We're in the midst of the cold war. The Soviet Union has launched nuclear missiles to some cities in the USA. You must infiltrate the USSR to reach the missile silos, destroy them and reach the central computer in Moscow to eliminate it. Then you achieved the mission!
Raid Over Moscow has the same structure as Beach Head. In fact, both games were made by the same guys.
The first screen is in your air base in the outer space. You must control your plane and take it out of this base. Then you are in another screen where you see the earth. You must reach the corresponding soviet city (it's very easy) and then you start a phase where you fly over an enemy territory full of tanks, planes and other nasties you must destroy, and trees, buildings and other facilities you must avoid (this stage is very similar to the game Zaxxon, but in horizontal scrolling). Then you reach the missiles silos, where you must position yourself on target at the correct height and shoot. Then you have destroy the silo and must repeat the whole process from the base to another soviet city.
When all the missiles silos has been destroyed you must go to Moscow. First, we fly over enemy territory as well, but in a longer time than before and then, we are in the Red Square, and we must shoot and demolish the towers of the main building and avoid the enemy fire (it reminds me of the game 3D Tanx). Once all the towers have been destroyed, you enter the central computer room and must use a disc to destroy three robots that keep the computer working correctly. Then you finish the mission and save the world from the nuclear destruction!
The air base stage has a medium difficulty, it takes a lot to learn how to control the plane. Flying over enemy territory is very, very easy and repetitive, as you must repeat this in other four cities and the beginning of the Moscow stage, but the two final game phases are shockingly difficult, though, specially the computer room, where you have to destroy each robot throwing a disc that must first bounce at the bottom wall.
This game bring me back great memories as it was the first game I bought, together with my Spectrum.
If you put the blatant Reagan-esque evil-empire anti-Soviet rhetoric aside, this is a really interesting game, where the sum of the different parts is better than the individual sections themselves.
The weaker parts are the first and the last - the first being a boring exercise in keypressing, the last an annoying phase where you have to hit the cooling robot from behind with some bouncing explosive disks. The game fares much better in the intermediate shooter sections.
With some more balance between its parts, it could have been better. As it is, Raid Over Moscow is however a good game, following the path first laid by Beach Head.
Review by dandyboy on 25 Nov 2011 (Rating: 3)
RAID OVER MOSCOW is one of those titles that first come to my mind whenever I think of the happy days of the Spectrum.
Back then, in the early 80´s, there was a cold war going on and somehow this sort of programs that mixed action with strategy in a Soviet setting always managed to call my attention .
I still consider the graphics and the title screen quite glamorous and intriguing.
The main reproach that I make to this video-game is that it is too difficult to really become enjoyable. Still I consider this a historical piece of software that could only exist in the early days of the Spectrum, and that´s why I like it, not for the game itself but for its historical value. ;D
