Air Raid puts you back in the 40's behind a 40mm Borfor Anti-Aircraft fixed deck gun positioned on a WWII battleship.  Defend your ship against enemy aircraft from the era through 99 fictitious missions.  You will have access to classified missiles, radar and depth charges from the day to aid you in the task.  The game is quite simple, destroy incoming aircraft and ships hell bent on attempting to sink your sailing vessel.  The trick is to watch your ammo supply, if that runs out or your ship takes too much damage, you will fail in your mission.  Anyone can be playing in just moments after installing the game there are only a few keys to remember, so there is almost no learning curve. In short, point and shoot.  Each new level increases in difficulty in terms of numbers, aggressiveness, and evasive ability. You can play single player or defend your ship as a team with up to 6 people via LAN on the multiplayer option.

You will be rewarded with military medals as you fight your way through the grueling missions.  Once you complete all 99, you will be rewarded with the highest decoration in the Armed Services, the Medal of Honor.

The graphics are decent enough to enjoy the game. You can play on an older system like a 266 which is unheard of these day in the gaming world, therefore you are going to have to cut back on the eye candy to support those older systems. That being said the game is still visually appealing and you really don't require eye-popping graphics for this type of genre. Visually you can also toggle between a wide and black and white. The wide-angle option gives you a letter box view of the game so you can see all the developers want you to see. Pretty much like a wide screen version of a DVD. That way if you worry if your monitor might cut something off from the sides, you can remedy this by choosing the wide-angle option. Also if you really want to put your self back in the 1940's, you can even play in black and white. This setting really makes you feel like you are part of an old war movie, and even looks a bit better than color. Maybe its just me, but it looked a bit sharper. Audibly there are explosions and gunfire, and aircraft buzzing so close you will be ducking under your desk. All sounded pretty good. I did like the beginning of the missions as you sit relaxed behind your gun listening to an old radio playing songs of the day, as the air raid sirens wail, the radio is silenced by explosions and gun fire… Here comes the enemy!

If you are a fan of the Beach Head games you will most definitely enjoy this title. Plain and simple just aim and fire that’s about it! What this has that the others lack is a multiplayer option.  Though it can only be played on a LAN, that’s more then what the others could do.  For twenty bucks it’s a good deal. Still not sure?  You can always download the demo!

Gameplay: 7
Easy to get started and very few keys to remember, unfortunately its pretty much the same thing over and over through all 99 missions.

Graphics: 7.5
The black and white and wide-angle options are a nice change from the ordinary toggles you see in most games. Visually the game is quite nice and you don't need a powerhouse of a PC to enjoy them.

Sound: 7
The audio is pretty basic.  I did enjoy the few bars of 1940's music you will hear until the air raid sirens blow.

Difficulty: Medium
Starts out easy, but gets increasingly difficult as you progress through the missions.  There is not any difficulty settings to toggle so this is it. There is some cheat codes in the read me file to help you out if you get too impatient. 

Concept: 7
Nothing new here.  In fact it is so much like the beachhead series, I was surprised it didn't carry the name in the title.  If you like just shooting down enemy planes, you will enjoy this.

Multiplayer: 7

You can play with some buddies defending your ship. Supports 6 players via LAN.

Overall: 7.3
A basic no thinking shoot-em up game from a battle turret.  If you are a fan of the genre, you will really like this title.  Unfortunately, I do not see a lot of re-playability here after you complete all 99 missions.