Spectrum Games - Rolling Thunder - Classic ZX Spectrum Game

ZX Spectrum Rolling Thunder
This classic title was a very popular arcade game back in the day and home computer conversions were par for the course in the 1980s.

Namco's game was released in 1986 and the ZX Spectrum version arrived in 1988 courtesy of good old US Gold and Tiertex.

As far as side scrolling platform arcade games go, Rolling Thunder was up there with the likes of Green Beret in terms of playability and fast paced action. But could it be converted to the Speccy successfully?

Let's take a look...

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'....

Like any classic game there was a back story to accompany the action...

The player took control of a spy (codenamed Albatross), a member of the WCPO's (World Crime Police Organization) also known as 'Rolling Thunder'.

Your mission was to save a missing female agent named Leila Blitz from a secret organisation named 'Geldra' who were plotting evil schemes in down town New York.

The game was a multi-directional scrolling affair with an upper and lower level for the player to negotiate. Usually you were able to leap between the top 'balcony' platform and ground floor on the game screen at will, with certain parts designed to keep you placed in the topmost or bottom part of the screen.

To make matters more difficult there were hundreds of evil hooded henchmen to take care of, with some of them popping out at you through doors and seemingly appearing from the woodwork.

 In a cool twist though it was possible for you to go into these doors (sort of 'into' the screen) to hide for a moment and in some cases pick up weapons power-ups.

Hooded Henchmen Everywhere!

With ten levels to play through, automatic sentry guns to evade, pools of lava to leap and piles of boxes to climb this was a game that was by no means a pushover.

It should be noted that there were varying enemies to face too; some of them required multiple hits to dispatch and some would try to walk right up to you and beat you to death!

As usual for games of this ilk there was a boss to defeat (the mighty 'Mabu' - the man behind the crime!) if you finally made it to the end. Beat him and you beat the game.

On Release:
This game had been pretty popular down the amusement arcades and was one that I put a fair few ten pence's into. The ZX Spectrum version was met with mixed enthusiasm and it was pretty much regarded as being too tough to play. The scrolling was not really up to par (especially when you look at the likes of Green Beret, Cobra and Uridium) and this affected the playability greatly. For a game released in 1988 the sound effects are well below par, and the catchy tune that accompanies the arcade version is missing. I for one was a little disappointed in this conversion as it did not quite capture that magic of the arcade original; it was merely a decent enough game that could have been great.

The Test Of Time:
When you play this again you really notice the below par scrolling (it's not rubbish but it's not great either) and the jerkiness of the enemy sprites. There is a lack of detail in the backgrounds too. I like the fact that they went monochromatic in style but the environments lack depth. Overall not bad, but if like me, you are a fan of the original game then you probably will be left feeling a little on the empty side.

We recommend getting hold of the real hardware - but if not then download a ZX Spectrum emulator and download Rolling Thunder for the ZX Spectrum. Alternatively you could try and play it online.

GENRE: Arcade Game
RELEASE DATE: 1988
RELEASED BY: US Gold Software
DEVELOPER(S): Tiertex
PRICE: £8.99 - UK

You called down the thunder...


Classic Games, Arcade Games and ZX Spectrum Games

Spectrum Games - Rambo - Classic ZX Spectrum Game

ZX Spectrum Rambo
Ahhh good old Rambo - the ultimate 80's action icon?

Stallone's on screen larger than life character was bound to make the transition to 8-bits, and Ocean Software won the rights to convert Rambo to the ZX Spectrum in 1985.

Surely such a well known action character would lead to a classic arcade game? Well, sort of...

According to the instructions this classic game took place in approximately 1 million sq. feet (scale) of jungle which featured the P.O.W. camp, a secret Temple plus many different types of terrain.

Good old Colonel Trautman, had given you very precise orders...
Find the P.O.W. camp, photograph the evidence then make your way north to the extraction point where a helicopter would whisk you to the safety of your command centre in Thailand.

Just like in the movie you were not to engage the enemy or attempt to rescue any POW's you may find.

Of course on finding captured soldiers and hordes of enemy soldiers your fighting instincts took over and it was time to kick some ass, in true Rambo/Arcade game style.

