River Raid - The Ultimate Classic Arcade Game

River Raid is one of the all time classics published by Activision in the early 1980's during the peak of the video game revolution. It was created by Carol Shaw, the first female video game programmer. The objective of the game was to navigate a river without crashing into the canyon walls, while shooting and avoiding enemies, and refueling your plane by flying over fuel tanks. The landscape was the same every game, and so was the placement of the enemies. There was some variety in the timing of the enemies, which would make the game unpredicatble to some degree. What made the game so challenging was the intensity brought forth by enemies constantly approaching from the left, right, or in front of the player. There were only two choices: either shoot the enemy vessels, or try to avoid them. To add to the intensity, you also had to refuel occasionally to keep from falling into the river.

So is there a modern version of this game out there? The answer is yes, there are several games that used River Raid as inspiration. One such game is Acceleron, which has all the elements of River Raid. Like River Raid, Acceleron has enemies approaching from all directions, and requires the player to refuel periodically. The maze like navigation of River Raid is also apperent in Acceleron. In Acceleron the player hovers over a platform, which resembles the river in River Raid. Instead of Crashing into the canyon wall the player risks falling off the various contours of the platform. Since acceleron is a 3D game it has a few additional features. Most notably the player's ship can jump, which allows the player to avoid almost certain demise in some situations. Acceleron manages to duplicate the feel of "River Raid", but with the addition of some nice graphics, and a 3D enviroment. Many games try to emulate a classic 2D game in 3D and fail because along the way the game makers forget what made the original game great. I can assure you, this did not happen with Acceleron. If you would like to judge for yourself, click here do download Accleleron.

From the screen shots above, you may notice that the game takes place in space, and that there is a platform that resembles the river in River Raid. In the second picture you may notice the familiar fuel tank that resembles the ones in River Raid. There are also structures, and buildings in the distance, that can be destroyed as well. The space scenery beyond the structure of the space city is often breath taking, but always different, as it's pseudo randomly generated. In fact, everything in the game is generated pseudo randomly, which means the game will look different each time it is played.

Another game that has some resemblence to River Raid is Cybertron. However, this game borrows from several other classic games as well, and plays vary fast. This game, though super intense and fast, is also much harder, and requires excellent reflexes. Cybertron is mainly recommended for the true arcade enthusiast, with extensive arcade gaming experience, and lightening fast reflexes. No joke. If you're still game, click here to download Cybertron.

Though River Raid is one of the true classics, you may find that Acceleron or Cybertron will conjure some memories of River Raid, and create some new ones that can only be realized with the blazing speed of modern microprocessors. As always, happy gaming!