Raid over Moscow

Raid over Moscow is a multi-stage action game developed by Bruce Carver and published by Access Software in 1984, during the Cold War era . You are an American space pilot whose mission is to stop three Soviet nuclear attacks on North America, then fight your way into and destroy a nuclear facility inside the Moscow Kremlin . According to the storyline, the United States is unable to respond directly due to the dismantlement of its nuclear arsenal . The game unfolds across several sequences. A Strategic Air Command map shows Soviet missiles moving toward US targets. You must launch fighters from a zero-gravity space station hangar, fly through hostile territory in a side-scrolling shooter section, destroy missile silos, battle through the Kremlin grounds, and finally enter the reactor room.

ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum version was ported by Platinum Productions and published by U.S. Gold in 1985 for the 48K model, with authors Ian Morrison and David J. Anderson credited . The Spectrum conversion preserves all core sections of the original. The hangar launch requires careful maneuvering with low gravity and inertia, avoiding the walls and ceiling . The side-scrolling ground attack section resembles Zaxxon in gameplay, while the Kremlin shootout places your soldier at the bottom of the screen with a rocket launcher, requiring you to angle shots to destroy enemy soldiers, tanks, and Kremlin walls . The final reactor room features a robot maintaining the cooling system; you must bounce discs off walls to hit its vulnerable rear . The game earned the coveted CRASH Smash award on release and became a best-seller. A reissue under the title "Raid" followed in 1986 through Americana Software .