Astroblast

"Perhaps the most addicting game of all time"

Astroblast is more addicting then any drug ever made. You are a pod on the ground. asteroids are falling down, and it's your job to blow them out of the sky. It's not limited to just large space rocks though, you get attacked by smart bombs, UFOs, and more. One hit and you die, but you start with 10 lives and get many more. The asteroids and other attacking objects fall rather quickly, and as your score goes up, so does the speed and number of things that fall. It gets quite hectic, and in no time you'll find yourself yelling and cursing at your TV, your Atari, your dog, whatever is in your path. Then you realize you have 14 more lives, and start up again, blasting things to space debris, and BOOM, you're dead, and again, you start yelling every known curse word, and start making some up. But you still have 13 lives. This process repeats until either A. you run out of things to yell, or B. you run out of lives. This game is so addicting, I've actually played it for 24 straight hours, not stopping to eat, drink, sleep, or relieve myself, but I didn't care, I wanted to blast asteroids. (note: I'm a trained professional, and if you're not, then I don't recommend doing what I did...) Look at it this way, if the game wasn't so addicting, would I be writing this review for it?

Graphics: 8/10
You won't care much for the graphics once you get into the game, but the asteroids have different colors and sizes, and the UFOs look cool.

Sounds: 6/10
You'll hear these sounds reverberating in your head after an hour or so of playing this. It's the same sound of you shooting over and over and over, mixed with some other sounds.

Gameplay: 8/10
Simple, move back and forth, shooting anything that falls.

Story: NA
A long time ago...in an Atari far far away...

Fun/Addictiveness: 11/10
This had to get an 11 for addictiveness. Some clinics should consider using this as a form of rehab, although I don't think there are any Astroblast rehab places.

Challenge: 8/10
It gets very hard when things fall faster than you can shoot. Plus, all the other things that attack you make this a very difficult game. There's no ending, even after eleventy billion points.

Overall:
Go buy it, it's worth the couple of cents investment for the years of fun it will provide.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/06/01, Updated 03/06/01