River Raid seems like a simple game—fly down a river shooting enemies and occasional bridges, while avoiding the river banks and keeping refueled.
However, the execution is nearly flawless. The graphics are crisp and colorful, the control is spot on and the game never seems to repeat or end! Most Atari games have two to four screens at best—due to memory limitations—so to have an entire river to explore was pretty impressive in 1982.
While modern shoot 'em ups make River Raid seem quaint, it's still thrilling to see how far you can go, as the enemies get deadlier and numerous, and the river becomes more and more treacherous.
2008 ben langberg, all rights reserved.