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Along the way, Red picks up a variety of weapons starting with a knife, progressing to sidearms and ending with gas guns, flame-throwers and bombs. Red's talents are not limited to mere running and shooting. He drives a myriad of vehicles from motorcycles to tanks to airplanes; he's even an anti-aircraft gunner in a pinch. His missions include blowing up dams, rescuing women and shooting down zeppelins. His opponents are no less dangerous. Whether firing at him from a bunker, strafing him or tossing grenades, Red's enemies do not allow him a centimeter of leeway. He can get help from the occasional ally but, in the final analysis, he must depend on his lightening reflexes and razor-sharp wits.

Those lightening reflexes are controlled with a combination of keyboard and mouse commands. Walking and running are the most important controls to master as Red must walk up to ammunition, weapons, armor, medical kits and assorted items to pick them up. Facing is through the mouse and movement, including sliding left an right, is done through four configurable keys. Firing is left mouse button/space bar and "using" is right mouse button/enter. Weapons can selected with ten number keys and non-lethal items are accessed through a separate on-screen queue. Vehicles are steered with the same four keys and planes are flown with the cursor or joystick. No instruments are shown in the vehicles so the effects of aerodynamics and gravity are learned by trial and error.

Fig. 3. A Russian plane takes AA hits

As good as he is, Red has his limits. When he loses all of his 100 health points, he's gone and each weapon is limited in the number of rounds carried. His health can be helped by different kinds of body armor and vehicles have their own armor values. The beating he's taking is shown on his on-screen face as well a numeric value. His inventory of weapons and objects can be brought up with a key stoke. To accomplish missions, the player must be aware of the qualities of each weapon and item and be prepared to switch when needed. Basic game play, then, is pretty basic first-person shooter. The difference is the unusual situations Red finds himself in.

The scripts are very innovative. They are also very difficult. The action sequences demand creative solutions, not just "run and gun". Other situations call for problem solving. Like many other games, the solutions to Codename Eagle's puzzles are difficult and sometimes counter-intuitive. Fortunately, Producer Tim Beggs has written a complete strategy guide. The guide is downloadable free at www.talonsoft.com in PDF format.

Fig. 4. Using the sniper scope, Red takes out a Russian guard