Raptor: Call of the Shadows - Obscure DOS Games

 

Raptor: Call of the Shadows was one of my favorite PC games growing up. It was a top-down vertical scrolling shooter by Apogee Software & Cygnus Studios from 1994, running on DOS. It’s similar to another classic shooter PC game called Major Stryker, which I also enjoyed immensely as a kid. For whatever reason, Raptor has lived on, unlike many of its contemporaries.

 

Heck, I even found a YouTube streamer who played it on livestream in October 2017! This Raptor longplay on stream by cs188creations is super awesome. It’s 2 1/2 hours long, so don’t feel pressured to watch the whole thing. But, you can get the whole experience by watching it. He played it on Elite difficulty, the highest setting, WITHOUT SAVING! He died a couple of times, but that’s what you get from going hardcore!

 

Like many older games, there were some cheats that made the game easier. These included skipping levels and a “god mode.” But, I always preferred to play the old fashioned way. I pretty much only played on Elite difficulty, but I always saved the game after every wave!

 

While nowhere as difficult as many other contemporary top-down shooters like 1993’s Major Stryker, Raptor: Call of the Shadows was still challenging enough to hold my attention for a number of years whenever I needed a quick moment to blast something into oblivion!

 

Pros of Raptor

 

The original soundtrack for Raptor was so good that I’d find myself humming tracks from it all the time! There’s even a playlist or two of the Raptor: Call of the Shadows OST on YouTube! Despite there only being three episodes with nine levels each, the game has surprising amounts of replay value. There are also some cool easter eggs which require a trick you do on the level selection screen by clicking some buttons that appear to only be scenery.

 

The selection of equipment and weapons in Raptor: Call of the Shadows is fairly expansive for such an old game. But, there are a few weapons which are clearly better than others, like the Auto-Track Minigun, the Pulse Cannon, and the almighty Twin Lasers. There are a few secondary weapons like the Plasma Cannon and Micro Missiles that add incremental but significant damage, especially against mid-level mini-bosses and level bosses.

 

The graphics were superb for the time, and its gameplay and presentation were critically acclaimed by gaming experts. Raptor’s a great game to play when you just want something straightforward where you blow stuff up! It requires a bit of strategy early on in switching between weapons to hit targets both on the ground and in the air. The entire point of the game is to destroy as many targets as you can in exchange for cash, so you can refresh your shields and buy better weapons.

 

 

 

Cons of Raptor

 

Honestly, I don’t think there’s anything I dislike about Raptor: Call of the Shadows. I will say that there’s a Windows version from 1999 that had some serious issues with its controls, but I never played that version.

 

The only other knock I have against Raptor as a game is it’s not packed with quite as many levels as other similar games. But, the quality of its 27 levels makes up for whatever replay value it loses from having such a small number of levels. Also, though, once you get all of the secondary equipment, stock on on “Phase Shields” for additional protection, and rely heavily on the Twin Lasers, the game becomes more of a pastime than a challenging dogfight.

 

Overall, it was great fun to watch someone else play Raptor that have such a nostalgic fondness for it like me! At one time in 2015, there were rumors of a sequel to Raptor: Call of the Shadows, but it never came to be.

 

If you’re looking for a classic game to fire up, this is definitely one that’s worth a couple hours of time for the serious retro PC gamer!

 

Games Similar to Raptor Call of the Shadows

 

There have been some other games similar to Raptor released in years since, including a couple mentioned in a previous version of this article that are no longer available. Steampeek mentions many retro top down shooter games, but none are quite like Raptor.

 

However, the website Giant Bomb does mention quite a few games that share similarities with Raptor, such as Tyrian and Baryon from 1995, and the much older Overkill from 1992, which I also remember playing as a kid. Both Steampeek’s and Giant Bomb’s articles are definitely worth checking out if top down shooters are your jam.

 

How to Play Raptor Call of the Shadows in 2024

 

Since the problematic Windows port of Raptor, there was a version released by DOTEmu in 2010, and another on Steam in 2015, which apparently have no issues. Apparently there’s also an iOS version of the game, as well, which I’ve never tried. However, as I still had an old registered copy of the game from my childhood, I was able to run it flawlessly inside of DosBox, which is available on Windows, macOS, and some versions of Linux.

 

You can find the DOTEmu 2010 version and the newer 2015 release both on Steam.

 

A previous version of this article appeared on other websites.