Back in the old DOS days, there were a ton of games where shareware was the name of the game for us poor kids. Raptor was one such title, and perhaps the most relevant and pertinent title that would introduce me to the sh'mup genre. Only Bravo Sector was present in the shareware version, and I played for hours and hours looping through this on my dad's old 386.
30 some years later, color me surprised when Raptor, of all things, shows up on Steam. While it's nothing fancy and is little more than a prepacked DOSBOX emulation -- something those of us who cared enough likely dredged up from the abandonware sites years ago -- the fundamental convenience of having it integrated smoothly into Steam for a whopping $1 on sale, and subsequently throwing some change back to Apogee after all these years. It's really cool seeing someone go through the effort of trying to preserve these types of games as, though aged, they really harken back to how far computing has come.
The gameplay feels as you'd expect from a DOS game, but it doesn't play clunky and, unlike some old DOS titles which really struggle to map into the modern age, the game is definitely still enjoyable. There are still plenty of challenging quips playing on Veteran mode, and Elite certainly will keep any genre vet on their toes. Spritework remains crisp and delivers satisfactory explosions and visual mayhem as you shred everything in sight.
I've only yet completed Bravo Sector, so I'm looking forward to actually stepping in and playing the other two sectors gated behind childhood imagination and poverty. What an awesome effort by Apogee (despite the transition of studio owners) to keep their work alive.
