Raptor: Call of the Shadows

Raptor: Call of the Shadows

Game Boy - USA - 1st Edition.

Developer Cygnus Studios Publisher Apogee Software Published 1994-04-01 Platforms DOS Genres Action, Scrolling shooter, Shooter Themes Action, Science fiction Distribution Commercial, Shareware

Raptor: Call of the Shadows is a scrolling shooter developed by Cygnus Studios and published by Apogee Software for MS-DOS on 1994-04-01. In the game, you play a mercenary pilot who profits by making attack runs on the territory of villainous super criminals.

Personal

Own?	Yes. 3.5" diskettes.
Won?	Yes. All episodes.
Finished	2000s.

I had the shareware version of this game in the mid-1990s, and played the first episode to completion. On the PC I had at the time, the game couldn't run at full speed, and with the slow down, I was able to do extremely well. I enjoyed the game so much, I even hand-drew many of the game's sprites to catalog them. When I saw it in the discount rack at a Babbages, I bought it for a couple bucks and found it a bit harder at actual speed, but I still beat every mission.

Review

5	5	6	4	5

Best Version: MS-DOS

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• I like that the designers added adventure game elements to the game. You don't just shoot down other ships, but there is an economy, a home base, a basic story line, etc.
• There is a nice gradual increase in difficulty as you get further into each sector.
• The designers did a good job at creating new enemy ships, turrets, and environment objects for each sector.
• The graphics are quite nice.
• The variety of weapons makes it fun to customize your jet.

Bad

• The game was pretty dated looking when it came out. More impressive scrolling shooters like Raiden and Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar predate it by a few years.
• Unlike most scrolling shooters of this type, the designers didn't bother with a two-player option.
• A lot of the weapons are redundant or inferior to others making them kind of pointless. After awhile you determine the best configuration, stick with it, and just buy shields and energy from that point on.
• Many of the bosses feel repetitive, and the land-based ones are especially easy if you have ground missiles.
• Although the game files contain boss music, it is never implemented.

Ugly

• Nothing.

Media

Box Art

• 

  This is the box art used pretty much everywhere. It's well-painted and clearly depicts an action flying game.

• 

  Vector art I made from the box's logo.

Documentation

• 

  Manual.

Maps

• 

  Bravo Sector, Mission 1.

• 

  Bravo Sector, Mission 2.

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  Bravo Sector, Mission 3.

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  Bravo Sector, Mission 4.

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  Bravo Sector, Mission 5.

• 

  Bravo Sector, Mission 6.

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  Bravo Sector, Mission 7.

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  Bravo Sector, Mission 8.

• 

  Bravo Sector, Mission 9.

Screenshots

• 

  The anti-piracy screen when you exit the registered version.

Videos

Longplay.

Play Online

MS-DOS

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	Two pilot photo are women, but nothing changes regardless of who you pick.
Bechdel test?	Fail	The women never speak.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	Two pilot photos are people of color, but nothing changes regardless of who you pick.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no clear queer characters.

Download

Raptor: Call of the Shadows is still available for sale. This download includes the shareware versions for DOS and Windows.

• Download (Info) - All versions.

Links