How to play Harbor Escape online
- Steer left and right: left and right arrow keys
- Speed up / slow down: up and down arrow keys
- Fire: Space bar
- Start a new game: F12 (the consoleās Reset switch)
- Choose one or two players: F11 (the consoleās Select switch)
Gameplay
The manual sets the story in Russian waters. Your nuclear submarine has just landed a team of commandos, and now you must slip out through a chain of harbors to report back. The harbor commander has picked you up on sonar, sent out roving mines and enemy subs, and closed the channel locks, while the channels and reefs grow narrower as you go.
Air takes the place of River Raidās fuel. You refill by running over the air tanks you left on the way in, but they get scarcer the further you travel, and a siren warns you when air is running low. Touching anything other than an air tank costs you a submarine. Enemy subs are worth 30 points, mines 60 and channel locks 500.
Tips
- Refill early. Take every air tank once your supply falls below half, because they appear less and less often.
- Always blow up the lock. At 500 points it is worth more than eight mines.
- Slow down in the narrow channels. Pulling back gives you more time to line up with the gaps between reefs.
A River Raid in disguise
River Raid, designed by Carol Shaw, was one of the best-selling 2600 games of 1983, and many unofficial versions of it exist. Harbor Escape swaps in new graphics and a naval story but keeps the original game underneath. AtariMania even credits it to Carol Shaw, since the program is hers, and the point values match River Raidās ship, helicopter and bridge. Panda also sold other companiesā games with new graphics or names, such as Tank Brigade. Who made the changes is not known. Players tend to rate the new look well below the original, so try River Raid too.
