Played Star Raiders for the first time...

[shadow460]

Well, my opinion of this game is better than that of Defender...

 

Star Raiders is not a game that you can decide in one play through if you really like it or not. At first, I'd say it's mediocre, but that's not allowing it a fair chance. It does, however, blow any 7800 specific flight game right straight out of the water. It doesn't quite have the magic of 2600 titles like Starmaster, Phaser Patrol, or Air Raiders (mad arcade style shoot em down fun!), but it's a lot deeper than those titles.

 

Anyway, Star Raiders was well worth the time I invested into reading the online manual scan. It's a game that, based on my first impression, I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys flying/space shooter games. In fact, if they're into serious flight sims, I think Star Raiders would do more for them than if they got a 2600 and any of the titles I mentioned above.

 

I dunno, maybe this will be one of the games like Kangaroo or Qix that makes me have that craving for the 5200. That would be a good thing--I'd have a game that I could actually spend time with on the system instead of an arcade port of any kind.

 

I've got roughly a dozen 5200 titles that I haven't played much of. Really, I'm new to the 5200 pretty much save for the days of Miner and BBSB when I was young, so I'll probably be posting comments as I explore games that are new to me.

 

I've played and loved Qix, Kangaroo, Miner 2049er, Bounty Bob Strikes Back, and Missile Command.

[+Cafeman]

I haven't played Star Raiders for a long time. I think it was programmed back around 1979 for the Atari 8bit computers, which says a LOT for its quality in that very-early gaming year. I remember that Electronic Games magazine had top 10 lists, with Star Raiders being #1 on the computers game list for almost 2 years in a row! I found a review recently of the 5200 version, and it compared it against the 2600 Star Raiders and the review stated that the 5200 version didn't improve much on the 2600 version ... well, the "5200" (A-8bit actually) came first and was much older than the 2600 version! The reviewer really got it backwards.

 

Well,its late and I'm rambling. I liked the gameplay because it was MORE than an aim-and-shoot game. Your control over destination (sector), speed, fuel/shields/computers is really cool stuff. Not only do you have this layer of thinking and space game strategy but also you get the dogfights.

 

 

I used to love to play Star Raiders and Rescue on Fractalus, taking turns between the two.

[+MrFish]

Check this out from the 8-bit forum:

 

Star Raiders Honored

 

Star Raiders was, and is, an awesome title!

[Gabriel]

I found a review recently of the 5200 version, and it compared it against the 2600 Star Raiders and the review stated that the 5200 version didn't improve much on the 2600 version

 

I have to wonder what the hell that reviewer was smoking. The 5200/8-bit Star Raiders has a ton more elements and features than the absolutely pathetic 2600 version. When I finally got Starmaster a few years ago, I was absolutely bewildered at why Atari had cut so much out of and pared Star Raiders 2600 to such a boring and craptacular game.

 

But, the 5200 version was an excellent game, and probably along with Space Dungeon the best showcase of the system in the early days just after the system's launch. Atari really should have considered making it a pack-in, due to it's age and enduring popularity at the time.

 

When I got my current 5200 a few years ago, one of the first games I played was Star Raiders. I didn't have any overlays for it, and felt that would be a problem. But all the time I had spent playing it as a kid came back to me. Even though I didn't consciously remember what key did what, my fingers knew what key to hit to bring up the galactic map, pull up long range scan, enter hyperspace, raise and lower shields, and alter speed.

[shadow460]

Actually, the keypad controls for Star Raiders are pretty easy to remember.