River Raid

1982 computer games Atari gamesCommodore 64 gamesZX Spectrum games

shoot’em upshooter games

Classic shoot’em up - fly through a narrow canyon above a river and shoot the obstacles.

River Raid was one an instant hit when it was first released on Atari 2600 (with only Ms. Pac-Man beating it in 1983 when it comes to sales). The reason behind the popularity of this title could be described in just two words: simplicity and challenge.

The game was very simple - you fly a plane in a narrow canyon above a river, there are different obstacles in your way, from ships and helicopters, to island and more complex traps. You have your faithful gun / missile launcher aboard, which will help you solve that problem. Each sort-of level of the game is separated from the next one by a choke point in a form of a bridge that you have to destroy in order to move forward.

You can fly faster or slower, move right or left, but you cannot just stop moving, which makes this game challenging. That and the fact that you need to refuel your plane. You can do it by flying over refuel stations, camouflaged using large letters F, U, E and L.

Once you progress beyond each bridge, the difficulty jumps up a bit with the introduction of new obstacles or more complex ways they try to stop you. The game has no beginning or ending, you can just fly forever.

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