River Raid is a great, classic Atari game. When I was eight, nine, ten, years old I would spend hours playing the game. I can still remember sweating as I would progress through more and more levels and the levels would get harder and harder. I'm surprised I didn't have a heart attack. My brother was the same way. We would constantly go back and forth, trying to beat each other's score. It starts off nice and easy for you to be able to get the hang of the game or, if you're an experienced player, it's a good warm up.
River Raid is a great, classic Atari game. When I was eight, nine, ten, years old I would spend hours playing the game. I can still remember sweating as I would progress through more and more levels and the levels would get harder and harder. I'm surprised I didn't have a heart attack. My brother was the same way. We would constantly go back and forth, trying to beat each other's score. It starts off nice and easy for you to be able to get the hang of the game or, if you're an experienced player, it's a good warm up.
The game is basically a vertical shooter game in which you control a plane flying through a river gorge. You must destroy a
variety of different targets: bridges, ships, helicopters, other airplanes. The list goes on and on. You also have to pick up fuel along the way or else you will run out and crash. To make the game much more difficult, you must stay away from the canyon walls. Sometimes the walls get ridiculously close to each other, which makes the game much more difficult.
One of the things I like best about the game is how it progressively gets more and more difficult. Starting out, the river is wide and your opponents aren't too difficult to destroy. As you pass more and more levels, the river walls get more and more narrow and the ships, helicopters, balloons, etc. get tougher to beat as well. Also, the fuel refills become more and more scarce. It is a really good game for those who are beginners and for those who are grizzled veterans.
I played this game on an Atari 5200, so the controls were relatively simple. Obviously the joystick controlled the movements of the craft and there was only one fire button. There were no secondary weapons or special weapons or anything like that. It was just you, the plane, and the firing mechanism. Sounds pretty simple but it were definitely an intense game.
I do miss these types of games. Now there are so many buttons and options that the games can be so complex. River Raid is a classic game of "what you see is what you get." To me the game has stood the test of time in that I would probably still spend hours playing the game, trying to get through as many levels as possible.
