River Raid 1982

Is it still worth playing?

Activision's 1982 vertically scrolling shoot 'em up for the Atari 2600, designed by Carol Shaw, in which you fly a jet down the River of No Return on a raid behind enemy lines. The joystick steers the jet left and right and speeds it up or slows it down, and the button fires missiles at tankers, helicopters, fuel depots and bridges. Fuel is the pressure. It runs down constantly, flying over a depot refills the gauge, and depots become less frequent as the river goes on. Every mistake costs: touching the riverbank or an enemy loses a jet, and a destroyed bridge sets the point where you restart. Shaw drew on the arcade game Scramble but scrolled vertically, and the game helped make vertically scrolling shooters popular on home consoles. Fuel that is always running out still turns each stretch of river into a choice today, between a pass over a depot and clearing what is in the way.