Cinematronics' 1980 Armor Attack
Gameplay
Space Wars with Tanks.

Trapped in enemy territory, you're under constant assault from roving tanks and helicopter gunships, and all you have at your disposal is a standard Army-issued Jeep.

While that hardly seems like a fair fight, your speed and agility give you an edge over your enemy, and the guns you're packing can take out anything in your path. You can also bring in another player to serve as an ally, and co-operatively take on the bad guys.

The controls are a standard Asteroids-type button layout, except with no hyperspace. You'll have to drive yourself out of trouble, and you'll find yourself in trouble a lot as up to three tanks and a helicopter will do their best to hunt you down. Fortunately, you can use their eagerness against them, as they will often shoot each other in an attempt to get to you.

Missing Ingredient
Armor Attack isn't missing much. Even though the game uses simple black and white vector graphics with a color overlay, the game is packed with great little details. The tanks get larger as they drive over your wrecked Jeep, and even after you disable a tank, its turret can still track and shoot at you. Placing buildings into the playfield adds another strategic element, as Armor Attack turns into lethal round of hide and seek.

If there were any shortcomings in the game, it would be the sound. Even with the rusty squeaking of the tank treads, the sounds don't really jump out at the player as they did in so many other games of that era. But for those who did get drawn to the game, they were treated to a true classic - and one that worked equally well with either one or two players.

Thanks to Jeffrey Carl at ServInt for providing the space for CinemArcade

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