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Like most early arcade games, there is no way to “win” the game the game keeps going with ever-faster and more prolific incoming missiles. Missile command inevitably ends when all six cities are destroyed, unless the player manages to score enough points to earn a bonus city before the end of the level. Between levels missile batteries are rebuilt and replenished destroyed cities are rebuilt only at set point levels (usually per 8,000 to 12,000 points).
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At the conclusion of a level, the player receives bonus points for any remaining cities (50 points times scoring level, 1 to 6, first 254 levels 256, levels 255 & 256) or unused missiles (5 points times scoring level, 1 to 6, first 254 levels 256, levels 255 & 256). A player who runs out of missiles no longer has control over the remainder of the level. A level ends when all enemy weaponry is destroyed or reaches its target. Enemy weapons are only able to destroy three cities during one level. The weapons attack the six cities, as well as the missile batteries being struck by an enemy weapon results in the destruction of the city or missile battery.
Missile commander atari series#
Missile Command is staged as a series of levels of increasing difficulty each level contains a set number of incoming enemy weapons. The missiles of the central battery fly to their targets at much greater speed only these missiles can effectively kill a smart bomb at a distance. There are three batteries, each with ten missiles a missile battery becomes useless when all its missiles are fired, or if the battery is destroyed by enemy fire. Counter-missiles explode upon reaching the crosshair, leaving a fireball that persists for several seconds and destroys any enemy missiles that enter it.
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The game is played by moving a crosshair across the sky background via a trackball and pressing one of three buttons to launch a counter-missile from the appropriate battery. As a regional commander of three anti-missile batteries, the player must defend six cities in their zone from being destroyed. New weapons are introduced in later levels: smart bombs that can evade a less-than-perfectly targeted missile, and bomber planes and satellites that fly across the screen launching missiles of their own. The player’s six cities are being attacked by an endless hail of ballistic missiles, some of which split like multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles. Atari brought the game to its home systems beginning with the 1981 Atari VCS port by Rob Fulop which sold over 2.5 million copies. Missile Command is a 1980 shoot’em up arcade video game developed and published by Atari.