How to play Cosmic Commuter online
- Fly the Astrobus: arrow keys – the bus follows the joystick; up gives thrust, down cuts the engines
- Fire the laser: Space bar
- Pick up a commuter: fly just above them and quickly press the down arrow
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Choose level one or two: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0–9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0–9 loads it
Gameplay
You work for the Galactic Travel Authority, and each route follows the same four steps. First, bring the Rocket Module down gently onto the surface, using small, careful touches of thrust. Then the Astrobus separates and flies along the planet’s surface, where eight commuters wait at bus stops. They will not wait forever: if you are too slow, they give up and leave. Once at least one passenger is on board, find the Rocket Module again, land the bus on top of it, and lift off to Grand Central Space Station, where the passengers pay their fares as points.
Meteors, fireballs and space mines fly at you along the way, and your laser can destroy them. The fuel gauge drops as you fly, and the engines start to sputter when it reaches 3; fly into the purple fuel pods to top it up. The Route Scanner in the lower left of the instrument panel shows the waiting commuters as yellow squares and your bus as a white dot. Collect all eight commuters on a route and the delivery points are doubled. You earn an extra bus every 10,000 points, and the game ends when your whole fleet is lost.
There are two levels. Level two has faster and more numerous obstacles. The difficulty switches are not used.
Tips
- Fly low. Staying close to the surface is the quickest way to reach the stops before commuters give up.
- Read the scanner first. Check which way the nearest commuters are before you set off, instead of flying blind.
- Go for all eight. A full bus doubles your delivery points, which makes the extra risk worth it.
- Need fuel? The manual’s secret: if there are no fuel pods around, fly to the top of the screen and shoot three times, and one will often appear. This does not work once all the commuters are gone.
The story behind Cosmic Commuter
Cosmic Commuter was John Van Ryzin’s first project at Activision, after he had written games for the Apple II. He spent about nine months on it, took inspiration from Choplifter, and said he chose a space setting mainly because it allowed a black background. The landing sequence was one of the hardest parts to program. Playtesters found it technically solid but not much fun, and Van Ryzin took that lesson into his next game, H.E.R.O., putting enjoyment first. H.E.R.O. came out in 1984, while Cosmic Commuter was only released a year later, after the video game crash, which is why the cartridge is rare today.
Reviews were poor. Computer Entertainer found it a simplified take on Defender, and later writers called it a weak spot in Activision’s 2600 catalogue, though the controls got some praise. The game was later included in the Atari 2600 Action Pack (1995) and Activision Anthology (2002) collections.
Similar games to play next
- Chopper Command – Activision’s side-scrolling helicopter shooter
- Defender – the arcade shooter Cosmic Commuter was compared to
- Space Shuttle: A Journey Into Space – Activision’s detailed spaceflight simulator
- Moonsweeper – rescue stranded miners from the surface of moons