''Airstrike'' is a horizontally scrolling shooter written by Steven A. Riding for the

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

. Having strong similarities to Konami's 1981 ''

Scramble Scramble, Scrambled, or Scrambling may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * ''Scramble'' (video game), a 1981 arcade game Music Albums * ''Scramble'' (album), an album by Atlanta-based band the Coathangers * ''Scrambles'' (album) ...

'' arcade game, it was published in 1982 as the first release from UK-based

English Software The English Software Company, later shortened to English Software, was a Manchester, UK-based video game developer and publisher that operated from 1982 until 1987. Starting with its first release, the horizontally scrolling shooter ''Airstrike ...

. The company described the game as "Very, very, difficult!" in magazine advertisements, and reviewers agreed with that assessment. ''Airstrike'' was followed by ''

Airstrike II ''Airstrike II'' (shown on the box cover, but not the title screen, as ''Airstrike 2'') is a horizontally scrolling shooter written by Steven A. Riding and published by English Software for the Atari 8-bit family in 1983. ''Airstrike II'' is a s ...

'', also programmed by Riding, in 1983.

Gameplay

The player controls a ship that flies horizontally to the right through caverns. Pressing the

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

button fires a

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...

, and the

space bar The space bar is on the bottom center of the keyboard The space bar, spacebar, blank, or space key is a key on a typewriter or alphanumeric keyboard in the form of a horizontal bar in the lowermost row, significantly wider than all other keys. ...

drops a

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...

. As in ''Scramble'',

fuel A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy but ...

is limited, but can be replenished by shooting targets marked with an "F". ''Airstrike'' also restricts

ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

: the ship starts with 40 shots and 10 bombs and more are gained by destroying ammo dumps (marked with an "A"). Surface to air missiles on the terrain launch up toward the ship and can be destroyed when either on the ground or in mid-flight. There are five difficulty settings.

Reception

In a 1982 review for '' Electronic Games'', Bill Kunkel wrote, "The graphics are absolutely top-notch, perhaps the finest recreation of the sort of coin-op which inspired ''Airstrike'' in the first place." He concluded, "With ''Airstrike'', English Software shows it can produce coin-op look-alikes with the best of them. A new game, however, with a more original play concept, would establish this company as one of the best software producers around." Walter Salm wrote in '' Electronic Fun with Computers & Games'': "If you're looking for a good home version of ''Scramble'', this is one of the best I've seen yet" and "it's hard as the devil to play–even at the easiest skill level." He mentioned pressing the space bar to drop a bomb as a flaw. In a '' COMPUTE!'' review in 1983, James V. Trunzio disliked that after the player's ship is destroyed, "the next one appears so fast that there is little time to regroup." His overall opinion was that, "''Airstrike'' is exactly what it claims to be—a very demanding program." ''The Book of Atari Software 1983'' called the game, "nearly impossible to play even on the easiest level," putting part of the blame on the sensitivity of the controls.

John J. Anderson John J. Anderson or J.J. Anderson (November 8, 1956 – October 17, 1989) was a writer and editor covering computers and technology. The New Jersey native was Executive Editor of '' Computer Shopper'' and ''Atari Explorer''. At the time of his ...

covered ''Airstrike'' in a "Five Great Games for the Atari" roundup: "The graphics in this package are fair, though the multicolor character graphics look a bit blocky to me." He concluded, "In all, a good, but not excellent, effort."

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web, title=The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers, url=https://dadgum.com/giantlist/, last1=Hague, first1=James {{cite web , title=Airstrike , url=http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-airstrike_156.html , website=Atari Mania {{cite journal , last1=Kunkel , first1=Bill , title=Computer Playland: Airstrike , journal=Electronic Games , date=October 1982 , volume=1 , issue=10 , pages=71–72 , url=https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Games_Volume_01_Number_08_1982-10_Reese_Communications_US/page/n69 {{cite journal , last1=Salm , first1=Walter , title=Airstrike , journal=Electronic Fun with Computers & Games , date=February 1983 , volume=1 , issue=4 , page=64 , url=https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Fun_with_Computer_Games_Vol_01_No_04_1983-02_Fun_Games_Publishing_US/page/n63 {{cite journal , last1=Trunzio , first1=James V. , title=Atari Airstrike , journal=Compute! , date=August 1983 , issue=39 , page=138 , url=https://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue39/221_1_REVIEWS_ATARI_AIR_STRIKE.php {{cite journal , last1=Anderson , first1=John J. , title=Five Great Games for the Atari , journal=Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games , date=Fall 1983 , issue=2 , page=110 , url=https://archive.org/details/Creative_Computing_Video_Arcade_Games_02_fall83/page/n111 {{cite web , title=Airstrike magazine ad , url=http://www.atarimania.com/pubs/hi_res/pub_Airstrike.jpg , website=Atari Mania , date=1982 {{cite web , url=https://archive.org/details/agm_Airstrike , website=archive.org , title=Airstrike Manual 1982 video games Atari 8-bit family games Atari 8-bit family-only games Horizontally scrolling shooters Video game clones Video games developed in the United Kingdom English Software games

Gameplay

Reception

See also

References