*So, Asteroids. The game begins as an effort to create the next Space Invaders and it ends up being, in my opinion, very different, though it has the same level structure and basic premise. Another game, called Lunar Lander, which we’ll be talking about later, was being developed at around the same time and Asteroids uses the same minimalist art style, a style based entirely around sharp lines outlining shapes, a stark black and white vision of a different kind from previous games, which typically featured shapes that were entirely filled in, rather than simply outlined.
*The game was initially released as an arcade cabinet and was so popular that Lunar Lander ended up getting pushed back as cabinets intended for the Lunar Lander game were switched to Asteroids cabinets in order to meet high demand. The game was ported to the Atari home console and it was a huge hit there as well.
*It’s a very simple game. You play as a triangular ship that can rotate, fire a laser straight ahead and fire thrusters to start yourself drifting forward. A batch of large asteroids start to fly through the screen and your goal is simply to destroy them all by shooting them with your laser before one of them hits you.
*There is also a flying saucer that will appear from time to time and shoot at you. You can return fire and if you destroy it, you get bonus points.
*Can I just say that this game is made substantially cooler by the fact that the flying saucer can be destroyed by an asteroid just like you can be? As satisfying as it is to blast the saucer out of the sky, it’s almost more satisfying to dodge the shots from the saucer and then watch as it is pancaked by an asteroid.
*There’s also a really fun mechanic called Hyperspace where you essentially disappear and then reappear randomly somewhere else on the screen. Sometimes when you get in a bind and then go into Hyperspace and then appear in a safe spot elsewhere, it’s really satisfying.
*It is, however, much funnier when you go into Hyperspace to escape a bunch of asteroids about to hit you and then you reappear in an even worse position and just get instantly destroyed.
*I don’t have a whole lot to say about this one. I think this is my shortest review yet. I just want to say that it’s super, super fun, really intuitive and very addictive.
*Strategy? Well, okay, I would say, blow up the asteroids one at a time as much as you can. Because when you blow up one asteroid, it splits into a couple of smaller asteroids and when you blow those up, they also split. The smaller the asteroid, the faster it goes. So, pick one big asteroid and blow it up all the way down to nothing. If you blow up a big asteroid and then another big one and then another, well, now you have asteroids of all sizes zipping around whereas if you pick one big one and crack it in half and then crack those halves and then destroy those, then you can move on to the next big one and so on. I don’t know, it seemed easier to me. Of course, the farther you get in the game, it gets harder and harder to pick your targets and you end up just kind of reacting to the situations you find yourself in.
*Okay, next time, we’re going to stay in outer space for another game that builds on the Space Invaders template and is, in my opinion, kind of a quantum leap forward in just about every way. And yet, it’s a game that I find is often overlooked because of the way it sandwiches between two other, more beloved games. Join me next time for Galaxian!