In this post I take a look at the 1982 space shooter Planet Patrol from Spectravision (also known as Spectra Video, Inc.), another third-party developer of games for the Atari 2600 during the early 1980's. The company produced eleven Atari 2600 titles in those years, among them some rarities such as the mail-order only game Chase the Chuck Wagon. They also made games for the VIC-20 home computer and later went on to introduce their own line of computers before going defunct in 1988.
Planet Patrol is a horizonal space shooter in the vein of such titles as Defender and Chopper Command. However, unlike those games where there is more freedom of movement around the screen, here your spaceship simply flies (points) right to left, and can only move up and down. The backstory in the instruction manual is a variation on a familiar tale, with you as a pilot being called up from leave to battle enemies who have invaded a planet. In this case it is the planet SPECTRA in SECTOR "S" GALAXY. You must destroy drone missiles being fired at you, avoid indestructible heat seeking torpedoes, rescue stranded pilots, destroy enemy bases, and refuel to keep on flying. All of this takes place above the planet surface, with a skyline and shapes that vaguely resemble buildings seen in the background.
Missiles and torpedoes attack in Planet Patrol from Spectravision!
The graphics and sounds in Planet Patrol are best described as ordinary. The drone missiles (which I think of as spaceships) look okay, as do the torpedoes and enemy bases, but they certainly don't "pop" on screen like in some colorful Atari 2600 space shooters - for example the Imagic classics Demon Attack and Atlantis. And the planet surface is a dull, greenish-yellow color, although this may vary depending on the monitor, given that the instruction manual shows it as orange. Similarly, the scrolling scenic background is reminiscent of Atari 2600 games from Activision, with perhaps a little less detail. And while the blips, bleeps and explosion sounds are alright, they don't really stand out as enemies simply disappear when hit.
The neat silver box design of Planet Patrol
But while the look and sounds of Planet Patrol are ordinary, I'm happy to say that playing it is still a lot of fun. This game is very challenging, with the difficulty level starting out manageable but accelerating at a deceptively rapid rate. In particular, the enemy drone missiles appear easy to hit, but are actually quite easy to miss, especially as the pace speeds up. And because of this, I've continually found myself beginning to lose ships after a few thousand points, due mainly to collisions from missiles I thought were destroyed (or being forced by said missiles into collisions with nearby torpedoes).
Destroy those enemy bases in Planet Patrol from Spectravision!
Additionally, although the large enemy bases provide big enough targets, the debris fields they leave behind are not always simple to navigate. This also leads to rapid ship losses and is another reason why I've yet to reach the coveted 10,000 points needed for a bonus life. And these challenges of needing to be very accurate with firing and swift in maneuvering (while also watching the fuel level) provide good replay value.
In summary, while Planet Patrol is just a straightforward space shooter in terms of visuals and sounds, the solid, addicting gameplay will have you hitting that reset button quite often in the quest to improve. Therefore, I'd recommend this title to fellow fans of this particular genre of old-school space games.
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