Raptor: Call of the Shadows
| Raptor: Call of the Shadows | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | Cygnus Studios (since changed to Mountain King Studios) |
| Publisher(s) | Apogee Software |
| Platform(s) | DOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Mac OS |
| Release | April 1, 1994 |
| Genre(s) | Scrolling shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Raptor: Call of the Shadows is a 2D vertical-scroller single player game for the x86 PC originally written for MS-DOS, by Cygnus Studios (which has since changed its name to Mountain King Studios). It was published by Apogee Software on April 1, 1994.
"In the future a mercenary flying the [advanced] Raptor, is sent on interplanetary missions to [destroy] top competitors of MegaCorps."
The game is divided into three "sectors": Bravo Sector, Tango Sector, and Outer Regions, all of which have nine sub-missions called "waves", making for a total of 27 levels (9 per sector). The full version of Raptor allows players to start out in any of the three campaigns, though playing them in order helps the player to more easily accumulate money for weapon and shield upgrades.
Once a player beats a sector, they can replay it with all the money and weapons that they have accumulated. The difficulty is increased when the player does this however, e.g. if the player beats the sector on Rookie and replays it, the difficulty will be set to Veteran.
As in all shoot 'em up games, enemies must be shot and destroyed. While flying enemies are the most numerous, many ground targets (buildings, vehicles, turrets) can be destroyed as well. Bosses appear at the end of each wave or even halfway through the later, more difficult waves.
For each target destroyed the player earns credits. The amount of credits earned per enemy destroyed is usually proportional to how tough or dangerous it is, with some of them dropping additional credit bonuses.
The Raptor jet is particularly durable compared to player-controlled craft of other scrolling shooters, which can be destroyed with a few hits. However, there are no "lives" so the game is over when the player dies, although the player can reload a recently saved game.
The player can decide to end a level prematurely, in which case they will lose all the money acquired since starting the level. Damage sustained will remain though, as will collected weapons - as such, one technique to rapidly collect money is to start a level that has an expensive, collectible weapon at the start, collect the weapon, quit and start over. After a couple dozen iterations or so, selling the gathered weapons will provide enough cash to buy most "equipped" weapons, at least the basic auto-tracking turret, and a couple of phase shields - enough to handle most levels as a Rookie.
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Wikipedia