Iconic. The music alone is worth it. Huge exploration area for an arcade game. Brilliant and ahead of its time (the HUD is really groundbreaking). I wish that the people of the industry had pushed for a 2 button joystick, it'd be so easy to implement support for that and would have made C64 gaming a million times better. 9/10
Excellent music, sounds and graphics (although the enemies are mediocre) but
worst gameplay ever!!
You can't see where you can walk, get stuck in the jungle, invisible lines you can't cross but the enemies can, enemy sprites just appearing and disappearing, insane difficulty curve, and the whole game can be completed under 4 minutes.
POKE 6099,173
My schoolmate told me to enter the poke for invincibilty and I had no clue what he was talking about. Good'ol days
Decent game good use of strategy when choosing each weapon during missions. One of the stronger movie licenses even to this day.
Fantastic, atmospheric music which really sets the scene. Game play wasn't too bad either, although it could become a bit repetitive.
C'mon guys. Remove your rose-tinted spectacles and admit that this game is a shoddy Commando variant and nothing more. Too short, too random (can be both too easy and too difficult), it's just not good enough.
If you tap and hold RESTORE once in the chopper at the end the chopper can't be destroyed (acts a bit funny to control also), however it makes life much easier getting to the Helipad to finish the game
The first I played was in the 1980's. What I remember was the cracked version by The Dynamic Duo had serious scrolling problems, and the helicopter board was impossible to complete. The music was probably the best part.
ACE
4/5 Nov 89 p113
C&VG
9/10 Feb 86 p15
Commodore Horizons
8/10 Feb 86 p15
Commodore User
4/5 Jan 86 p18
83% Jul 89 p53
Your Commodore
8/10 Mar 86 p48
Your Computer
3/5 Jan 86 p35
Zzap!
65% Feb 86 p23
96% Sep 89 p58
90% Nov 92 p16
Score 80.40
Anyone have a walkthrough for this game? 0.O
I remember that trick with the second joystick. You could even make traps with it. Like letting the knife spin on one position and the enemies run into it. This game is really great, short, but great.
I asked Dave Collier the programmer about the helicopter gunship cheat (push one joystick forward, hold the other one back to fly at turbo speed):
Hi
It was a bug. The joystick routine did not expect 2 to be plugged in at once so an xor was done on the bits to avoid to subroutines but It was never tested with 2 joysticks. And as up and down is imposible on 1 joystick the negative check was never put in place I could fix it if you want
We found it after the game had been mastered and decided it was not
worth remastering.
Dave
Short but brilliant game. I always got an adrenalin rush trying to get to the end landing site whilst being chased by the gunship. I liked how one could divert from the game objective and go explore (and destroy) the camp and surrounding jungle. Sometimes I would do the objectives in a different order, with odd results.
One game that would make you throw your joystick across the room, still a classic game to lose your temper on!
A real challenge. The exceptional music is some of Galway's best.
Loved this game so much...have just got it in he post so will give it a blast tonight!!
I remember the music was excellent and the gameplay was also excellent, just blow everything up!!!
Killer music, no pun intended. All the pieces great--high scores, ready screen, gameplay... Fantastic compositions.
The gameplay is really friggin hard, or at least I thought so back in the day. I played it tonight and must be getting old because I died after about 30 seconds.
Good game though.
7/10 for the music on the review
. It should be 10/10.
This is one of the few games that I've actually managed to complete without assistance.
Most people compare this game to Commando. I must say that Commando doesn´t take much longer to play through. Although I like both games, I love the possibility in Rambo to destroy almost everything, like trees and buildings.
I really loved this game. It is so addictive and fun ... Amazing loading screen. A great hit from OCEAN. 8/10
The first impression is really good. The game also seems to be much harder than Commando (or any other game of this kind). But after you realise, what you have to do in each level, you may find Rambo much too short. It's a strange shoot'em up, because to finish this game you really don't have to shoot too much; moreover- better not to shoot too much, because the more you shoot, the harder gets the game. Great music by Galway. 5 for the gameplay, 6 for the game.
This games was very hyped and didn't really live up to it. Commando went head to head with it and won, I reckon.
Not much to say that hasn't already been said. Way too short, but a fun diversion, not to mention great music from Galway.
Pretty good tie-in. Not exceptional in any way, but hardly the disaster some people make it out to be. One of Galway´s best pieces complement the game.
(trautman) God didn't make rambo i did
Murdock im coming for u
Whoah, this makes Commando feel like a quiet stroll in a park. Bullets fly from nearly all directions all the time. Great music!
This game was pretty crummy to be honest. And the helicopter getaway part was just close to impossible, if not confusing, fortunatly there was some cheat thing by pressing CTRL and pushing the joystick in some direction.
I remember this game quite fondly. So much so that I remade it for the PC: [www]
A mediocre attempt by Ocean to make a Commando style game.Apart from the beautiful tunes,graphics are nice,but not amazing,and the game itself is very very short and uninteresting.
