Airborne Ranger (C64, 1987)
Graphics-7 Sound-6.5 Control-7 Challenge-5.5/6*/7** Story-6
Level Design-7 Frustration-6/6.5*/7.5* Fun-7 Originality-7
Overall Score-7
*2/4 difficulty (delayed sabotage mission is more of a 7, 1/4 is default)
**3/4 difficulty
+
One of the first stealth action/tactical shooter games (crouching in ditches or behind cover to avoid detection, sometimes being detected leads to failing the main objective - on easiest difficulty you can basically run & gun however, can hear enemies coming before they enter the screen (there's ambient sfx for the escape helicopter as well), partially destructible environment (fences, bunkers, mines, frozen lakes - can be used to make enemies drown))
Deployment phase (an aircraft carrying your avatar moves south across the mission area and you select where to drop up to 3 supplies before selecting where to parachute - can also steer your landing a bit)
Good mission variety (retrieve an item or capture an enemy officer, get to an objective undetected and destroy it (it'll leave (if it's an airplane) or you'll be penalized if you make too much noise by blowing up bunkers for example), search and destroy, find and rescue, enter a hangar unseen (using a disguise retrieved from a nearby guard post), timed diversion (start attacking while making your way to the extraction point once an alarm sounds - happens very early in the mission however), delayed sabotage (plant a bomb without being seen which goes off later than usual); missions end with a holdout/escape segment where you get to an extraction point and call a helicopter then wait around for it to come while enemies attack)
Gear inventory (rifle (default), grenades - can control how far one is thrown by holding the button+they can be lobbed over walls, rocket launcher, timed bombs, knife, first aid kit)
Difficulty options (slider with 4 levels (each mission also has a default challenge value from 1-3 which this is added to) - can be set per mission outside of the campaign mode, on harder difficulties there are more enemies and they are faster+smarter (they'll use cover as well as grenades and rockets))
Run button
Pretty good map system (shows a pretty detailed topology of the mission area, your objective, dropped supplies (small crosses) as well as your location and the extraction point for exiting the mission)
Decent-pretty good enemy AI on higher difficulties (even on highest they're not alerted to your presence in a realistic manner though and won't run towards an alarm to alert others)
Fairly detailed mission briefings (can't check them again after starting though)
Enemy shots can also hit other enemies
Can fail a mission's main objective and keep going (you'll just get less merit points which means you get promoted slower and promotions sadly have no gameplay effect) - later used in Wing Commander
8-way movement and 16-way aiming
Choose a character from a roster of soldiers before beginning (unless playing in practice ranger mode) - a soldier can be captured and then rescued in subsequent missions by other Rangers in the roster. Since soldier rank doesn't affect gameplay and there's no backstory or portrait of your character it's not that interesting
+/-
Optional non-linear structure (choose any mission from a list of 12 or play the campaign mode (assign veteran ranger) and play them in order)
Time limits (500 seconds)
Can save your character in veteran mode (can't save in-between missions though?)
Randomly generated mission layouts (the general layout is pretty much the same though - for example the airplane will be in roughly the same spot towards the northern border of the mission area)
No items continuity between missions?
Resource management - limited ammo and healing items
Some more flexibility in where you could parachute could be interesting (balanced by adding more enemies or making it harder to avoid detection perhaps)
Can hit buildings from off screen
Fatigue/stamina mechanic (affects if you can run or not, replenishes fully in about 40 sec) - displayed by the bar next to the health bar
No detection meter - see Incredible Hulk: UD (PS2)'s aggression meter for example
Capturing an officer doesn't play differently from acquiring an item - no escort segment (rescuing POWs also doesn't involve escorting them to safety but it does involve defending them until help arrives)
All mission areas are fully explored from the get go
No dodge or strafe moves
No alternate fire buttons or a weapon cycling key - need to press separate hotkeys to switch weapons
A practice mode ranger moves a bit faster - no other differences
-
Some control/interface issues (can't remap the controls in-game - use an emulator, if you want to move in the other direction from stand still position then your avatar first has to turn around and it's kinda slow - seems meant to let you aim without moving though the best method besides twin-stick controls would be a toggle, the game could've made the mission objective clearer on the map by making it flash or something, fairly easy to get stuck on corners of objects while in cramped spaces, the game automatically switches to the rifle after using a grenade)
Supplies are fairly easily destroyed if dropped in the wrong spot
Some trial & error (some shots from off screen - bunkers, mines - fairly easy to detect once you know what the ground pattern looks like though, controls and some mechanics, it would've made more sense to be able to study a mission map before the plane starts moving towards the landing spot since now you're mainly dropping the supplies in open areas instead of really planning ahead - unless you're emulating of course, if an enemy approaches from the south then you won't hear it coming until just before it enters the screen, the disguise part of the hangar mission)
The campaign mode doesn't have a story attached to it and there's no ending (you're just shown a ranking screen)
Gaining promotions doesn't affect gameplay
Can't customize your supplies in this version - added on PC
Sometimes the enemy AI gets pretty bad
Disappointing enemy variety (there are tanks in one mission but they are small and can get stuck on each other)
No in-game music after a short intro jingle
Copy protection/piracy prevention test (check the manual)
Bugs:
-In the munitions depot mission the helicopter would automatically come before I was done with the objective
Notes:
Windows keys (VICE emulator):
Call helicopter/recall=Tilde (§)
Map=Caps lock or Esc
