Forgive our ignorance, but we always assumed that when a nation sets off to war against a well-armed terrorist state, it might commit a reasonable proportion of its air force to the conflict. Not just one rookie pilot and his gunshy wingmates. Still, it makes for a spicy intro to the world of air combat in Heatseeker, and because you’re the only one who actually dares to fly any of these missions, you get an entire airfield of military hardware all to yourself.

Each aircraft has its own handling peculiarities as well as slightly different preconfigured weapon options. If you select a bomber-type plane, you’ll tend to have a couple of air-to-ground missile options to weigh up, whereas the more advanced fighters come with far superior air-to-air missiles that can lock onto several different targets.

You have to choose the aircraft before you get to see which weapons it has and what type of opposition you’ll be facing in the mission, but fortunately it’s possible to go back and choose again if you find you’ve made a mistake.

The range of options can be bewildering. If you’re the kind of person who takes half an hour pondering over a restaurant menu, then frets about having made an unwise choice, you’ll probably spend forever flipping back and forth between the planes, especially as there isn’t a screen where you can compare them side by side.