Good game, and the music while the loader screen loaded was excellent!! Martin Galway always managed to make a good game better with music, and ocean were a good creator of games back then. Single handedly created the best mag ads in their day!
Like you said good fast
game but in this kind of games check "who dare win 1 & 2" those are better
anyway nice graphics a lot of weapon and john rambo
good game
7/10
Stonking music but a far too quick experience! was fun for a little while but once finished it didn't have much lasting ability.
AMEN !
LIFE AND EVERYTHING !
(HEY EVEN BAZOOKA!)
Fantastic music!
Great music,but the game's too short !
Nice music, shame about the game. 4/10
Got into base, freed that person on the X chucking knives at it, went to the helicopter and for some reason never got much further, reading it looks like going south and destroying that army base wouldn't have been the best move to make. However it was fun, and a great game
Not bad, but I thought the best thing about it at the time was the awesome title screen music - actually saved it to minidisc along with others (e.g. Delta, Wizball) so I can listen to it on my walkman. Am I the only one who is so sad...? ;-)
This game made my brother and I stay up late to play it. A real cool game!
Man this Rambo must really hate the gooks! How many times can this guy end up in a rice paddie though.
An excellent game in terms of gameplay , graphics .
An OUTSTANDING game in terms of soundtrack and fx.
I still remember it with Nostalgia and it was one of the first games I finished on my C64 . The only problem for me was that the game was -i think- very easy to complete . Fantastic music.
Brilliant game, fantastic music, very impressive. This and Commando were fantastic blasters!
I remember this one. It was OK. Pretty good game play. Not among my favourites though.
Rambo II (The First Blood) which I love to play on C64, but it was quite hard for me to play, where there are so many enimies attack, just like in the movie which I know too much about the actor Sylvestre Stallone which he is strong as ever to stay alive in that movie, but not to me, well not on a game I should say. Very good graphics, music is not too bad.
A CLASSIC!!! in these times, the C64 impessed me with great music from my favourite musician, martin galway. I often played the game only because of its great sounds. But the graphics are also well done with nice sprites and backgrounds. OK, the game was very short, but playable! I remember the discussions about the violence in this little game. Today not to believe... I give it a 10!
Oh sure...NOW someone tells me...many times after figuring out how to spring the pilot and captives I would get on the chopper and just fly around desperately looking for a goal...til the big bad gun ship showed up...I even duked it out once...don't know if it's beatable...though I flew to the river before...oh well, great action...weapons, graphics, and solid challange...deffinately one of the top games on the C64 and maybe the best rambo game ever...
Solution:
1-GOTO the green building (see: screen shot)
2-GOTO camp use knife to see tied up person free.
3-GOTO little hut inside camp (rescue hostages)
4-Go find helicopter
5-Fly north and over river and keep on going. After some time mission will end and a nice tune plays!
TIP: Once in the helicopter, make sure you have 2 joysticks plugged in. Push forward on one joystick and pull back on the other joystick. This will allow to to fly to the end of the level without having to engage in combat with the enemy helicopters
11/10 for sound. So so graphics... Where`s the game play???
The music is freaking making my haird stand on ends, awesome! I loved blowing up palmtrees.
Great game, only completed it once though.
Not a bad game, but I also thought the music at the beginning was the best thing about it. Hell it sounded better than the MOVIE music! I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it.
I used to play this a lot but couldn't find what to do. I "saved" the woman by throwing a knife at her to free her and the walk over to her. What do I do after that? I walked all the way to the top of the screen until I found a river but no way accross.
Anyway, not a bad game. Good music not bad graphics and playable.
Why the hell does my energy drain so fast whenever I start flying the helicopter?
I destroyed two joysticks trying to reach the helicopter land zone! Very good game with excellent music.
Heya guyz,
played the game first in 1988 - played it again yesterday. But I could never finish it. What the fuck you have to do at the end?
:-(((
Good game with good graphics but far too easy!
A Great game, hard for me, you don't get much energy, 1 wrong move and you dead before you know. But I did manage to get as far as the Helicopter sometimes.
On my 13th birthday, I had 10 friends over to celebrate, so we spent the evening at the waterslides and then came home for a sleepover/games night. This was the game that took up most of our time. My parents were on the other side of the couch watching wrestling. We were all crouched around the computer, trying to escape to the chopper, and all of a sudden we heard yelling "KILL THAT PANSY!" We all peeked over the couch and saw my mom in front of the TV, screaming at Adrian Adonis while my dad hopped up and down in anger. Rambo was temporarily forgotten. But I remember that 13th birthday though. Yikes.
A really great game. I found this one the best Rambo-game.
The soundtrack is awesome, and it also goes with the action!
The most fun part is going back to the camp with the chopper and then use your bazooka to blow up all the buildings.
