Ah, Missile Command! This was one of the crown jewels of the shopping mall arcade, along with Galaga, Pac-Man, and Asteroids. My friends and I wasted countless hours slapping away at that big ball, trying desperately to protect civilization from an attack (And just who was attacking? I always thought it was the Russians, but it didn’t matter), the contrails from the missiles streaming down from the sky like a scene from The Day After, only to fail as the world exploded into a screen of blazing red, punctuated by the words THE END (as if we didn’t know already).
Well, Hasbro wasn’t able to replicate that big slappy ball (you use your mouse instead), but otherwise it did a great job of recreating the classic game that we loved to play so much. In case you missed the early 1980s, the classic version of Missile Command involves defending cities from a shower of missiles, by utilizing a Reaganesque “missile defense” system and blasting the missiles out of the sky. As the game progresses, the missiles speed up and come down fast and furious—and as if that weren’t enough, some dastardly ships with extra firepower and other nasties start showing up near the end of each level to try to finish you off and prevent you from advancing. If you run out of your
own missiles your cities are left undefended, so you can’t just fling up unlimited firepower—you have to actually aim your shots and time them to take out as many enemy missiles as possible with one shot. If only one city survives you advance to the next level, but if your cities are all destroyed, well, congratulations, thanks to your inadequacy a Dr. Strangelove-style doomsday bomb is triggered and the entire world explodes. Better luck next time!
Besides offering the classic version, Hasbro also included a very slick 3D “ultimate” version of the game, with cool graphics and awesome sound effects. Instead of being stationary, the missile launchers can move around all over the earth to protect areas that are being attacked. You also have radar to see where the attacks are coming from. It does make the game more interesting to fight off the aliens with different landscapes in the background, and from different vantage points. And, as you kill off missiles and ships, you receive money to buy stuff like missile upgrades that travel faster or have more powerful explosions, or more durable missile launchers, or the ability to teleport around the world more quickly. At the very end a mother ship appears—and I must admit it is quite satisfying to blow holes into that thing until it finally explodes! Overall, the ultimate version was a very nice enhancement without altering the attractiveness of the basic game.
So, if you liked Missile Command as a kid, you will enjoy the retro feel of the classic version—and if you like to see stuff get blown up, you will really like the updated “ultimate” version. Now, go forward and save the Earth!
