Raid over Moscow

Raid Over Moscow
Original release box art
Developer(s)	Access Software
Publisher(s)	U.S. Gold
Platform(s)	Atari 8-bit family, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Apple II family
Release date(s)	1984
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Single-player

Raid Over Moscow (Raid in some countries and on reissue) is a computer game by Access Software published in Europe by U.S. Gold for the Commodore 64 in 1984 and other microcomputers in 1985-1986.

Released during the Cold War era, Raid Over Moscow is an action game in which the player (an American space pilot) has to stop three Soviet nuclear attacks on North America, then fight his way into and destroy a nuclear facility located in Moscow's Kremlin. According to the game's storyline, the United States is unable to respond to the attack directly due to the dismantlement of its nuclear arsenal.

The game is famous in Finland due to the political effect of its content. A leftist member of the Finnish parliament went as far as to make a parliamentary question about whether it was acceptable to sell the game. The resulting debate and publicity made the game a top seller in the country.

The game opens with an alert that a nuclear missile has been launched from a Soviet city towards a North American city. The game begins in the hangar where the American spaceplanes are stored. The player has to safely fly the craft out. The view switches to the earth as seen from low Earth orbit, and the player guides the spaceplane to the city launching the attack. Alternatively, the player may decide to maneuver more of the available spaceships out of the space station before attacking the launch site; the surplus ships are docked outside the space station. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking, and the time before impact is continually displayed.