards rescue based gameplay, but some reviewers thought that there was not enough difference from its predecessor.

The game entered the charts at number 13 for the week to 28 November 1984.