You had to free the captive POW (who was tied up) and then head north towards the extration point to where the chopper would be waiting.

The game was presented in standard 8 way scrolling, with the jungle scenery moving nicely around our hero. Of course there were plenty of enemy soldiers skulking around the playing area too, and in the beginning you could use the trusty knife or grenades to take them out.

The grenades were very effective but obviously noisy - so using them would draw more enemy soldiers towards you. The knife required more skill to use but was also more stealthy and kept contact with the enemy at a minimum. Even so, for some reason the bad guys 'exploded' when you threw a knife at them! They should've only done this with explosive tipped arrows?

Further weapons such as a machine gun, rocket launcher and the famous bow and arrow could be found in the jungle (in a different location each time you played), but only one could be selected and used at a time. The variety of weapons was a good feature and added something more to the arcade action.


Basically the aim of the game was to gain access to the camp (through a hole in the fence), rescue the soldier named Banks then head north to the chopper. Once in the chopper you had to locate the helipad where more hostages could be liberated. With the hostages on board it was time for a final duel with the enemy gunship before flying to safety.

On Release:
The movies had already been popular so the arcade game ended up being popular too. This game was generally regarded as a reasonable effort in the arcade genre, and for a movie tie in was pretty well executed. It did well due to the popularity of the character.

The Test Of Time:
Well, I want what every other Spectrum games player wants, for this game to love me as much as I, love it! But unfortunately - it's not quite there.
Rambo is still fairly playable, but has aged more than other arcade games from the same era. The characters tend to flicker and it just doesn't play as well as the likes of Commando. Not bad, and worth it for pure nostalgia. Nice loading screen and cool 'drum beats' rendition of the film music too. Try it - cos if you don't I'll give you a war you won't believe.

We recommend getting hold of the real hardware - but if not then download a ZX Spectrum emulator and download Rambo for the ZX Spectrum. Alternatively you could try and play it online.

GENRE: Arcade Game
RELEASE DATE: 1985
RELEASED BY: Ocean Software
DEVELOPER(S): David Anderson, F David Thorpe
PRICE: £7.95 - UK

Our hero wastes a few bad guys in classic arcade action:

Arcade Games, Classic Games and ZX Spectrum Games

ZX Spectrum Games - Robocop - ZX Spectrum retro game

ZX Spectrum Games Robocop
Nice shooting son what's you're name?
Ocean Software once again created a movie tie in arcade game - and did so in style with the ZX Spectrum version of Robocop in December of 1988.

The game was also a popular choice in amusement arcades with the version by Data East eating plenty of 10p pieces.

Anyway, Robocop on the Speccy was a run and gun game which captured the spirit of the film pretty well. We are going to concentrate on the Spectrum 128 version which was quite superior to the standard 48K Spectrum version.


As soon as the game loaded you knew you were in for a treat. Sampled speech featuring the dulcet tones of Peter Weller saying 'Robocop' was followed by a haunting and well composed piece of music which highlighted the capabilities of the AY Sound Chip.

If I remember rightly the game was released at the same time as the movie was on VHS (Video tape!) - a nice piece of marketing.

In the game you (of course) play Robocop (rebuilt from the near dead officer Murphy in the excellent movie).

This arcade game began with RoboCop in a horizontally scrolling section, shooting snipers looking down on him from the windows of building, and eradicating kung fu kicking villains and chainsaw weilding nut-jobs.

You began the game with four lives and an energy level (Robo could take a fair amount of punishment) and the energy meter could be replenished by collecting baby food jars.

Ammunition was limited too but there were extra magazines lying around to use, as well as three special weapons powerups (such as 3-way firing bullets and 'super bullets'). If Robo expended all of his ammo then he could use his fists to fight with. If you're energy level reached zero then a life was lost and it was back to the start of the level.

While on patrol RoboCop is called to the scene of an assault where a woman was being held hostage. Now the game switched to a first-person perspective and you had to shoot the criminal without hitting the woman (just like in the movie). As on each section of the game there was a time limit and a life was lost if you exceeded it.

