Battle Valley

Battle Valley is a side-scrolling shoot ’em up created by Simon Wellard and published by Hewson. A peace summit has ended with an arms treaty, but terrorists have seized two medium-range missiles and threaten the Western World unless their comrades are freed. As a mercenary hired by the US Government, you must capture six terrorist bases scattered across a desert outpost, three in each direction from your central headquarters, and then destroy both missiles at opposite ends of the map. The twist is that you choose between an armored helicopter and a heavily armed tank, and can swap vehicles only by returning to base. The helicopter is ideal for clearing airborne enemies and repairing bridges, while the tank handles ground defenses. A strict time limit of 4000 seconds applies, and every lost life costs 500 of them. Originally released in 1988 on the Commodore 64 as a budget title, it is often compared to Silkworm.

Amiga

Released in 1989 and converted by Creative Thought, it arrived alongside an Atari ST version. The Amiga release features a soundtrack by renowned composer Jochen Hippel, giving the desert campaign a fuller, more atmospheric sound than the 8-bit original. Gameplay stays faithful to the original design, preserving the choice between helicopter and tank, the bridge repairs and the constant race against the clock. A straightforward, action-packed conversion, best suited to players who enjoy Silkworm-style blasting and want a compact, demanding mission with plenty of enemies to face.