Atari’s 1980 shoot ’em up Missile Command was one of the developer’s most memorable and successful titles. Released at the height of the Cold War, players are tasked with defending six cities from intercontinental ballistic missile strikes by launching your own missiles to intersect them.
The game was a massive critical and commercial hit, and as such the game continues to stay relevant, having numerous re-releases, ports, and sequels over the past 40+ years. It shouldn’t be a huge surprise then that the newly reinvigorated Atari is bringing Missile Command back in a fresh way for today’s gamers. What is surprising though is the way in which they’re doing it.
Missile Command Delta keeps the general premise of the title, and shifts it to a tactical turn-based game with first-person exploration sections breaking up the action. You’re again cast as the lone defender of six cities, keeping a watchful eye for Soviet missiles that may be headed to obliterate any one of their American targets. Instead of blasting away in a shooter game fashion however, players will need to carefully plan the routes of their anti-missiles, relying on clues found within the bunker to decode the enemy’s attack.
The core gameplay takes place on a plane made up of hexagons that looks decidedly retro. The bases in which you need to defend are shown as light blue hexagons, the assumed enemy target location is denoted as red hexagons, and the blast radius of your intercepting missiles are presented as a cluster of dark blue hexagons.
Controls are similarly as easy to interpret. One button is used to select which base you’re firing from, one button chooses which type of missile you’ll be using, and one final button press is used to select the trajectory of your missile. That’s all there is to it.
Each wave of offensive strikes begins easily enough, with a single villainous explosive headed your way. It doesn’t long though for the cards to get stacked against you, and you’ll need to carefully find ways to intercept multiple missiles at once, change the types of missiles you use to be more effective, or even make the harsh decision to let one base fall so that the others may survive.
This ramping up in the difficulty mimics the way the arcade game would progressively get more challenging as time went on, but done in a more calculated and simulated way. The developers at 13AM Games and Mighty Yell have done an excellent job of translating that high-pressure feeling into a new gameplay genre.
In between sessions of defending your bases from missile strikes are sections where you explore your covert underground base. Here, you’ll be given information your spies have dug up concerning their next planned attack. Most of this information though is of course coded, and you’ll need to test your wits to decipher the enemy’s orders if you want to have the upper hand on the Soviets. Perhaps you’ll learn that they will be waiting to send their most powerful weaponry in last, or that they will use decoy missiles to distract you from their true goal. It’s up to only you to figure this out and plot your means of defense.
Atari has been doing a tremendous job of preserving their rich catalogue of classic games as of late, and reinventing Missile Command for a new generation by shaping it into a more appealing genre for modern audiences while still delivering the same overall feeling of the classic game is a triumph. This isn’t the case of just changing the genre for the sake of doing so, but making that decision to generate a more impactful experience. To me, that’s a win-win.
Missile Command Delta currently doesn’t have a release date, but the game is set to release on Steam and PlayStation 5 “soon.” If you find yourself interested in this turn-based mystery adventure, then wishlist your Steam copy now.
Sources: Atari, PAX East 2025
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