After that was completed it was back on patrol on the next level with bikers coming after you. Here you also encounter Emil (one of the guys that 'murdered' Murphy), hiding out at a petrol station (again based on the scene in the movie).

Now you had to go to the police stations photofit library to match up a picture (Emil was one of Clarence Boddikers gang). Eyes, ears, chin, nose and hairstyle had to be matched to the picture on the left which was not easy to accomplish in the time alloted.


Once Emil had been identified information was provided which lead RoboCop to a Drugs Factory (another horizontally scrolling section), and once you had completed it RoboCop learned the name of leader of the gang which killed him - Clarence Boddicker. (Clarence Boddicker must be one of the greatest movie villains of all time eh?).

Clarence was employed by an OCP executive - leading our Robo to the OCP headquarters tower. Here you had a showdown with the legendary ED209.

Overcoming Ed pitted you against more bad guys as you tryed to escape the tower in a horizontally and vertically scrolling section. If you managed to escape then it was on to the junkyard (where Murphy was 'killed'), for a confrontation with Clarence himself.

Killing him put you back at OCP where you had to rescue the president of the company who was being held hostage by the high ranking executive who employed Clarence (it was Dick Jones in the film.)

On release:
Well the movie was hugely popular and the game turned out to be too. Gamers marvelled at the haunting music, sampled speech, nicely animated characters and smooth scrolling backdrops. Robocop managed get the arcade action just right - it was difficult put perseverance paid off. The variety of levels added to the game (it wasn't just more scrolling levels with different graphics) and it was an instant classic game.

The test of time:
Playing this again brought back some memories for me - and you know what it's still pretty good. The developers obviously put some effort into coding this and it shows. It took me a few goes to get the hang of it again (as you'll see in the video - I'm not great!) but it's still pretty playable as a scrolling shooter.

Play Robocop again and uphold the law.

We recommend getting hold of the real Sinclair hardware but if not then download Robocop for a ZX Spectrum emulator. Alternatively you could try and play it online

Please see our other ZX Spectrum retro game reviews and programmer interviews - all links are listed in alphabetical order. Cheers guys.

GENRE: Arcade game
RELEASE DATE: End of 1988
RELEASED BY: Ocean
DEVELOPER(S): Mike Lamb and Dawn Drake
PRICE: £8.95 Cassette or £14.95 Disk - UK

Don't move creep... Robocop - a very fine arcade game:


Classic Games, Arcade Games and ZX Spectrum Games

ZX Spectrum Game - Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle - ZX Spectrum retro game

ZX Spectrum Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle
A strange one this - but since we're in a bit of a Star Wars mode at the moment, just like Red 5 - it's going in.

Death Star Battle was released for the ZX Spectrum by Parker Software (who were famous for their version of QBert) in 1984.

Neither of us ever played this game back in the day (I certainly can't remember it - I don't think many Speccy gamers can!)


Anyway - this arcade game was a more famous Star Wars computer game on the Atari 8-bit machines - and it looks like it didn't convert to the ZX Spectrum well.

Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle put you at the helm of the Millennium Falcon in a quest to destroy the Galactic Empires most feared ultimate weapon, the Death Star.

First you had to survive the attacks of the Tie Interceptors as they pursued you. When you reached the Death Star you had to anticipate the seemingly 'random way' in which portals in the enemy field opened up (it's not good I can tell you). These portals allowed Tie Interceptors access to their base - thus providing you with a chance to penetrate the Death Star's defences.

Once you had penetrated the enemy shield you still had to contend with a heatseeking 'Death Ray' - sound really B movie eh?


Now you had to blast the Death Star with your pulse laser until you had cleared a route to the energy core - hitting that would blow the huge space station into a fearsome explosion which would send hundreds of blazing fireballs hurtling into space.

Now you needed 'Solo like' reflexes to avoid this debris as you made good your escape. This had to be done before the Death Star construction was completed - otherwise it was game over.

Every now and again Darth Vaders shuttlecraft would roam across the screen. If it hit you then you lost one of your five lives. It was possible to destroy it with a sustained barrage of lazer fire, but remember kid, don't get cocky.

