The player takes the role of a fighter jet pilot defending the English coastland against an enemy invasion, having to fight off aerial, ground and naval forces while Allied bases evacuate.

The game was well-received and, despite various issues, it was lauded by critics as one of the best air combat simulators of the time and praised for its accessible gameplay.

To accomplish this, the player pilots one of the three available Mark 2.1 AWAT (All-Weather All-Terrain) combat aircraft and is charged with defending the last three Allied airbases being evacuated in front of the enemy's advance.

Despite being the lone defender and greatly outnumbered, they must fight enemy forces on all fronts: aerial, ground and naval.

[2] The game offers nine selectable levels of difficulty, including a tutorial mode where the enemy forces do not fire back.

[2] Among the options, the player can choose to play either in summer or winter time and either daytime or nighttime, altering the scenery.

[3] The control panel shows the plane's crucial data, including speed, altitude, thrust, fuel, roll/pitch indicators and a compass.

[2] An onboard screen displays various flight information and warning messages, and features a speech synthesizer that occasionally announces dangers, such as approaching enemies or missile attacks.

[1] Flying, especially at high altitudes, expends the plane's fuel and the player must either return to their base or perform an aerial refueling.

Wilhelmy had a pilot's license and had experience with aircraft control and responsiveness, while Stevens' father had been in the British Royal Air Force.

[7] Cascade hired programmer Ian Martin and graphics designer Damon Redmond to work on the project in 1985.

[9] An Amstrad CPC version was announced and Cascade Games promised a quick delivery with "speed and smoothness exceeding previous simulators".

[4] Computer and Video Games rated C64 version very positively, awarding gameplay 9/10 points, calling it the new title for the best of flight simulators.

[3] ZX Computing review labeled it a "monster hit" and called it a quality flying experience praising good sound, excellent graphics with the use of a horizon line, and well-defined objects.

[4][17][18][20][23] Overall, the critics agreed that the game's arcade-like gameplay was easy to get into and play,[3][4][5][21] but ultimately difficult to master[16][22] and challenging to finish.

[1][22] Reviewers also negatively remarked upon the inclusion of Lenslok copy protection system where the game would display a garbled image and the player would need to use the provided colored lens to view the two-letter code.

[27] Zzap!64 gave the game 67% and felt that, while the original reviewer's opinions held true, it did not stand up to time, with graphics being tacky and sparse and having programming issues.

While they mentioned its simplicity, they also noted good graphics, fast-paced gameplay with superb dogfights and basic simulation.