There’s been an influx of games that bear a resemblance to the classic Missile Command game from Atari. In fact, one of them isn’t a clone but an official modern version from Atari themself. Besides the one from Atari, there’s a few others that copy that winning formula and are available today in the App Store. In Battle of the Missile Command Clones, we take a look at them all to find out which is the best of them.

In Missile Command, you have a number of nukes/missiles on the ground that you can shoot down falling bombs. The object is to take them down before they take out your missile launchers. Some games give you a limited number of missiles to shoot down bombs with for each round. As you progress, more bombs fall and they fall faster and faster.

The games we’re going to compare in this Battle Of series are:

• Missile Command ($4.99)
• Interceptor ($0.99)
• Surface to Air Mayhem ($2.99)
• Stock Command ($1.99)

Continue reading on to find out which is the best Missile Command clone available for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Missile Command

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Rating:

• Price: $4.99 (Get It)
• Version: 1.0
• Developer: Atari

Missile Command is the official modern update to the classic game of the 80’s that saw huge success on the Atari 2600. It was then that I played some of my first video games in my life, and yes, Missile Command was an instant favorite. In this modern update for the iPhone and iPod Touch, Atari has given the game a makeover, and you can play in both the new Ultra mode, which makes Missile Command pretty, or the Classic mode which allows you to sample the original classic’s gameplay.

While on the Atari 2600 used a trackball to play the game, the ability to use your fingertip to select the location for the blast is much more intuitive and faster. When starting the game, you get an option to choose to listen to either the game’s music or your own music library. One issue I had immediately is the fact that the game uses mystery meat navigation, making it an annoyance trying to figure out which icon means what. Some are self-explanatory, but others aren’t.

In Ultra mode, the modern update to the classic game, you have three guns, and each gun have 12 missiles that can be fired. Once you run out, you’re left at the mercy of the falling bombs. The pace and lead-time of the missiles that you fire is just right; it’s not too slow, but not too fast, either. Of the four games compared, the blast radius is one of the more smaller ones. However, in Classic mode, the blast radius is much larger, and the speed of the missiles are a bit slower, but not by much. Ultra mode has the addition of boss spaceships that launch their own bombs as they fly across the screen, adding an extra gameplay element to the classic formula.

You can choose from three difficulty modes for both Ultra and Classic game modes; Easy, Medium, and Hard. In all, there are 32 levels, or waves, to be played. Graphically (in Ultra mode), Missile Command is very pretty, and the sound and music quality are also well done. The scenery changes after a certain amount of waves have been completed, including outer space locations, underwater, and more.

The inclusion of the Classic mode is a nice addition. Overall, the official Missile Command from Atari is well done. I just would’ve liked a better UI. On top of the unfortunate mystery meat navigation mentioned above, the UI isn’t terribly pretty to look at, either.

Interceptor

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• Price: $0.99 (Get It)
• Version: 1.0
• Developer: Pivotal Games

While Missile Command takes on a more sci-fi theme, Interceptor has the military theme going. In Interceptor, there are no gameplay modes or variable difficulty modes to choose from. Once you load up the game, you instantly start at level 1. You begin with 25 missiles, and the ammo carries over between levels, and each level gives you 20 more to work with. So if you’re smart you can accumulate interceptors and avoid running out of them to protect your cities. You get bonus points the more ammo and cities you have. There are 6 cities, overall.

Firing your interceptors to blow up falling bombs is very fast, in fact the blast is instant the moment your finger touches the location you want the blast to occur. However, the blast radius expands slowly, so you have to time it just right to take into account the slow speed.

Graphically the game looks good. The varying backgrounds are very pretty, although a bit static. Some make it difficult to see the bombs. Also, the blast themselves is a bland black circle that expands, which doesn’t fit into the realistic military theme of the game. The sound used in the game such as the explosions are especially meaty, and the different jets that fly across the screen sound like the real thing. Interceptor is a fun twist on the classic formula, however the pacing isn’t as gradual, with the game ramping up in difficulty by the fourth level.