Well... what can I say? I can't judge this game properly as I never ever played it back in the 80's. All I can say is playing it now was not enjoyable. The graphics are poor (and would have been at the time) and the gameplay is just plain odd. The 'seemingly random' appearance of the force field portals are awful - it's all about luck rather than judgement - and in my experience there's no such thing as luck...

Perhaps someone can remember this game. If so - please give us a comment or two! Perhaps you have downloaded it or even managed to play it online.

Please see our other (more in depth!) ZX Spectrum game reviews - all links are listed in alphabetical order. Cheers guys.

GENRE: Arcade game
RELEASE DATE: 1984
RELEASED BY: Parker Software
DEVELOPER(S): Les Fairbrother
PRICE: No idea

I've played games from one end of the ZX Spectrum to the other, seen a lot of strange stuff in Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle

Classic Games, Arcade Games and ZX Spectrum Games

ZX Spectrum Games - Return Of The Jedi - ZX Spectrum retro game

ZX Spectrum Games Return Of The Jedi
Domark had developed the previous two Star Wars Games (Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back) for the ZX Spectrum and completed the trilogy with their conversion of Return Of The Jedi early in 1989.

The third arcade game was popular, but never quite reached the legendary status of the original vector graphics Star Wars original. Still, it was a nice way to round off the trilogy.

Without a vector graphic in sight, we blast off into a galaxy far far away....
Oh, and it was quite a long time ago (twenty years!) too.

Taking the popular isometric top down view, Return of the Jedi was an arcade scroller. Starting off as Princess Leia, you hurtled through the forest of endor (a yellow pathway with a few trees) on a speederbike avoiding imperial stormtroopers (also on speederbikes) and the odd tree. Bizarrely enough the stormtroopers were actually good shots here taking you down efficiently. So already we're not staying faithful to the films! ;-)

You also had to watch out for those pesky ewoks and their trip wire device which would take you out. I though they were on your side?

If you made it to the end of the level you were treated to a bunch of ewoks doing some sort of dance. The whole scene looks a bit dodgy it you ask me!

Now that you've jedi-mind wiped that image out of your head you move to the dreaded Deathstar. Now you were piloting the fastest hunk o' junk in the galaxy with the smoothest talkin' granny permed pilot of them all, Lando Calrissian.

Trapped next to the Deathstar by a fleet of Star Destroyers (it's a TRAP!) you had to take out tie-fighters and survive long enough whilst Chewie made his way to the imperial bunker on Endor (which we will come to in a moment)



So you flicked between Lando and Chewie, and as Chewie (still in the forest) you had to avoid and destroy oncoming boulders and logs as you moved along the scrolling landscape. Once you reached the imperial bunker you could blow it sky high - freeing Lando to begin his Deathstar attack run.

Again it was a diagonal scrolling level, and the object was to avoid the dangerous protrusions jutting from every wall as they scrolled towards you. Avoiding enough protrusions (and the TIE fighter that tailed you) eventually led you to the central reactor, which had to be destroyed (oh so THAT's how you destroy a DeathStar!)

Anyway, DeathStar number two destroyed, it was back to Endor for another speeder bike run in a thicker part of the forest - very similar to level one. One more dodgy Ewok dance later and once again you had defeated the evil empire. Hooray!

On Release:
Well by 1989 the Star Wars games were becoming a little 'old hat' - the film had been released six years earlier. Response the Return of the Jedi was pretty good, but it was never regarded as a 'must have' game. The graphics were nothing to write home about, but Domark did manage to capture the spirit of the arcade game quite well.

The test of time:
Well, Return of the Jedi really is a product of it's era. In some ways it seems a bit older than the original Star Wars, but maybe that's just me. With it being a sort of pretty good game back then, it's decidedly pretty bad now! Here in ZX Spectrum Games we like this one purely for nostalgia. The opening menu's are nice and it does have a nice theme tune (the Ewok celebration piece!)

Oh, and why does the loading screen have Frankenstien's monster holding a lightsaber on it?

So use the force and load this one up. Please see our other ZX Spectrum game reviews - all links are listed in alphabetical order. Cheers guys.

