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Astrogeddon

Score: 80%
ESRB: Not Rated
Publisher: ORT Software
Developer: ORT Software
Media: Download/1
Players: 1
Genre: Shooter/ Arcade

Graphics & Sound:

At its core, Astrogeddon is simply the classic game Asteroids with a graphics update. However, since the original remains a classic to this day, and because this update does introduce a few new aspects, Astrogeddon remains a worthwhile downloadable game, which is worth the price of admission if you enjoyed the original Asteroids.

Astrogeddon boasts very attractive visuals and offers a wide array of vibrant backgrounds and interesting enemy ships to destroy throughout its list of missions. The graphics themselves are at a level that is typical of high-quality downloadable games, sitting somewhere safely between the last two generations of consoles in terms of graphics power. The objects flying around the screen remain distinct from the background. Additionally, the game offers a wide array of attractively rendered asteroids, enemy ships, powerups, and explosions to satiate your destructive impulses. The music is just a handful of typical techno space-sounding stuff with nothing more than weapon fire and explosions for sound effects.


Gameplay:

The original Asteroids was not a very complicated game. The game space was only one screen, none of that fancy scrolling nonsense. You flew a little ship around the screen shooting the asteroids that floated around. When an asteroid was shot, it would split up into smaller, faster moving chunks. You also had the occasional alien spaceship that would fly around. Slam into an asteroid and you lost a life. If things were looking grim, you also had the ability to warp to a random spot on the screen.

Astrogeddon doesn’t take this concept much further; it’s still primarily your little ship flying around shooting asteroids. The major additions are more enemy space ships with a wider variety of attacks and various powerups. These powerups can include a weapon upgrade, a shockwave that blasts through everything on the screen, or a health restore. That’s right, it’s not a one-hit KO, your ship has health.


Difficulty:

With the inclusions of powerups and a health bar, Astrogeddon is considerably easier than the original Asteroids in the early going. As you advance to the later missions, the less frequent powerups and more aggressive enemy ships will even out this difficulty.

The game also offers four difficulty settings, so everyone can find a challenge that will be comfortable with them. The game also offers the ability to start from any mission you have completed whenever you start a new game.


Game Mechanics:

The controls are simply using the arrow keys to move about and Ctrl to fire, so they are very easy to use, although not very interesting. If you have some extra money to throw around and enjoy the simpler gameplay of the old arcade classics, you might enjoy a round of Astrogeddon. The game offers a free demo and you can find both the free demo and full game for download at a price of $19.95 at ORT Software.


-Alucard, GameVortex Communications
AKA Stephen Triche

Minimum System Requirements:



Microsoft Windows 98, 2000, Me or XP, Microsoft DirectX 8.0 or later, 128Mb RAM and 32Mb free disk space, 64Mb Direct3D-compatible graphics card, Direct Sound compatible sound card
 

Test System:



Pentium 4 2.8 GHz, Windows XP, DirectX 9.0c, 1GB RAM, Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB, Sound Blaster Audigy 2

Sony PlayStation 2 Madagascar Windows Area-51

 
Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated