Centipede


I'm cursed when it comes to arcade games. My experiences always follow the same cycle. I'll boot up the game, immediately appreciate the simple, yet intelligent, design that made it popular, lose a lot, become disenchanted, and decide to play something else instead. Ultimately, I'm just not very good at them, and I lack the patience to get good, so I move on. I thought that's how Centipede would go long before I realized I was cursed, so I never actually gave it a chance. I was right. However, I wasn't as right as I thought, and I actually surprised myself with how much fun I was having by blasting all of those darn bugs!

It's pretty ambiguous what you actually play as in Centipede, and I never figured it out. What I do know, is that you can shoot projectiles that defeat enemies and break hazards. Based on that alone, I figured this would just be a clone of Space Invaders, shoot the enemies that move side-to-side while getting progressively lower, use shot-stopping barriers to your advantage, rinse and repeat. Luckily, there are plenty of differences here to make Centipede stand out. One of the biggest is your freedom as the player. Instead of being confined to the x-axis, you are also allowed to navigate up and down, giving you a chance to dodge low-flying opponents. The enemy variety is actually pretty cool too. Just don't let posers like the jumping spider distract you from your real nemesis. Starting at the top of the screen, the centipede bounces back and forth across the screen, switching directions and getting a little closer to you with each mushroom it hits. You have to take out each segment of its body in order to make it to the next stage. Hitting a segment transforms it into a mushroom, creating another obstacle on the screen, which carries over from stage to stage. That can cause all sorts of trouble, but it gets worse when you realize that hitting a midsection of the threatening bug creates another centipede out of the hind side, making your job of defeating it that much harder. This all made for a far more exciting game than I expected.

Centipede always seemed too complicated for me to be interested in figuring it out. After finally giving it a chance, I have realized that it is complicated enough to be interesting, but not so much that it's frustrating or annoying. I was surprised by how quickly I was able to pick up a basic strategy that worked really well for me (at least in the earlier stages). Plus, the game's faster pace also made it feel like I was making more progress than I usually do in other arcade titles, which was a nice confidence-booster. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this game, and I will definitely be revisiting it a lot more in the future.

The game is available online here (as of 4/26/21): https://games.aarp.org/games/atari-centipede
The game is available on Steam here (as of 4/26/21): https://store.steampowered.com/app/400020/Atari_Vault/

Popular posts from this blog

Meow Tower: Nonogram Pictogram

Image
I seem to have a thing for mobile games about cats, and I am a huge fan of Nintendo 's Picross series. Normally those two interests don't overlap, but Meow Tower changed that. Combining the fun of befriending cute cartoon cats and solving intricate number puzzles hooked me immediately. While it's technically not a Picross game, seeing as that is a Nintendo trademark, the nonogram puzzles are still the same, and I loved being able to play them on my phone. Granted, there have been plenty of options to play these kinds of puzzles on the phone for years, but Meow Tower  sets itself apart from the rabble thanks to its stellar aesthetic. The developers behind this game are true artists. While it's a solid, straightforward nonogram game at its core, Meow Tower just looks so much better to play than any of the numerous generic options that crowd the app stores. The bubbly sticker-book style used for the art and menus gives Meow Tower a lot of charm and personality from t
Read more

Space Lich Omega

Image
Inspired by the ever popular Candy Box and Candy Box 2 , Space Lich Omega is an browser-based RPG adventure with an almost entirely ASCII display. However, it chose to step away from the established fantasy style of it's inspiration for a more science-fantasy theme. I ended up having a fun time with this game, despite its need for a little polish, thanks to the unique story and hilarious pop-culture Easter eggs that can be discovered throughout the different explorable locations. Despite the crude-ish interface, I never had any trouble navigating throughout the game. I actually ended up beating it in a relatively short time, especially when I had my gunk production going all out, allowing me to jump my health up enormously. Although I did need to do a little grinding every now and then for an item that I missed, that didn't interfere with my enjoyment too much. Ultimately, this is no Candy Box , but it still has its merits and is worth playing if you ever find yourself in
Read more

The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes

Image
Reusing game engines has proven to be pretty popular in the Zelda series. It offers developers a chance to craft more experimental and risky games, as the initial investment on the engine was covered by the previous, more traditional release. As a huge fan of A Link Between Worlds , I was ecstatic to learn it was getting a pseudo-follow-up. My excitement only grew when Nintendo sent me an early-access demo, and I somehow had no concerns that this was another multiplayer-focused game, despite my preference for solo play. Since the previous multiplayer Zelda games had pretty functional single-player modes, I anticipated that I could expect the same here. Unfortunately, that wasn't an entirely accurate assumption. Like its predecessors , Tri Force Heroes is level-based in order to accommodate its multiplayer focus. All of the stages are designed like dungeons, so they hold up really well for puzzle-solving challenges, but they lack a lot of the same charm you can find in Four Swor
Read more