Raptor: Call of the Shadows
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| Raptor: Call of the Shadows | |
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| Developer(s) | Cygnus Studios (since changed to Mountain King Studios) |
| Publisher(s) | Apogee Software |
| Engine | Custom |
| Platform(s) | DOS, Windows |
| Release date | April 1, 1994 |
| Genre(s) | Scrolling shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | OFLC: G |
| Media | Floppy disk, CD-ROM |
| System requirements | 386 DX 40 MHz, 486 DX2 66 MHz recommended |
| Input methods | Keyboard, mouse, or joystick |
Raptor: Call of the Shadows (often Raptor for short) is a 2D raster graphics vertical scrolling shoot 'em up single player game for the x86 PC written for MS-DOS, by Cygnus Studios (which has since changed its name to Mountain King Studios).
Raptor: Call of the Shadows was originally released on April 1, 1994. There is a shareware version available for this game which includes the first sector, the Bravo Sector. The full version can still be bought today.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Story
The story of the game indicates that "In the future as a mercenary flying the super-tech Raptor, you'll be sent on interplanetary missions to knock off top competitors of MegaCorps." [2]
The Raptor jet fighter appears to be combination of the Eurofighter Typhoon (notably the delta wings and canards) and the F/A-18 Hornet (the fuselage and twin tail fins).
[edit] Episodes
The game is divided into three "sectors": Bravo Sector, Tango Sector, and Outer Regions, all of which have nine sub-missions called "waves", making for a total of 27 levels.[3] The full version of Raptor allows players to start out in any of the three campaigns, though it is strongly recommended to play them in order to accumulate money for weapon and shield upgrades.[4]
The first episode, the Bravo Sector, is the most "generic" one, with few features distinguishing each level. Starting at the coast and then moving inland, most of the targets are military bases and various industrial installations, and much of the terrain is barren land, with the occasional forests and rivers. The environment suggests that it is located in the Middle East, as large oil silos feature prominently in the early waves, while in wave eight near the end there is a petrochemical processing plant. In the final wave, the player flies offshore to ruin the Lithos Petroleum rig. However, there is no background on why Lithos is the enemy, other than being suggested as a competitor of MegaCorps.
The second episode, the Tango Sector, is more distinctive, with each level following one of several specific themes. These include a large water/chemical plant, farmland, jungle, city, and airbase. At the end, in the jungle after destroying an ancient temple, the player has to defeat a huge aircraft which splits into three modules. In the final episode, Outer Regions, the player travels from different planets; they consist of a lunar body, a red planet similar to Mars, an ice world, a volcanic world, and finally a space station. Tango Sector and Outer Regions each have a special "night wave" with its own theme music. The night level in the Tango Sector is a well-illuminated city, while the Outer Regions' is the "dark side" of the moon.
Once a player beats a Sector, they can replay it with all the money and weapons that they have accumulated.
[edit] Gameplay
[edit] Enemies and credits
As in all shoot 'em up games, there is a vast number of enemies to kill. While flying enemies are the most numerous, many ground targets (buildings, vehicles, turrets) can be destroyed as well. Bosses appear at the end of each wave, as well as halfway through the later, more difficult waves.
For each target destroyed the player earns credits. The amount of credits earned per enemy destroyed is usually proportional to how tough or dangerous it is, with some of them dropping additional credit bonuses (known as Micro-Thaelite cores).
Between new waves and sectors the player can use credits to select among 16 different equipment upgrades (various weapons, "shield-packs", bombs, etc) to be bought for his own aircraft. Though the player can upgrade their ship, there is only one usable vessel for the player; no new or different ships can be bought.
The Raptor jet is particularly durable compared to craft of other scrolling shooters. However, there are no "lives" so the game is over when the player dies. Players however can reload a recently saved game.
[edit] Weapons and shields
The player starts out with only the default machine guns, and will eventually be able to buy or pickup more (and stronger) weapons. There are two types of weapons: the first is always active (it will always fire whenever player shoots), and the second type is selectable. There are three fixed/active weapon types and ten selectable weapons, but the selectable weapons cannot be fired simultaneously - only one at a time. Active weapons, not surprisingly, are low powered so the bulk of the player's firepower comes from selectable weapons. Save for the most expensive selectable weapons, the player may have to switch weapons to deal with the appropriate situation (certain weapons only target air or ground targets).
