Centipede

"A favorite of the system"

Like no other game I've ever played, Centipede requires you to use your imagination. That is, if you're looking for a plot or some sense to the graphics. At least in Asteroids the objects you're shooting at resemble rocks and behave as such. Kangaroo looks like a kangaroo. Centipede is hardcore.

You control a small, rectangular block that fires tiny dots toward the top of the screen. What are you shooting them at? Other dots, but in the first few levels, they stick close to each other, which is probably what Atari considered “The Centipede”. A few levels in, however, and the Centipede falls apart and you're really just shooting dots at dots. Seriously, what am I playing?

THE PLOT
Centipedes have taken over the Earth. Or rather, under the Earth. Minding their own business, they burrow underground in search of food. You play the exterminator. On a job to eradicate spiders underground, you encounter deadly insects with hundreds of legs. Frightened and confused, you take it upon yourself to destroy them all… Okay, I totally made that up, but the graphics didn't give me much of a choice.

GAMEPLAY
If you already know what Centipede is all about, skip the following paragraph. I promise I won't put anything funny and limit it to the strictly informative. K?

You are limited to the bottom quarter of the screen, but have free range of movement. Attacking you from above are a string of colored dots moving in a zig-zag pattern toward the bottom of the screen. Attacking you from each side are spiders that move in a somewhat erratic and unpredictable pattern. Scattered around the screen are dots that remain in place. The “Centipede” will run into them and go the other direction, making their movement more difficult to predict and react to. Every time you shoot a piece of the “Centipede”, it becomes one of these dots. You may shoot one bullet on screen at a time, but you are unlimited in these shots.

CHALLENGE
As the game begins, the Centipede is connected and moves in a predictable fashion. The spiders, though frequent, are a bit less hostile than in later levels. As you go on, more elements of difficulty are added, including strange horizontal-moving things that zip across the screen and turn the static dots white. If a piece of the Centipede hits one of these white dots, they spiral down the screen very quickly. Sometimes I think I can shoot them before they reach me, but they usually end up killing me first. Oh, one hit and you're dead, of course. The main challenge of the game is accuracy. The ‘bullets' you fire are so small and the Centipede is so fast that you really have to work at it to get good. Sometimes you can blast a bunch of them right after another, but this I couldn't even tell you how to do it.

One strategy is to be patient. There's no time limit, so you can really pace yourself if you want to. By taking your time, you can concentrate on maneuvering and stay alive rather than blasting relentlessly. I find that the spiders are my worst enemy, so learning their patterns are critical to your survival.

Centipede happens to be one of my favorite games on the Atari 2600. Simplistic, easy to pick up, and fairly gratifying, it makes for a good game. I definitely recommend it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/25/09

Game Release: Centipede (US, 1982)