GENRE: Arcade scroller
RELEASE DATE: Early 1989
RELEASED BY: Domark
DEVELOPER(S): D Kelly, DP Rowson, D Howcroft
PRICE: £9.95 Cassette £14.95 Disk - UK

Leia doesn't get taken from behind in Return of the Jedi on the ZX Spectrum:


Lando is no solo on the ZX Spectrum:

ZX Spectrum Games - Robin Of The Wood - ZX Spectrum

ZX Spectrum Games Robin Of The Wood
Odin had already surprised everyone with their first game Nodes of Yesod and followed that one up with another quality ZX Spectrum release, Robin Of The Wood.

Released right at the end of 1985, Robin Of The Wood was a game that loads of us ZX Spectrum gamers asked to be in their Chistmas stocking.

Based on the legendary stories of English folk hero Robin Hood (I'm sure you all know how the story goes) Robin Of The Wood saw our hero battling with the evil sheriff of Nottingham and his Norman army.

The whole story to the game went along the lines of a special arrow which was made of solid silver and engraved with ancient characters and symbols - a shaft of power! The sheriff (boo!) had this arrow in his possesion, but didn't realise it was a magical arrow being the fool that he was. All he knew was that the peasant folk wanted it back.

In fact this arrow was the symbol of peaced and freedom to the Saxons - and more precious than any treasures or money.

It was with this special arrow that the sherriff wanted to draw our Robin (hooray!) out of the woods by offering it as the grand prize in an archery contest. The game was on.

You began the game on the day of the contest. The woods surrounding the sheriff's castle were teeming with his soldiers who were armed with crossbows and would shoot on site.

So - a couple of your merry men (Will Scarlett and 'Little John') had hidden some quivers of arrows around the forest for you to collect. Apart from the Norman soldiers, witches also inhabited the woods and would be grateful to you if you gave them certain flowers and plants for their potions.

You began the game armed only with a wooden staff (a quarterstaff) in the depths of sherwood forest. Before even thinking about gaining entrance to the sheriff's castle you had to seek out an ancient hermit who had in his posession your sword, your famous and trusty bow and three 'charmed' arrows. As Robin you had to give him bags of gold to trade for each item - and you needed the charmed arrows to enter the contest as they would prevent you from being recognised once inside the castle.

The game was split into three sections which were the forest, the castle dungeons and the castle courtyard. In the forest wild boars had to be avoided (as they caused injury) , the witches would help you (if you helped them by giving them the correct flowers) by whisking you to a new location, and the old hermit would heal you of any injuries as long as you dropped any weapons you were carrying.

If you were really unlucky you would run into the dreaded sheriff and he would send you straight to the dungeons. You could escape if you were holding the correct key....

Once you had obtained all the weapons and infiltrated your way into the castle you were able to enter the tournament and win the magic arrow. The three 'charmed' arrows safeguarded you against being recognised by the Sheriff, but once the last magic arrow had been fired you would quickly be spotted and had to escape before getting caught.

Throughout the game your status was displayed at the bottom of the screen, such as health (represented by a pair of antlers which changed colour according to your energy level) and any objects you were carrying. If Robin's wounds became too severe, he died and the game was over. This was the only life you had at the beginning of the game - extra lives had to be obtained.

On Release:
Spectrum gamers had been impressed with Nodes of Yesod and this new software house Odin delivered again. Robin of the Wood was an impressive ZX Spectrum game - the lush locations, use of colour and character animation were all top notch. Despite it being compared to Ultimate's Sabre Wulf (the forest locations did look a little similar) praise was high and Odin had another hit on their hands. Robin of the Wood was a good game that had the right mix of action and puzzle solving combined with overall style.

The test of time:
Well playing this one again really brought back some memories. The game is of course dated but if you look with your 'retro eyes' you can really see how good this game was back then. Once you begin gathering items like your bow and sword the game opens up a fair bit. Odin are another sofware house that perhaps don't get the recognition they deserve.

Here in ZX Spectrum Games we reckon you should give Robin of the Wood a go - it's a cool retro arcade adventure game.

Don a Michael Praed type wig and... Everything I do....

