It's a single screen shmup with like 4 twists to it:
1. It uses the paddle controller instead of a joystick for control
2. There's a gauge on the sides that grows whenever any enemy falls all the way through the screen without being shot, and if it grows high enough it's an instant game over
3. Both you and your enemies shots are one-pixel wide lasers that instantaneously zap anything directly in front of them regardless of distance
4. Every so often there's a bonus stage that shows up where you can farm additional points for extra lives
It sounds pretty snappy and fun in concept, especially given how precise and quick the paddle controllers are for control, but soon enough the game quickly ramps up in speed to the point where you'd need ascended reflexes to keep up with what the game throws at you. It's pretty easy to be minding your own business and having an enemy spawn right above you where it uses its one frame death laser immediately, basically killing you before you have a chance to react. It also makes it so the enemies that shoot back at you are significantly more deadly than practically anything else, as getting in their line of sight pretty much could spell immediate doom. Maybe if you were the only one that had the zappy laser gun whereas other enemies could have traditional slow-moving space invaders bullets to dodge would there have been more balance, but it be how it do. It's not like you can just avoid the laser shooting guys since if you let them go it builds up the meter so you're just fucked either way. There are also these really fast moving bouncy bombs that work as screen nukes if shot but they move so damn fast and erratically that it's hard to get a good shot without slamming right into them and if they pass you they fill up the meter by like a whole ass third so yeah good luck. There's no real limit to how frequently you can shoot though so I guess you could just mash that fire button like a lunatic and just hope everyone runs into your shots in an accuracy be damned sort of manner but then the game will just keep going BZZZZZZZZZZZT so mute your speakers if that's gonna be your strat. I was barely able to scrape up 2000 points, though the manual says if you can reach 5000 you can earn a free T-shirt. There's no way in hell I have reflexes good enough to win that T-shirt, and considering the fact that I'm seeing the shirt listed on ebay and etsy for upwards of like 200 dollars there clearly can't have been many others that could do it as well. I don't need your likely itchy 40-year-old T-shirt anyways, imagic. Not the worst 2600 game as there's definitely enough of a skill grind to be worth a go but it's a bit too unbalanced for me to consider it a personal favorite or rec.
1. It uses the paddle controller instead of a joystick for control
2. There's a gauge on the sides that grows whenever any enemy falls all the way through the screen without being shot, and if it grows high enough it's an instant game over
3. Both you and your enemies shots are one-pixel wide lasers that instantaneously zap anything directly in front of them regardless of distance
4. Every so often there's a bonus stage that shows up where you can farm additional points for extra lives
It sounds pretty snappy and fun in concept, especially given how precise and quick the paddle controllers are for control, but soon enough the game quickly ramps up in speed to the point where you'd need ascended reflexes to keep up with what the game throws at you. It's pretty easy to be minding your own business and having an enemy spawn right above you where it uses its one frame death laser immediately, basically killing you before you have a chance to react. It also makes it so the enemies that shoot back at you are significantly more deadly than practically anything else, as getting in their line of sight pretty much could spell immediate doom. Maybe if you were the only one that had the zappy laser gun whereas other enemies could have traditional slow-moving space invaders bullets to dodge would there have been more balance, but it be how it do. It's not like you can just avoid the laser shooting guys since if you let them go it builds up the meter so you're just fucked either way. There are also these really fast moving bouncy bombs that work as screen nukes if shot but they move so damn fast and erratically that it's hard to get a good shot without slamming right into them and if they pass you they fill up the meter by like a whole ass third so yeah good luck. There's no real limit to how frequently you can shoot though so I guess you could just mash that fire button like a lunatic and just hope everyone runs into your shots in an accuracy be damned sort of manner but then the game will just keep going BZZZZZZZZZZZT so mute your speakers if that's gonna be your strat. I was barely able to scrape up 2000 points, though the manual says if you can reach 5000 you can earn a free T-shirt. There's no way in hell I have reflexes good enough to win that T-shirt, and considering the fact that I'm seeing the shirt listed on ebay and etsy for upwards of like 200 dollars there clearly can't have been many others that could do it as well. I don't need your likely itchy 40-year-old T-shirt anyways, imagic. Not the worst 2600 game as there's definitely enough of a skill grind to be worth a go but it's a bit too unbalanced for me to consider it a personal favorite or rec.