Downside: well, maybe the gunship in the end, that thing is really difficult. Altough after some practise it will be better to beat it (just wiggle your joystick in all directions and keep firing)
Brilliant music (i actually only saw Rambo II the film the other day for the first time and I recognised the music from the game). Gameplay a bit too easy and rambo looks like he has been squashed by an anvil. Ps cheat to escape the gunship is push forward on one joystick, push back on a joystick in the other port...whooooosshhhh!!! Good fun finding weapons in undergrowth and twatting the trees with explosive arrows! nice scrolling but I agree with other peoples gripes here...
Played it a couple of times after purchasing my C64 - at the time didn't know where to go after setting the pow free and getting to the chopper.
Brilliant game. Great tough-guy graphics and sounds. The tune playing while you play... Smoooth!!! Fantastic game-play !!! ( you can hold RETURN while flying the chopper to speed up! )
There were so many sections of the film that were crying out for game conversion (The gunboat shoot-out? The mortar attack? The confrontation with the VC commander? etc...) but were inexplicably missed here. All that's left is a fairly shoddy Commando variant with a badly-designed gunship motif tacked on the end of it. It was extremely faithful to the sonics of the film, though, with a lot of incidental music and a great rendition of the Rambo title track (which sounds here like a bastardized version of The Good, The Bad And The Ugly). Surely now is the time for a re-make (The Thing, Knight Rider et al)?
Too easy.I palyed it first time this year after 12 years brake.I completed it easily threw 5 times at first game,than I finished that boring game
The alltime best loading music ever made on a 64. Fuckin' amazing. Even now it still sounds sooo good
Didn't mind this game. Had to plot a course. All I can say is "De na na na nah... De Rambo! The animators were spot on and the AI is awesome.
Loading music was and still is one of the greatest ever! Enjoyable game.
Amazing music, decent graphics, but so-so gameplay. The Commando-esque bits were good, but it was far too easy to die. Also, the game itself was rather limited and the gunship part tedious. If it had more scope, it would be a near-classic, but as it is, it pales in comparison to Who Dares Wins II or Ikari Warriors.
Zzap! didn't like it (But in Zzap! later years the overall was boosted to a more realistic 90%) but this is one great shootemup with the best filmlike score on a computer game. "Dont Push me!"
Rambo is the BEST. Watch the movie(s) and you shall see.
Yeah,also one of my alltime faves...I LOVE ALL in this game,the gameplay,the music...brillant!
My first computer game. Cool graphics and the kind of music the SID chip was made for. I still play this game even today. EXCELLENT!
The gunship bit was a little hard, and frustrating, considering we just wanted to play non-linear commando - I liked the souble joystick cheat for "hyperspeed" during the gunship bit
(Bandicoot) - Those pip-pip-pip's are actually Martin Galway writing some credits for rambo in Morse code! You can find this out at the kwed web site.
Well, Rambo is kinda the soundtrack of my early youth.. Why? Because no other C64 games (before the '90) exploited so well the SID capabilities. I will leave your ears in awe. Pump up the volume!
The music and the title screen were and are great, but the game was way too short and easy to complete.
The music is great! The game isn't that good. The loading theme pip pip pip ... Is the best!
Great graphics, amazing music!
Thats one unfair hard good game. A HUGE temporary High Score List. But the lasting appeal wont leave your C64 switched on to that game for that long.
A very weak Commando clone, vastly inferior to, say, Who Dares Wins 2 or Arnie...
Great music and loading screen, dull game.
Never liked the movies anyway, so... Stallone sucks, so did the gameplay. Figures.
Welllll...you can see it now...Rambo screen, cool tune while you dream of starting the little game... You can just tellfrom the loading its gonna be good - & it was. Good scrolling, catchy gameplay & cool music - 8/10
I distinctly remember my friend breaking his joystick during the gunship part of the game. I still laugh at the though now. It DOES require a bit of thinking and it IS rather short (if a little frustrating at times) but fun nontheless. I still remember he melody. Who dares wins II is a lot better however.
Solid Commando clone with a bit of thinking required through multi-directional scrolling and different weapons to sort through. Doesn't surpass the aforementioned classic, though - don't ask me why, it just doesn't have that same must-play factor.
Average game - fantastic sound - ho hum - this could have been so much better but it was too short and just seemed to be rushed somewhat - a blast however and one to download for a wet rainy day - otherwise just get it for the Martin Galway tunes - they are the best
I never got the hang of this game. I hated the sound too. Talking rambo style: Me prefer arnie. Arnie good! Rambo bad!
This is a good game, but it's only worth 6/10. There's somthing missing, It hasn't got that little extra that Commando and Who Dares wins got; great sound and gameplay.
Ah Rambo, It was the first C64 game that I was able to finish, probably due to it being so short. Still it gives me a great feeling when I climb aboard the plane.
Fun "commando" type shooter with a musical tour-de-force by C64 music man, Martin Galway