Raptor: Call of the Shadows

I have played it when it first came out and gonna get it for steam as I have lost the game long ago! Thanks GMG for putting it on sale so I can get it for a great price :)! I think the devs should have made it HD that would rock but still a great classic!

Ah, Raptor. I remember having this while I was a kid. The game play is relatively simply. You fly a plane, moving from down to up, shooting everything you see and trying to dodge the enemy fire. At the end of the level, there is a boss. Nothing major here. Between missions, you can buy equipment from the shop and repair your plane, if needed. You can also find weapons on the missions, thus saving your money. Here is a hint: Don't buy anything early, you are bound to find a missile weapon in the Sector 1-1 Missions are divided into three Sectors, each one more difficult than the other. Interestingly, player can freely switch between sectors, but the missions need to be played in order. Game offers great challenge, especially once you learn certain mechanics. One thing to really know, is that if your health drops to low levels, you lose all your weapons. This can sometimes make missions that "win" actually fail, as you don't have money to reequip yourself and you don't have any weapons beyond your standard cannon to use. Graphics wise, the game looks "retro", ignoring the fact that this game was made at the time when such graphics were considered great. Still, the graphics style has it's own charm and despite it's age, the game looks great. If you can afford to throw in five bucks, the game offers great fun.

One of the great things about shooters is how little they age. Raptor : Call of the Shadows is one of those games that seemed ubiquitous on shareware disks during the mid-90s, and playing it again today, it's a pleasure to see just how well it's held up. As opposed to similar games from the Japanese school of one-credit playthrough mastery, Raptor allows the player to earn cash based on their performance to gradually upgrade their craft. Manoeuvring feels responsive, and on the harder difficulties, the hail of enemy gunfire is enjoyably hectic without becoming overwhelming like titles in the bullet hell genre. Leaving a trail of wreckage in your wake is satisfying, and while some of the ship designs aren't particularly inspired, there is enough variety to keep it from feeling stale. Raptor is one of the better shoot em ups from its era, and one worth revisiting.

I played the shareware version of this game quite a lot when I was younger. It was some of the most fun I ever had in a 2D shooter like this one, there are plenty of interesting weapons and gadgets that can provide you the edge you need for each of the sectors you will be flying through. And the sound effects along with the music are outstanding, especially the music that plays when you're in the hanger that has this sort of war feeling to it, too bad they didn't put in any extra animations for the hanger screen like people walking around and talking to each other, cargo loaders taking missiles and guns to other planes and such, that would have added even more to the atmosphere. If you're a gamer who loves the old 2D shooters of the 90's and 80's, then this is the game for you with its intense action and addictive gameplay.

I used to play the shareware version of this to death. It remains one of the best in its genre despite its age. The gameplay is pretty simple, you're in a ship and you're shooting down ships coming the other way from the top of the screen. You gain money for killing enemies and destroying buildings scattered across the map. After each mission you can use that money to buy new weapons, upgrades, or just to repair your ship. It's challenging, but not overly so. The difficulty ramps up nicely with each level so that you should have decent equipment to deal with each new challenge. I honestly think this game is still fun to this day, unlike many 'classics' that are actually more like nostalgic pieces than anything fun you'd play today. I'd definitely recommend this game to anyone looking for a nice shoot'em up.