Missile Command

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Are you up for protecting the world?
by Ryan Genno

October 26, 2006

Missile Command is definitely one of the biggest and best selling games from the Atari 2600 and why wouldn't it be, eh? In the game you must score points by shooting down tons of deadly missiles. Atari needed a big title for their 5200 game system so here is the upgraded Missile Command. Is it any good though?

The worst possible scenario has happened to the peaceful planet and Earth colony of Zardon. The evil planet of Krytolia have always despised their success and they had just launched a surprise full scale attack on the cities of Zardon. You have to act fast and counter attack to save Zardon from complete destruction.

The game is a very challenging mission to stop ballistic missiles from raining down and destroying 6 of your cities. If all the cities are destroyed then it's game over. If the killer missiles weren't enough you also have to deal with planes, satellite, and smart bombs too to add to your worries. Even with all of it hectic action it is a always a fun game because of its increasing challenging game play. Sure there is no way you can win in the end and you're pretty much doomed to failure but at least you can always go for the high score of course and that's the most important thing, eh? Screw the peaceful planet!

One of the best advantages of having the game on the 5200 is that it supports the Track Ball Controller. If anybody remembers the arcade game they also remember that it uses the track ball for quick pin point control and having it on the 5200 with the special controller only helps bring the arcade experience home. The game also has a few options where you can practice shooting down Smart bombs or the ability to switch off bonus points but these options just plain suck and they pales in comparison to all the 34 different variations the 2600 version has.

Missile Command 5200 may not have all the cool options like the 2600 version did but the game does have much better graphics at least. The game comes with more realistic explosions and it even has that doomsday game over screen now. The game still may look kind of blocky but you can't win them all. The game may look better but it still sounds a lot like the 2600 edition with basic radar effects and beeps so don't expect too much.

Well it is all said and done this version may have it's problems the 5200 version is a above average arcade translation of the Atari classic. The odd controller doesn't hurt this game too much which is a nice surprise and the track ball support is cool as well. Missile Command is still insanely difficult but it's a safe bet for you Atari 5200 owners.