Patriot Command

"Game over man, game over!!!"

A glorious Missile Command take off, called Patriot command, was one of the 5 games I got from the Mac Arcade Pak I got one christmas morning. One of the best small Mac games ever made, it has become my personal missions to rebuild the Patriot Command Empire, and take over the world!....well maybe not but as long as life exists, there should be a million copies of this game floating around for all the nostalgia buffs around the world. I can't make an accurate comparison, since I've never played the original Missile Command! But I can tell you how this one fared.

Gameplay-10
As basic as it gets. Shoot down the missiles, smart bombs, and bombers that appear for points. Make sure the explosives never hit the cities. Sometimes you'll get lucky and the missiles will miss. Other times, BOOM! You can earn extra cities to stay in the game. Game ends when all cities are gone and you have no bonus cities. Whoever thought that basic could be so fun? Well an old gamer would know. Pick up this game and find out for yourself.

Control-10
Click. Click. BOOM! Need I say more?

Sound-10
Memorable! Who could forget ''Game over man, game over!!'' or ''WHOO WHOO WOOHOO!'' when you get a power up? Not me, I never get tired of hearing that! The rest of the sounds are not unpleasant, but not as memorable as those aforementioned. *hits skull ''power up''* ''Uhhh thanks for playing''!

Graphics-9
Very, very good. Nothing 3D, but it's as good as you can get with 2D. It just gives it that arcade feel to it.

Music-7
Just the intro music to the title screen. If it loads fast, you won't hear the full tune. So use ResEdit and go to the ''snd'' and listen to it if you'd like. Don't mess with the resources, though! You could mess stuff up. Use a copy instead.

Playability-10
I'd be hard pressed to find a person that couldn't play Patriot Command at all. Even if you had one arm you could still play! That's how easy it is to get down! Though you still need speed when the levels kick up. That's the real test here.

Challenge
Adjustable. Easy, Average, and Difficult, and the levels get harder. By the time you get to the late 30s on Easy, it will be as hard as getting to the 20th level on Difficult!

Keep? Delete?
I gave it a 10/10, what do you think! Get a copy and guard it with your life! Well, just do that first thing, okay?

Saving
Saves 10 high scores per difficulty level, and level the game ended on, for a grand total of 30 high scores!

Hardware and Requirements
Macintosh System 7.5.3, or around there (I believe you can use version 7.5.1) about 400-500 kilobytes (K) of disk space, and at least 8 MB of RAM.

Company Info
Antonio Lagana of AL Software

Overall-10
One of the best game ripoffs and small MAC games of all time, the undeniable worth of Patriot Command will hopefully be expressed in this miniscule review. It's a gold mine! Grab a shovel and start digging!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/07/03, Updated 06/07/03