How to play Commando Raid online
- Aim and fire the gun: arrow keys and Space bar
- Start a game: up arrow (push the joystick forward), or F12 (the consoleās Reset switch)
- Manual or automatic fire: F2 (the consoleās colour / black-and-white switch)
- Straight bullets or steerable missiles: F4 (the left difficulty switch)
- Bomber on or off: F9 (the right difficulty switch)
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0ā9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0ā9 loads it
Gameplay
Commando Raid is a one-player game. Helicopters fly over the skyline and drop android commandos by parachute, and your task is to shoot down the helicopters and the paratroopers before they land. Every trooper who lands on a building wrecks part of it, and three of them destroy it completely. Worse, the androids then start tunnelling towards your gun. Every further landing makes the tunnel longer, and if they are not stopped they plant an explosive charge under the gun.
Sometimes a bomber appears as well and drops a bomb powerful enough to wipe out all your buildings and the gun. There are eight levels, each with its own colour of paratrooper squad, and every level sends more troopers per helicopter. Every 10,000 points you get a new building in place of the most damaged one.
| Target | Points |
|---|---|
| Helicopter or bomber | 200 |
| Paratrooper or bomb | 115 |
Switches
Instead of a list of numbered game variations, Commando Raid uses the console switches. The TV type switch chooses manual fire (colour) or automatic fire (black and white). The left difficulty switch gives you straight bullets in position A or missiles you can steer in position B. The right difficulty switch turns the bomber off (A) or on (B).
Tips
- Beginners: try steerable missiles and no bomber. Set F4 and F9 accordingly to learn the game without the risk of losing everything to one bomb.
- Aim for the helicopters. They are worth 200 points against 115 for a trooper, and shooting them early stops more commandos from dropping.
- Always shoot the bomb. A single bomb can end your game, and hitting it scores 115 points.
- Donāt let a building take its third hit. Two troopers on the same roof are a warning sign: once a building falls, the tunnelling towards your gun begins.
History
Quaker Oats bought U.S. Games in 1982 to make Atari 2600 cartridges, and Commando Raid appeared in October that year. The label did not last: Quaker closed it in 1983, during the video game crash. The game was also sold in Europe and South America by other publishers.
