Dan Kitchen (at this point an employee of Imagineering) had the honors of following up Carol Shaw’s impressive River Raid, and even though there were a handful of years separating the two games, not much changed. Released for the Atari 2600 in 1988, River Raid II is a vertically scrolling shoot ‘em up that has the player worrying about fuel and altitude management.

The only gameplay addition to this game over its predecessor is taking off and landing the fighter jet. Without a manual or the internet to rely upon, it can be tricky doing either the first time. It’s a function though, that once learned won’t be much trouble on later attempts. Players still fly over rivers shooting down enemy jets and helicopters, partake in aerial refueling, and eventually, destroy an enemy bridge. I prefer the original game to this one for what I perceive as “tighter controls” but this is a still a pretty good game.