Liberator has been described as the opposite of Missile Command, in that the player destroys cities from space instead of defending them from the ground.

[citation needed] The story "Code Name: Liberator" describes the premise of the arcade game in detail and was included as a special insert in two comic books cover dated January 1983.

In the opening screen of the arcade game, Commander Champion of the "Atari Force" asks the player to help free the galaxy from the evil Malaglon Army.

The player controls a coordinated attack from four star ships at the corners of the screen.

The primary target of the attack are enemy bases on a rotating planet in the center of the screen.

It is intelligent, and it can change the direction or speed of the planet rotation to avoid getting hit.