Star Raiders

Looks like we're gonna be stuck in the past a little while longer until I collect the plutonium needed for the ride back to 2008...

Since we're here lemme tell you all about Star Raiders, another game for the good ol Atari 5200. Never before in the history of video games has the player trully felt they were inside the cockpit of a starfighter, the feeling of tearing thru hyperspace in Star Raiders was a hypersnoozefest. I'm pretty sure anyone who bought Star Raiders must of hoped it would be a combination of Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark....it wasn't, regretably Indy and Han are not in this game, but there are tie fighters, which I'm sure was NOT approved by Lucas arts. The game consists of two screens, your galactic chart, a grid that shows your bases, enemy ships, etc and the main screen which shows your forward and aft view of space. Plot your course and hunt down the enemy to protect your bases.

Star Raiders was the earliest space sim I can recall, you need to keep an eye on your velocity and fuel, and monitor you star chart to see if one of your bases is being surrounded. I don't recall there being much sound effects in Star Raiders and the enemy only had two types of ships, the majority of the time you'd be staring out at the greenish blackness of space and the white dots of stars...that's it.

The game was kinda technical for the time but I don't think it really used the 5200's color pallete or the sound chip to it's fullest potential. The game didn't have a score but gave players a ranks after dieing, ending the game or finishing it.

I remember getting bored with Star Raiders and finding the most pleasure in blowing up my bases.

2/10