Missile Command

 

As an earlier arcade title, I sort of expected Missile Command to be more simplistic than its "newer" peers. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it actually seemed to be quite complex. Instead of infinite ammo, resource management is a necessity. Instead of controlling one little character, you take command of three silos and protect cities throughout the whole bottom of the screen. Instead of comfortably picking off enemies one by one, you have to race to take out incoming missiles in groups before they spread too wide and overwhelm you. Perhaps the most impressive though was the fact that your failures stick with you as the game progresses; if you let an enemy rocket take out a city you were trying to protect, it won't magically return the next round. It's just gone.

Missile Command has a simple objective. You are tasked with shooting down scores of enemy missiles before they destroy all of your cities. You have one aiming reticule, but three missile silos. Pressing a silo's launch button will cause it to launch a missile that will detonate at the reticule's position. However, each silo has limited ammo and is vulnerable to enemy attack, just like the cities you are defending. If a silo runs out of ammo or gets hit by enemy fire, it will be useless to you for the rest of the round. If you manage to protect at least one city from the onslaught, you'll progress to the next round where you'll get a refill of your missiles, but the enemy's firepower will grow in response. As expected from an arcade game, this cycle repeats until you are inevitably crushed.

Since Missile Command isn't a game that I knew a lot about before playing, I wasn't really sure what to expect. It was difficult, but it felt like it was testing my ability to strategize just as much as it was testing my reflexes, which made it into a challenge instead of a frustration. It's definitely a game that I'd like to play on a real cabinet if I get the chance, but even if that's not an option, this is still a worthy time-waster.

The game is available online here (as of 3/11/21): https://games.aarp.org/games/atari-missile-command

The game is available on Steam here (as of 3/11/21): https://store.steampowered.com/app/400020/Atari_Vault/