I'm sure that every person on this site will have one game which encapsulates their childhood, the one you spent hours upon hours playing, the one that you could never have done without, the one you could never quite play as well as you would like. This was certainly mine.
On a quick look over, you could be forgiven for thinking this is just another one of those old scrolling shoot'em games, the space invaders copies that were what flight simulators were like before they got into 3D.
I'm sure that every person on this site will have one game which encapsulates their childhood, the one you spent hours upon hours playing, the one that you could never have done without, the one you could never quite play as well as you would like. This was certainly mine.
On a quick look over, you could be forgiven for thinking this is just another one of those old scrolling shoot'em games, the space invaders copies that were what flight simulators were like before they got into 3D. It is true, that this game essentially followed the basic principles of other such games, and while it added a few new ideas and innovations here and there, was basically just another spaceship vs wave after wave of invading
alien monsters game....
What makes this game special, is not that it added new features or better graphics, but that, in my humble opinion, it did what all the other games did, only slightly better. It is just very well thought out, and very well made. It was always hard enough to be challenging, but not so hard that you couldn't beat it, at least... not on a good day. Although simple, this game was damn addictive, and offered great re-play value.
The game itself is easy to describe and to understand. The little spaceship which you control moves from side to side, and shoots bullets to kill the incoming space bats, who are intent upon defeating you, and then invading earth, destroying everything and wiping out the human race. Like so many games, you encounter "waves" of enemies, a group of similar aliens who line up and come at you. Well, in this game, the waves are a little more complicated, the bad guys you come up against fly in complex patters, and launch a bewildering array of missiles at you, each of which has its own strengths and special abilities. If this were not enough, after defeating the first few waves, you encounter copies of earlier waves, which contain not only tougher opponents but many nasty "surprises".
In order to aid you in your quest, there are several kinds of crystal which offer you various power ups. The purple ones which give you an extra life after you've collected six of them, the red ones which allow you to fire a greater number of bullets, the green ones which increase your rate of fire, and white ones, which give you a brief amount of time in a super mode, where you shoot even faster and all is wonderful, for a short while.
Dotted throughout the game are various bonus levels, where you gain crystals by hitting as many targets as you can in a limited time. These bonus levels generally help to add a little variety to the game, and to give you a well needed power boost before encountering a particularly powerful group of opponents.
All in all, an excellent game which I highly recommend. Fans off the old "shoot'em" style games will love this. A true masterpiece of gaming!
