ZRaid by Walter Rawdanik, Price: $6.95
Reviewed November, 2003 by LightMan

ZRaid is not your common vertical scrolling shooter. It is intentionally, a River Raider clone. To some of you (myself included) this name may not say much, but to some former Atari 2600 or C-64 owners out there, River Raider brings back great memories as being one of the all-time classic shooters. Being a shooter fan since the Spectrum days (my favorite at the time was the awesome Flying Shark), I was a bit surprised when I investigated a bit about River Raider and found out how great the game was at the time and it totally slipped by me in the past. Anyway, it’s a good thing that Walter decided to make a clone for the Pocket PC platform, and let me say in advance that ZRaid is definitely NOT your average simple clone.

ZRaid is, in essence, a simple game. Basically, you “fly your planer over the river, which is divided into sections, with a bridge at the end of each section. Blocking your path. Along the way are enemy jets, destroyers, helicopters, submarines and bridges” (among some other surprises which I shall not spoil it for you). As usual, everyone will try to bring you down, so your fall may come from a number of causes: collision with the often tricky river bank, collision with an enemy, being shot down by an plane/helicopter/tank or simply running out of fuel. Your (obvious) mission is trying to advance as further as possible, shooting down your enemies, dodging their shots, refueling when necessary AND while you’re at it, dodging the river banks. This can be quite tricky at times and also brought back some nice memories from Spy Hunter (sometimes it could be really tricky leaving the road and going to boat mode) Ok, enough nostalgia.

While your mission may sound easy at first, when you pick up the game and start working your way up the levels, you will see how tough the game can become as you advance. No doubt that this simple concept and the fact that the game is so easy to pick up, play and have fun is probably the secret behind River Raider’s success in the past and it's also one of the strongest assets of ZRaid. The game is very well polished and offers many configuration options, some of which are of great value for a gamer: to be able to customize a shooter game to your liking. [rant] Some “bigger” PPC developers which have created nice shooters could learn a thing or two here [/rant] You can customize the directional controls for your jet, screen brightness, which level you want to start in, if you want particle effects (turn it off on slower devices) and the most important setting in my opinion: control sensitivity. This is extremely handy for this game, since as we all know, some d-pads are more sensitive than others, or some gamers have “heavier” thumbs than others and since maneuverability plays a huge role in ZRaid, this option is the most welcome and VERY useful.

ZRaid, although not being a visual blast, is actually quite pleasant to the eye. The graphics are very good, especially the active elements within the game: helicopters, boats, jets, tanks, bridges, etc (The animation of the submarines is really cool). However, the terrain (land and river) could have been a bit more detailed. I guess making the terrain simpler (visually speaking) helps to relate ZRaid a bit more with the game that it intends to clone and keep a bit the look and feel of its very old predecessor.

In the audio department, ZRaid is pretty decent with good sounds for the explosions, shots, jet engine, not too fancy, but appropriate. The bad: there’s no in-game music. There, I’ve said it. I find this a bit of a letdown in such a nicely produced game…one of the things that usually a gamer remembers from a shooter is the music. I recall the awesome tunes from games like Twin Cobra, Flying Shark, Raiden, among so many others. It helps to set the mood and becomes a very important factor in the game. More importantly, it would help to break some monotony that eventually may begin to creep in, as some game elements eventually repeat themselves as you reach some of the later levels.

Gameplay is one of the strongest points of ZRaid. It’s simple, fast, and fun. Maneuver your jet through the river banks, dodge enemy shots, throttle a bit to escape a shot, brake when refueling, no major secrets. Remember, if you’re not happy with how the jet is moving; configure the sensitivity in the options setting. Besides the dodging/shooting, refueling plays an important role in this game. Again, it’s a simple process: as you move along, you will find some fuel gauges floating in the river. Just go over them and notice your fuel gauge increasing.