Astrosmash

Synopsis

by Brett Alan Weiss

A hybrid of sorts of Asteroids and Space Invaders, Astrosmash is an entertaining (if flawed) entry in the "slide-and-shoot" genre. Players guide a hyperspace-equipped laser battery along the bottom of the screen, firing (rapid or auto) at a continual downpour of falling rocks, spinning bombs, guided missiles and UFOs. The most innovative aspect of this repetitious (in terms of action and sound effects), overly easy game is that players can lose points for letting objects pass them by. This is not cause for over concern, however, because it's easy to rack up lots of points very quickly. Adding to the ease of play is the fact that an extra ship is awarded with every 1,000 points. Games can last seemingly forever, which is probably why this was the first Intellivision game with a pause feature. Visually, the meteors and other items are simplistic in design, but they move at varying speeds with no flickering or slowdown.

Extra Credits

by Jonathan Sutyak

Space Invaders, which premiered in the arcades in 1978, was the forefather of all slide-and-shoot games.

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