Space Wars

 

 

 

Cinematronics. 1977.

 

So. Space Wars. What can be said? Well lets look at the time. 1977, a time very early on in the Arcade game explosion, and with the same dynamic as ‘Asteroids’ and similar physics, a picture can be built upon.

 

With the onus being on space combat or an inter-stellar duel if you will, the action ensues between two ships with varying gameplay modes, rebounding shots, Quickened gameplay and stronger gravity. It’s here that the gravity aspect should be mentioned as one option includes fighting around a black hole which emanates its deadly gravitational lure as you and your opponent waltz to and fro, avoiding its grasp by thrusting away to reach a safe distance to fire off pulses of laser fire to blast your foe out of the stars.

 

 

Being from such an early period of time where Cabinets were rarely seen, the simple left, right, thrust and fire mechanism was applied perfectly to an absolute classic, and indeed one of the first arcade game releases in history. The atmosphere, the physics and the playability all add to the sheer joy of playing the game. A game in its simplest vector graphical style, however this should be overlooked as the experience is a fantastic one and has a ‘cult’ status amongst veteran gamers which deserves another credit more often than not!

 

 

Review by Rob Joy.