Please see our other ZX Spectrum game reviews - all links are listed in alphabetical order. Cheers guys.

GENRE: Arcade adventure
RELEASE DATE: End of 1985
RELEASED BY: Odin Software
DEVELOPER(S): Odin Software
PRICE: £9.95 - UK

Robin clonks a few heads in sherwood forest in Robin Of The Wood on ZX Spectrum Games:

ZX Spectrum Game - Renegade - ZX Spectrum

ZX Spectrum Renegade
Renegade was a popular arcade game released by Taito in 1986. The ZX Spectrum conversion was released in September of 1987 by Imagine Software - and a fine conversion it turned out to be.

Imagine Software (a company who had famously gone bust before being completely re-invented under Ocean Software) had managed to release a few licensed titles already, most of which had been good games (such as Hypersports and Green Beret).

With this arcade game they were onto another winner.

The backstory to the game had you (as the 'renegade') moving across town to meet up with your girlfriend Lucy.

As soon as you step off the train a group of thugs decide to try and beat you to a pulp. You must fight off the attackers and move through five levels of action to reach your lady.

The five levels were:
The Station
The Pier
The seedy back streets
The main street
The meeting place

Your character was handily well versed in martial arts and street fighting, which gave you a chance when making your way through the levels. In each 'location' there was a different type of gang, from unarmed brawlers, hells' angels armed with chains, to whip wielding ladies of the night. Ahem.

Our hero could punch, kick, flying kick and even knee opponents to send them sprawling. In a slight difference to other beat em ups, it was possible to dish out more 'violence' than normal.

For instance you could grab an assailant by the shoulders and knee them in the groin repeatedly. Nice. You could also knock an attacker to the ground and get on top of them and punch them in the face over and over again. These touches in the game were a lot of fun and made the experience a bit different to other beat em up games.

The fact that moves like this were available to the player gathered some controversy - some people (mostly non-gamers) thought that this extreme violence was out of place in a computer game.


There was usually a 'boss' attacker on each level who you would have to defeat to progress to the next part of town. The bosses were way tougher than the normal gang members, Bertha being a hard one to take down as I remember.

The environments were well drawn and managed to capture the mood of seedy areas at night. The characters were nicely detailled and animated, throwing punches and kicks with conviction - they did look like it would hurt!

There was a nice variety of enemies to battle (such as hell's angels on bikes who would try and run you down), all requiring different tactics to fight them effectively.

The game was completed once you reached your meeting place with Lucy and defeated all of the enemies there. Presumably you then went for a nice pizza or something.

On Release:
The violence within the game stirred up some negative publicity towards this title on the ZX Spectrum - which of course helped it to seel more copies. Gamers enjoyed it due to the variety of moves, the gritty setting and the challenge the game offered. It scored a nice 89% in Crash magazine, and Renegade was an example of how to produce an official licensed arcade game properly. It was so popular that two sequels would be released over the next couple of years.

The test of time:
We here in the land of ZX Spectrum Games reckon that Renegade is a worthy piece to add to any gaming collection. It took the beat em up genre to a new level on the home computer, rather being a straight martial arts simulation the added element of streetfighting set it apart from the likes of Exploding Fist and Yie ar Kung Fu. This game is still fun to play with enough challenge to keeo you coming back for more. Nice theme tune too.

We recommend getting hold of the real hardware - but if not then download a ZX Spectrum emulator and download Renegade for the ZX Spectrum. Alternatively you could and try play it online.

GENRE: Arcade Game (Beat em up)
RELEASE DATE: September 1987
RELEASED BY: Imagine Software (Under Ocean Software)
DEVELOPER(S): Mike Lamb
PRICE: £7.95 - UK

Our hero doles out some punishment in some classic arcade action:

Classic Games, Arcade Games and ZX Spectrum Games

ZX Spectrum Games - Raid Over Moscow - ZX Spectrum retro game

ZX Spectrum Raid Over Moscow
The cold war arcade game on the ZX Spectrum that really tapped into the era of nuclear paranoia.

