Did you have childhood dreams of taking the controls of an X-Wing like Luke Skywalker?

AtarisStar Warslet you do just that.

Did you want to be Tom Cruise inTop Gun?

Then Segas nausea-inducingAfter Burnerhad you covered.

The definitive military hard-man game, however, wasOperation Wolf.

There was that huge, realistic-looking machine gun mounted on the front.

Actually playing the game was more visceral still.

The gun felt cold and heavy.

When you pulled the trigger, it bucked and writhed in your hands.

Operation Wolfwas a full-on visual, aural, and physical assault.

NintendosDuck Huntmade gun games seem positively cozy, as genteel a pastime as pottery or basket weaving.Operation Wolfwas different.

Clearly, this was war.

The claustrophobia was increased by the constant sense of crisis.

InOperation Wolf,you were always running out of something bullets, grenades, energy.

Warnings constantly flashed up on the screen.

It was touches like these which madeOperation Wolfmore than just another digital shooting gallery.

BothSpace InvadersandOperation Wolfhave certain similarities, despite their difference in perspective and theme.

Theyre both about an advancing enemy which youre trying to keep at bay.

LikeSpace Invaders,Operation Wolfbecame ever faster and more intense as the game progressed.

Then youd hear the dreadful warning sound as your damage meter headed towards its maximum.

Sorry, but you are finished here.

There was a modicum of strategy in here, as well as all that violence.

On the sixth and final stage, youd have to do the same thing again.

Interestingly, both the scenario and the name were taken from a 1977 film of the same name.

In June 1976, hijackers took 248 passengers hostage on an airliner at Entebbe Airport in Uganda.

Israeli commandos stormed the building one week later, and the resulting skirmish captured headlines all over the world.

Menahem Golan later remadeOperation ThunderboltasDelta Force,a larger-than-life action vehicle for Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin.

InOperation Wolf,you appeared to play a mercenary hand-picked by Ronald Reagan to violently end a hostage crisis.

Extending a hand of gratitude, he said, Splended!

You are a real pro.

(Yes, the misspelling is in the original videogame.)

Moreover, the success ofOperation Wolfushered in a wave of on-rails gun games.

But you are finished here…