Unique weapons in Raptor include the turrets. The Laser Turret is one of the quickest and more accurate weapons as it can auto-track and engage flying targets from at at any point on the screen, including vessels that are just appearing. The Auto-Track Minigun has a slower response time but it fires two streams of cannon fire and can auto-track two different targets whether air or ground; it is unexpectedly useful for taking out ground batteries which enables players to stay out of the way of their firepower.
The Twin Laser and Deathray are hitscan or "instant-hit" beam weapons, and produce the highest and second-highest damage output of any weapons in the game. Not surprisingly, they are by far the most expensive weapons, often taking players over a dozen waves to accumulate the required credits for purchase.
In addition there is also a special type of weapon which is a powerful nuke explosive: the megabomb. A megabomb will take hitpoints from everything on the visible screen and usually destroy the smaller enemy ships instantly.
The Raptor jet is protected by 100 points of regular shielding, which regenerate extremely slowly, and only when the player isn't firing. Plus, the shielding does not recharge in the Elite difficulty. If the player's ship is heavily damaged, it will lose a selectable weapon with each following hit.
There is also another kind of shields, called phase shields. Unlike regular shielding, phase shields do not recharge. However, phase shields can be repaired by picking up shield boosts. Another apparent oversight is that while only up to five Phase Shields can be purchased, a further 5 can be picked up. On waves with such a powerup, players can accumulate up to 10 shield powerups.
[edit] Reception
Raptor is noted for being particularly difficult to start out. Although the player can skip right to the Tango Sector and Outer Regions before completing the Bravo Sector, this is almost impossible in practice, particularly since the player needs a fully armed ship in order to survive the levels of the Outer Regions.
Some consider[who?] Raptor very repetitive for its time when compared to shoot 'em ups for arcades. The craft's firepower cannot be upgraded gradually, the best the player can do is pickup or buy cheaper weapons and hope to save up for the expensive ones. Since selling a weapon will only earn back half of its credits, this means that many players try to hold out until they can afford the most expensive weapons, instead of buying medium weapons as a stopgap.
Enemies are destroyed purely for money, and they will not release powerups that make the player more powerful. Flying enemies only move in fixed predictable patterns - they will not react or hone in on the player's moves (although turrets will). There are no obstacles to avoid (except the enemy ships themselves). The Raptor fighter jet can take a lot of damage if the player buys Phase Shields, but there are no lives that can be earned - either via points or bought - once the player dies it is over unless they have saved the game. There is no multiplayer support. The display is fixed to only scrolling vertically, never horizontally (as in Axelay for the SNES console).
Tyrian (1995) is considered[who?] much more innovative and less repetitive than Raptor, as it combines Raptor's credit and shield system with the typical arcade shooter's powerups and obstacles.
Gametrailers.com and ScrewAttack have labeled it one of their "Top Ten 2-D Shooters."[5]
[edit] Miscellaneous
A glitch/oversight in the game meant that if a player got a weapon during a level then quit the mission they would keep the weapon allowing them to sell it, this meant that a player could play a mission with an expensive weapon power up and then sell it over and over in order to afford more expensive weapons, however all the money accumulated in a level is lost if the player restarts or quits.
If the game is started when the computer's internal clock matches one of several predetermined dates (for instance, December 25, one of the programmers' birthdays, etc) the hostile enemy ships will change appearance, to look like cows, monkeys, or even vessels from science fiction films. This also changes the opening title screen and sound effects.
This also seems to happen if the player presses the three buttons that appear at the bottom of the loading screen (to do this using the keyboard, not the mouse, press the 'S' key, then the '1', '2', and '3' keys at the episode selection screen).
[edit] References
- ^ Raptor: Call of the Shadows
- ^ 3D Realms Site: Raptor: Call of the Shadows
- ^ "The Old Shoebox: Download "Raptor: Call of the Shadows" Shareware here", Blast Magazine, 2007-12-2. Retrieved on 2007-12-07.
- ^ "The Old Shoebox: Download "Raptor: Call of the Shadows" Shareware here", Blast Magazine, 2007-12-2. Retrieved on 2007-12-07.
- ^ GameTrailers: ScrewAttack Top Ten 2-d Shooters