Run=Up/left/right arrow
Crouch=Space
First Aid=Delete
Level Design-7 Frustration-6/6.5*/7.5* Fun-7 Originality-7
Overall Score-7
*2/4 difficulty (delayed sabotage mission is more of a 7, 1/4 is default)
**3/4 difficulty
+
One of the first stealth action/tactical shooter games (crouching in ditches or behind cover to avoid detection, sometimes being detected leads to failing the main objective - on easiest difficulty you can basically run & gun however, can hear enemies coming before they enter the screen (there's ambient sfx for the escape helicopter as well), partially destructible environment (fences, bunkers, mines, frozen lakes - can be used to make enemies drown))
Deployment phase (an aircraft carrying your avatar moves south across the mission area and you select where to drop up to 3 supplies before selecting where to parachute - can also steer your landing a bit)
Good mission variety (retrieve an item or capture an enemy officer, get to an objective undetected and destroy it (it'll leave (if it's an airplane) or you'll be penalized if you make too much noise by blowing up bunkers for example), search and destroy, find and rescue, enter a hangar unseen (using a disguise retrieved from a nearby guard post), timed diversion (start attacking while making your way to the extraction point once an alarm sounds - happens very early in the mission however), delayed sabotage (plant a bomb without being seen which goes off later than usual); missions end with a holdout/escape segment where you get to an extraction point and call a helicopter then wait around for it to come while enemies attack)
Gear inventory (rifle (default), grenades - can control how far one is thrown by holding the button+they can be lobbed over walls, rocket launcher, timed bombs, knife, first aid kit)
Difficulty options (slider with 4 levels (each mission also has a default challenge value from 1-3 which this is added to) - can be set per mission outside of the campaign mode, on harder difficulties there are more enemies and they are faster+smarter (they'll use cover as well as grenades and rockets))
Run button
Pretty good map system (shows a pretty detailed topology of the mission area, your objective, dropped supplies (small crosses) as well as your location and the extraction point for exiting the mission)
Decent-pretty good enemy AI on higher difficulties (even on highest they're not alerted to your presence in a realistic manner though and won't run towards an alarm to alert others)
Fairly detailed mission briefings (can't check them again after starting though)
Enemy shots can also hit other enemies
Can fail a mission's main objective and keep going (you'll just get less merit points which means you get promoted slower and promotions sadly have no gameplay effect) - later used in Wing Commander
8-way movement and 16-way aiming
Choose a character from a roster of soldiers before beginning (unless playing in practice ranger mode) - a soldier can be captured and then rescued in subsequent missions by other Rangers in the roster. Since soldier rank doesn't affect gameplay and there's no backstory or portrait of your character it's not that interesting
+/-
Optional non-linear structure (choose any mission from a list of 12 or play the campaign mode (assign veteran ranger) and play them in order)
Time limits (500 seconds)
Can save your character in veteran mode (can't save in-between missions though?)
Randomly generated mission layouts (the general layout is pretty much the same though - for example the airplane will be in roughly the same spot towards the northern border of the mission area)
No items continuity between missions?
Resource management - limited ammo and healing items
Some more flexibility in where you could parachute could be interesting (balanced by adding more enemies or making it harder to avoid detection perhaps)
Can hit buildings from off screen
Fatigue/stamina mechanic (affects if you can run or not, replenishes fully in about 40 sec) - displayed by the bar next to the health bar
No detection meter - see Incredible Hulk: UD (PS2)'s aggression meter for example
Capturing an officer doesn't play differently from acquiring an item - no escort segment (rescuing POWs also doesn't involve escorting them to safety but it does involve defending them until help arrives)
All mission areas are fully explored from the get go
No dodge or strafe moves
No alternate fire buttons or a weapon cycling key - need to press separate hotkeys to switch weapons
A practice mode ranger moves a bit faster - no other differences
-
Some control/interface issues (can't remap the controls in-game - use an emulator, if you want to move in the other direction from stand still position then your avatar first has to turn around and it's kinda slow - seems meant to let you aim without moving though the best method besides twin-stick controls would be a toggle, the game could've made the mission objective clearer on the map by making it flash or something, fairly easy to get stuck on corners of objects while in cramped spaces, the game automatically switches to the rifle after using a grenade)
Supplies are fairly easily destroyed if dropped in the wrong spot
Some trial & error (some shots from off screen - bunkers, mines - fairly easy to detect once you know what the ground pattern looks like though, controls and some mechanics, it would've made more sense to be able to study a mission map before the plane starts moving towards the landing spot since now you're mainly dropping the supplies in open areas instead of really planning ahead - unless you're emulating of course, if an enemy approaches from the south then you won't hear it coming until just before it enters the screen, the disguise part of the hangar mission)
The campaign mode doesn't have a story attached to it and there's no ending (you're just shown a ranking screen)
Gaining promotions doesn't affect gameplay
Can't customize your supplies in this version - added on PC
Sometimes the enemy AI gets pretty bad
Disappointing enemy variety (there are tanks in one mission but they are small and can get stuck on each other)
No in-game music after a short intro jingle
Copy protection/piracy prevention test (check the manual)
Bugs:
-In the munitions depot mission the helicopter would automatically come before I was done with the objective
Notes:
Windows keys (VICE emulator):
Call helicopter/recall=Tilde (§)
Map=Caps lock or Esc
Run=Up/left/right arrow
Crouch=Space
First Aid=Delete