Surface to Air Mayhem

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• Price: $2.99 (Get It)
• Version: 1.0
• Developer: Iron Square

Surface To Air Mayhem (SAM), like Interceptor above, has a military theme to the game. You are at the control of a single turret, codenamed Mayhem. Instead of bombs falling from the top of the screen from nothing, the bombs in SAM actually come from planes that fly in from the left or right side of the screen. If you don’t shoot them down right away, they start dropping bombs. Other, faster jets, will also fire surface-to-ground missiles at your cities, making them harder to shoot down.

The pace is a bit slower of the four games compared, and the missiles move slower as well. You have to do a fair amount of leading, and the blast radius is quite small. Needless to say, a bit of skill in timing and dexterity is required to advance far in Surface To Air Mayhem.

Additionally, if you shoot down cargo planes, they’ll drop crates with powerups that gives Mayhem a special ability, such as faster missiles, or triple-shot that give you three-times the explosion radius, and more. You start off with a limited amount of ammo. Once, per mission, you can enable Mayhem mode which allows you to fire an unlimited amount of missiles for 5 seconds, as fast as you can tap the screen. This is especially useful if you ran out of ammo for that mission, but can come in handy anytime.

When the game is over, you can submit your score and enter your intitials to be included in the global leaderboard. My best game saw me at 165th place, so apparently there are some hardcore commanders already playing this game.

Of the four games compared in this Battle, SAM has the best graphics, the best sound effects, and the best sounding music. It just stands out head-and-shoulders above the competition, and feels very polished. The variety in weapon powerups, enemy and missile types to shoot down, and the inclusion of Mayhem mode truly brings this type of game to the modern era.

Stock Command

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Rating:

• Price: $1.99 (Get It)
• Version: 1.1
• Developer: Lanpol Computer Consulting

Stock Command has the sole distinction of being the most unique of the four games. The theme of the game, as the name implies, is stocks. As in financial rise and fall of the market. You start off with 12 missiles to shoot down stock lines that move at random intervals. Some are solid lines, while others are zig-zagging dotted lines. The pace is the slowest of the four games, and the missile travel time is very slow as well. You have to do a tremendous amount of leading. The blast radius is fairly large though, and it lasts for quite a bit.

Even though you can choose from Easy, Medium, and Hard difficulty, the game is hard enough on easy because of the jerky and erratic speed of the falling stock lines, and the slow travel time of your missles and slow blast radius. Quite frankly, the pacing is off and not a whole lot of fun.

Visually, Stock Command is about average, although it certainly is a unique look. There’s some explosion sound effects but nothing to write about, and the music is … well, it reminds me of the music you’d hear in the original Doom. It has that 8-bit MIDI sequencer sound to it. While I can appreciate the uniqueness of the game, it just doesn’t cut it in the gameplay department to make it worth buying.

Choosing the Winner

Although a relative newcomer to the App Store, Surface To Air Mayhem ($2.99) is a shining example of what a modern Missile Command should be. The visuals, sound effects, and gameplay are all polished, and the end result is a very fun game.

While Atari is the original company behind Missile Command, their modern remake for the iPhone could’ve used more thought and time to make it more compelling. Interceptor is fairly decent, but there’s not much there to make you want to keep coming back to it after a few sessions playing the game. Stock Command, while interesting, clearly wasn’t made by a company interested in developing games, and was likely a side job or learning project for someone.

In order, the Missile Command clones would go like this:

1. 1st Place: Surface to Air Mayhem ($2.99)
2. 2nd Place: Missile Command ($4.99)
3. 3rd Place: Interceptor ($0.99)
4. 4th Place: Stock Command ($1.99)

Screenshots

Tags: Action, atari, Battle, interceptor, iron square, lanpol computer consulting, missile command, pivotal games, retro, stock command, surface to air mayhem