''The Dreadnaught Factor'' is a

scrolling shooter In computer displays, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout of the text ...

written by Tom Loughry for the Mattel Intellivision and published by

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...

in 1983. It is one of several Intellivision games developed at Cheshire Engineering for Activision. Ports to the Atari 8-bit computers and

Atari 5200 The Atari 5200 SuperSystem or simply Atari 5200 is a home video game console introduced in 1982 by Atari, Inc. as a higher-end complement for the popular Atari Video Computer System. The VCS was renamed to the Atari 2600 at the time of the 520 ...

followed in 1984.

Gameplay

The player flies a small fighter

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...

to attack a very large and heavily armed vessel, a dreadnaught. Each dreadnaught approaches the "

Galactic Galactic is an American jam band from New Orleans, Louisiana. Origins and background Formed in 1994 as an octet (under the name Galactic Prophylactic) and including singer Chris Lane and guitarist Rob Gowen, the group was soon pared down to a ...

Unstable Energy Field," which acts as a defensive line. The goal is to destroy or disable each dreadnaught before it can reach the Energy Field and launch its missiles to destroy a planet the player is entrusted with defending. As the game progresses, the player can make repeated passes over the dreadnaught, one fighter at a time, attempting to weaken its defenses, slow its progress, and finally destroy it. The fighter is equipped with lasers and bombs to attack different targets. Bombing the dreadnaught's engines slows its progress, while shooting out its bridges reduces its ability to return fire from any intact gun turrets. In addition, each dreadnaught has five missile silos; if all of these are destroyed, it will be unable to attack the planet once it is in range. The dreadnaught advances toward the planet once the fighter has either flown its entire length or been destroyed. In order to destroy the dreadnaught, the player has to bomb all of its energy vents, causing the vessel to overheat and explode. As soon as a dreadnaught is destroyed, another one of a different design arrives. There are five types of dreadnaughts, each of which poses its own challenges. The game ends once every dreadnaught or fighter has been destroyed, or if one of them destroys the planet by moving into range with any of its missile silos intact. The game has difficulty levels from "Basic" and "Novice" to "Expert" and finally, "Impossible" or "You've Got to Be Kidding." The dreadnaughts' speed, rate of fire, and fleet size are increased at higher difficulty levels.

Reception

A December 1983 review in ''Joystik'' magazine awarded the game four stars and called it "a sure winner."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dreadnaught Factor, The Activision games Atari 5200 games Atari 8-bit family games 1983 video games Intellivision games Vertically scrolling shooters Video games developed in the United States