1982 Romik Software
Platforms: Commodore VIC-20
Air-Sea Attack was part of a series of three “Attack” themed games on the Commodore VIC-20 from Romik Software, following Shark Attack and Space Attack.
An advert for the game was shown in Vic Computing, issue 8 (December 1982) and mentions that you would pilot a modern jet fighter that takes off from your aircraft carrier and engages enemy aircraft in battle.
You shoot down the aircraft, and then drop your bombs on the enemy aircraft carrier. You have to watch out, as the enemy fighters are trying to do the same thing. If the enemies get past your air defence, then you are left to defend your own carrier with sea-air missiles.
I loved the early Romik titles, and my favourite and first title was Moons of Jupiter on the platform, which was an absolutely amazing Asteroids clone with wonderful graphics. What was very cool was that the early games didn’t have a printed screenshot, but an artist’s sketch of the game in action – which wasn’t too far off how it actually looked.
Air-Sea Attack looked pretty cool from the advert “screenshot” and was for an Expanded VIC-20, though it seems the title has never surfaced for reasons as yet unknown. We don’t think it would be related to the Falklands War, which happened back in April-June that year.
Perhaps it was a publishing dispute? Did another company later release the game under a different name? Or simply, did the game just get released in very limited numbers and is yet to be preserved?
It is sadly missing at the moment anyway, and we really hope that it is out there somewhere. Could it be another gem like Moons of Jupiter? We can only hope.
With thanks to Paul Stcyr for the heads up and also Stephen (Mort) Stuttard for the hi-res scans.
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