Armor Attack
The Atari 2600 has Combat, the Intellivision has Armor Battle, and the Vectrex has Armor Attack. In Armor Attack, however, you drive an armoured Jeep equipped with a rocket launcher. The goal of the game is to eliminate all the enemy targets while dodging their attacks. The “ground” has several barriers that both you and your enemies can use to protect yourself.
The enemies come in the form of tanks and a nicely rendered combat helicopter. The helicopter is not restricted in its movements, so it can be challenging to both attack it and avoid its rockets as the game progresses. The animation when the chopper gets hit is fun to watch! The tanks increase in number as the game advances but they are usually easier to handle than the helicopter. They do require two shots to be completely destroyed (the first shot only paralyses them). Though the gameplay is simple, the game is certainly fun. Sound effects are good, particularly when the chopper is flying “overhead.” There is no in-game music but there is music on the title screen that is very military in style. The game has 3 variants, the third one of which makes all barriers invisible. If you have the overlay, you have a better sense of where the barriers are and can more easily play this variant of the game. Without the overlay it can be more challenging but no less fun (in fact, I think it is better to play it without the overlay!). The controller response is excellent and there is a two-player mode.
TrekMD is an MD by day and a writer by night, a lover of all things Atari.
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