| Commando Raid | |
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| Developer | Vidtec |
| Publishers | U. S. Games (original) Carrere Video (bootleg) Dynacom (bootleg) Polygram (bootleg) Robby (bootleg) |
| System | Atari 2600 |
| Release Date | 1982 |
| Mode | Single player only |
| Media | Cartridge |
Gameplay[]
Commando Raid is a game where the player controls a gun at the bottom center of the screen that fires upwards at "enemy android commando raiders"[1].
The majority of the raiders consists of helicopters that drop down commando paratroopers. The player has two buildings on each side of their gun (making four total) that they must protect from the paratroopers. Each time a paratrooper lands on a building it will cause damage; once a fourth paratrooper lands on a same building, they will start tunneling underneath that building’s surface. With each additional paratrooper that lands on the building site, the tunnel will continue to grow, and if they tunnel far enough they will destroy the player’s gun with a bomb, ending the game.
The player can defend their buildings by shooting the helicopters, planes, paratroopers and bombs.
Occasionally during a wave a bomber will also fly overhead and drop a bomb. If the bomb hits the ground without being shot that will also end the game. A building gets totally repaired with every 10,000 points scored, however.
Commando Raid has eight different play levels[2], which are distinguished by paratroopers’ color changing with each new level.
Scoring[]
- Bomb–115 points
- Bomber–200 points
- Commando paratrooper–115 points
- Helicopter–200 points
- Most damaged building repaired–every 10,000 points
Controls/variations[]
- Start new game–reset switch or forward on joystick
- Aim–joystick
- Fire–button
- Steer missile–joystick (after firing/if applicable)
- Color switch–manual firing
- Black and white switch–automatic firing
- Left Difficulty switch, position A–straight bullets
- Left Difficulty switch, position B–steerable missiles
- Right Difficulty switch, position A–no bomber appears during game
- Right Difficulty switch, position B–bomber appears
Trivia[]
- U. S. Games also released other bottom of the screen shooters of Name This Game and M. A. D., the latter of which also involved players controlling a positionable cannon at the bottom center of the screen that fired upwards at enemies, plus players had to protect several installations.
- Bugs: when playing a game and a paratrooper is dropping from the sky, pressing reset will cause the game to start over, but the paratrooper will still be onscreen. Also, sometimes during a game, a bomb will appear without having a bomber appear at all, much less drop it.
- Bootleg versions of the game were released by Carrere Video, Dynacom, Polygram and Robby.
Links[]
- Atari Age page
- Reviews at Video Game Critic (B-), Game Freaks 365 (6.7/10, archived)
References[]
This article was featured from March - April, 2018.