Snoopy vs The Red Baron - hands-on

While the missions are familiar stuff, the levels they take place in are unique. Few other flight simulators have put us through this many tunnels, or sent a biplane into the bowels of the earth to sabotage mining equipment. We can also safely say this is also the first time we've ever had to destroy enemy morale by wrecking water towers full of root beer.

The cartoony vibe is complemented by Snoopy's weapons, which - in addition to upgradeable machineguns that automatically track targets - include unorthodox choices like Roman candles, giant flaming boomerangs and a Tesla coil that shoots balls of lightning. You can only carry one secondary weapon at a time, though, so we usually preferred to stick with the Woodstock Bomb, a bird-guided missile that you can actually steer into moving targets.

It's a no-brainer that each multi-mission level ends with a boss battle, which tends to take one of two shapes. Either you'll pursue the boss across a seemingly endless landscape and wait for weak spots to open up, or you'll take control of Snoopy's yellow bird-pal Woodstock (towed behind the Camel on a little glider) for some on-rails shooting action with a big fat machinegun.

However you tackle them, they aren't to be taken lightly. The game might be cute, but its bosses are hulking steampunk monstrosities that include an iron scorpion-thing with giant chainsaws for arms and a colossal tank with magma-powered cannons.