After Burner Climax touching down on the App Store at midnight

Sooner than expected, perhaps, After Burner Climax is due to whoosh into App Store airspace at midnight this evening.

Climax is the latest instalment in the fondly remembered '80s air combat series, and like its ancestors it began its life inside the guts of a gyroscopic arcade rig.

Now, having swallowed a ton of quarters and made several small children experience motion sickness, After Burner Climax is delivering the Mach speed might of the F-14 Super Tomcat on iPhone and iPad.

In After Burner Climax, you step inside the virtual cockpit of three real-life fighter jets, all of which you can pilot through more than 20 sun-kissed skyboxes.

As usual in After Burner games, you'll spend your time in Climax unloading an explosive assortment of air-to-air missiles right into the nose cones of hostile targets, probably referred to as "bogeys".

In addition to the standard Arcade Mode, you can experiment with Climax Mode's time-slowing power bar. Alternatively, stat lovers can go ahead and assault the leaderboards in Score Attack Mode.

If all this Top Gun-esque chatter is taking your breath away, you can grab After Burner Climax for iPhone and iPad for £1.99 / $2.99 from midnight.