Raid Over Moscow was an arcade game perhaps inspired by the movie War Games and also by the famous arcade shooter Zaxxon. The game was divided into four main sections - each one being different to the last. Raid was awarded the coveted 'Crash Smash' award on release.


Taking the role of an American pilot, the player must initially stop three attacks on US cities. You have a group of a type of jet fighter which are handily kept in a hangar which orbits the earth. You must launch a fighter (which was actually a really difficult part of the game until you got the hang of it), allowing for low gravity and inertia as you try not to ram into the hangar walls or ceiling.

Once out of the hangar, you must decend your fighter to the Russian city where the launch detection occurred. Once there, the game switches to a side scrolling arcade shooter (quite like Zaxxon, and this part of the game is far better than the extremely sucky version of Zaxxon that was available for the ZX Spectrum).

Pilot your fighter across the landscape avoiding trees and varying obstacles whilst destroying ground installations, tanks and helicopters. Keep low to avoid any heat seeking missiles which would be knocking on your back door if you stray too high.

Once you reach your destination you must destroy the main missile silo to stop the attack. Four other silos can be destroyed for more points if you wish. You must line your fighter up (in height) with a small window on the silo to destroy it with a well placed shot. Anyone that used to bullseye wamprats will have no problem.

This 'sequence' is repeated three times, with varying landscapes and silos to destroy.


Once this section has been completed, you would move onto the best (in my opinion) part of the game.

The Kremlin shootout:

• Your soldier would be at the bottom of the screen with a type of rocket launcher. You must destroy enemy soldiers, tanks, and parts of the Kremlin (tower tops, doors etc) to proceed.


• Raise and lower the angle of your launcher to get the correct 'length' on your shot. Great fun could be had picking off the enemy soldiers from the Kremlin walls and destroying tower tops. It was possible to make a tower top tumble down and smash into a tank - which was a nice touch in the game.


• Once the correct 'door' had been hit, you would proceed into the reactor. Why on earth a nuclear reactor was inside the Kremlin was always a mystery.

The final segment of the game was (in my opinion) the weakest section.

Reactor shootout:

• A robot moves around tending to the reactor, making sure coolant is supplied and so on. Unfortunately it is fully armoured so you would have to throw a disk against the far wall and make it rebound into the back of the robot. Four hits were required to destroy it. If you did not blow the robot up before the clock finished it's countdown then the reactor would reach critical mass and your crack squad would perish in the blast. The game would still be 'completed' as you did prevent the attacks and destroy the reactor. If you did blow up the robot and escape in time then a short sequence would show your pilots flying to safety as the game was completed.

On Release:
The game was based around a very serious and touchy subject which was the cold war. Many people thought the very title of the game was offensive and the content of the game was questioned. The tagline on the cassette cover even grimly read 'Play it like there's no tomorrow!' - which certainly touched a raw nerve with a lot of users.

The publicity that surrounded the game ensured it's success, and it went on to be a best seller. The fact that it was actually a good arcade game didn't to it any harm either! The game had a fair amount of variety due to the sections being quite different from each other, and the fact that it had two possible 'endings' was a bonus too. US Gold already had a good repuation from previous releases such as Beach Head, and the look and feel of the game was familiar to gamers who had already played games released by US Gold. These facts also helped sales along.

The test of time:
Well we here in the land of Spectrum Games reckon that Raid over Moscow has stood the test of time pretty well. It still has a degree of playability, the flying sections are fun, and the Kremlin Shootout is a total hoot. By todays standards it is a simple arcade game, but it's worth a quick blast nonetheless - a fine retro game.

Don a flying jacket, watch War Games and stick it on.

This retro shooter for the ZX Spectrum is definately worth another look after all these years.

We recommend getting hold of the real Sinclair hardware - but if not then download an emulator and download Raid Over Moscow for the ZX Spectrum. Alternatively you could try and play it online.

GENRE: Arcade Game
RELEASE DATE: 1984
RELEASED BY: US Gold
DEVELOPER(S): Access Software
PRICE: £7.95 - UK

Major flying ace Sir Lawrence Bartle Frere destroys all in his wake and takes care of the enemy silo with ruthless efficieny in another classic arcade game:

Arcade Games and Classic Games