Super Missile Command

Missile Command is one of those memorable games from the arcade, it required skill and strategic planning, and it is a game I play almost every single day in an arcade form. Super Missile Command is a game you may have heard of, but probably haven't; being that it was a port to a system that quickly became defunct. As with most ports, if they aren't done by the right people they seem to miss the mark most of the time. This game does justify having Super added to the title, being that they did make more textured and interesting levels, and have even added power ups, which you can purchase with the points you have earned. Overall, the additions they made to this port are great, and wonderful, but what they have taken from the game is worse.

No longer do you get that track ball or the three buttons to fire separate missile bases. Now you have only two buttons, one to fire missiles, and one for power ups. To be fair, this limitation is due in full to the lack of buttons provided by the lynx hardware, not the game. Looking at it that way, it probably is best not to have been ported at all, at least on a portable with less then the three buttons. It is those three buttons that make Missile Command, well... Missile Command. You pretty much just press one button to fire missiles from whatever base is closest, making it more of a spectator game, then something interactive. When using a power up, it is hard to place it in time if the game decided to use the other missiles first.

The power ups in the game include shields, dual missiles, cluster missiles, remote detonation devices, and above all, my favorite; Armageddon. There are plenty more power ups to list, all which are very useful, but not as much as they could or should be. Yet another draw back of the game is the lack of in-game sound. The title sequence music is nice, and I wouldn't have minded if that was carried over to the actual game play.

The game is great on its own, but the drawbacks of the Lynx make this game drop interest after only five or ten minutes of play. This game would probably be a great port on one of the newer portable systems, and could make for an interesting play on the DS touch screen. In the end, this is not the place to go to recreate the nostalgia of the arcade.