Assault was an arcade game by Namco in 1988. It is included as one of the games in Namco Museum Vol. 4 on the Playstation. I am reviewing a single game instead of the software, because it is for this game that I bought the software, and I find this game much more enjoyable than the others in the package (though the others are quite good in their own right).
Assault is a tank game; you drive a tank and blow up enemies. The game is top view; the screen rotates with your tank, so your tank always faces the top of the screen, and controls are rather intuitive. There are 11 areas on several floating continents; when you clear a continent, there will be a cool intermission where your tank is launched onto the next continent. There is a good variety of stages, ranging from wilderness to city streets, and the strategies and tactics involved are quite colorful. For example, in some city area, it is best to fight with mostly grenades rather than normal shots, so as to preserve the obstacles for cover from enemy fire (only normal shots destroy terrain obstacles).
In the arcade, the tank was controlled by two long, slender joysticks, grabbed by the hands. In the PS version, you can choose between representing the right joystick with the four buttons (type A), and steering with the +-key alone (type B). I find type A rather hard to get used to, unless you have a twin joystick peripheral, because in the arcade I was not steering with thumbs. Once I get used to type B, the game is as enjoyable as the arcade, though I still make a control mistake related to the R button (which controls roll-over and wheelie) occasionally. Other than the problem with the physical controller, the PS version seems arcade-perfect. (But please note that I am no authority when it comes to evaluating "arcade perfectness".)
Two innovative manuevers, not seen in other tank games, makes Assault a rather different game from others. When your tank is attacked from the front or rear, you can dodge by rolling your tank over to the side (so that your tank is now upside-down). You can also do a wheelie, lifting up the front of your tank, and fire a grenade. Grenades can be fired an unlimited number of times, but your tank cannot move when doing a wheelie. You have to clear each area within a specified time limit, which is often rather tight, but a novice player may resort to cautious play, sacrificing but one life (per area) to the time limit.
Assault is an excellent but hard-core game. There are no cheesy power-ups; the only thing the player can depend on for his survival is his skill. The difficulty (at "standard" setting; there are four levels of difficulty that can be chosen from the option menu) is quite high; proper execution of tactics is important. This game is a classic for hard-core gamers who like games with some 'strategic depth': the introduction of the roll-over move allowed the designers to arrange demanding enemy attacks; with minimal armor (you die when you're hit, period), this creates an intense, exciting game. However, novice gamers who are not used to having to do a roll-over when being shot at, may not enjoy this game too much.