Rambo III

Based on the 1988 action movie starring Sylvester Stallone, Rambo III is an action game developed by Ocean Software and released for MS-DOS in 1989. Taking on the role of John Rambo, the player travels to Soviet-occupied Afghanistan to rescue his captured friend and mentor, Colonel Trautman. The game loosely follows the events of the film and divides Rambo’s dangerous mission into three distinct stages.

The first part is played from a top-down perspective and focuses on infiltrating a heavily guarded Soviet fortress. Rambo must explore the complex, avoid or eliminate enemy soldiers, watch out for mines, traps and infrared security beams, and collect useful weapons and equipment along the way. The second stage retains the overhead view but places greater emphasis on combat, as Rambo fights his way through a military compound, plants explosives and searches for a way to escape.

For the final stage, the gameplay changes dramatically into a fast-paced shooting sequence as Rambo makes his way toward the Afghan border in a captured tank. Enemy soldiers, tanks, missiles and helicopters stand between him and freedom, culminating in a confrontation with a Soviet attack helicopter. With its mixture of exploration, stealth and arcade-style shooting, Rambo III offers a surprisingly varied adaptation of the blockbuster movie and a distinctive example of late-1980s action gaming on MS-DOS.