Rocket Ranger: Lots of variety in gameplay and brilliant atmosphere

The story so far… It’s 1941 and Adolf Hitler is pushing the boundaries of his Third Reich, not just across Europe, but all over the world. His powerful forces run rough-shod over all opposition, but there is one man who may be able to put a stop to his land reclamation – the flier with a difference, the one they call… Rocket Ranger. Rocky owes his power of flight to a back-mounted rocket pack which runs on the mystery mineral Lunarium, a rare substance which yield enormous power if handled correctly but staggeringly dangerous if used for nefarious purposes. Led by the evil Colonel Leermeister, SS scientists have somehow built a base on the moon where chain gangs of women mine the mineral, for a fleet of Lunarium powered rockets to ferry it back to Earth.

Working from your base at Fort Dix, USA, it’s your job to prevent the Nazi Meisterplan by finding the five Nazi rocket factories, putting together your own rocket from stolen parts, and then collecting enough Lunarium to get to the enemy moonbase and finally destroy it. First on Leermeister’s list of dirty deeds is the kidnap of America’s leading brains, Professor Barnstorff, to increase the efficiency of the Lunarium mining process. It’s up to Rocket Ranger to rescue the professor and his voluptuous daughter from the escaping Zeppelin before he can be put to work, and before she can be made into a mindless zombie by the Nazis’ brain washing machine.

Using his radium gun, Rocky must shoot down the aerial torpedoes being fired at him from the airship’s gondola and take out the gunner, aiming carefully so that he doesn’t hit the hydrogen-filled balloon. Once on board you have to convince the prisoners that Rocky’s on their side – via a multiple choice conversation system. If you fail, the professor forces Rocky out of the Zeppelin at gunpoint, and proceeds to steer the airship in the direction of Germany. With the professor lost, Rocky must consult a network of five secret agents stationed around the world. The spy of your choice can be moved to any country and ordered either to infiltrate and report on enemy activities, or if a base or factory is discovered, they can be told to organise a resistance movement.

Agents may call for your help when attacking an installation, in which case, you have to fill up with Lunarium fuel and jet off to foreign parts, radium pistol at the ready. Shoot enemy snipers in jungle temples, gun down a whole squadron of Luftwaffe fighters or just punch a guard’s teeth out and you can grab parts for your ship and slow down the Nazi war machine. With the rocket built and tanked up with Lunarium fuel, it’s time to take off for the moon base. Here, Leermeister’s army of female zombie slaves abseil down their space-ropes taking laser pot-shots at Rocky while he tries to plug them with his radium pistol. Time, as always, is of the essence, and any slack shooting results in our hero succumbing to the mind-numbing effect of the Lunarium, sealing his fate and that of the free world…

news source: various sources / image source: GenerationAmiga / watch on Youtube / download Rocket Ranger