Centipede

"Bugs Revisited"

Centipede is a game that comes with some difficulty while remaining in a classic gaming shell. With plenty of things to shoot at and points to score while avoiding incoming insects and increasing difficulty, this is a game that most older gamers grew up with. Now, there are two different variations on this game in the arcade that you can play, one of which you control a space ship of sorts {centipede} and one in which you control an archer {millipede}. However, on the Atari, you really won’t be able to tell the difference aside from the way that the game is presented and a couple of different game play differences that are pretty easily seen.

Centipede offers you just a couple of differences from the arcade version in which you don’t have mushrooms, but rather squares that appear at random. The further you get into the game, the more of these squares you have that will alter the course of the Centipede to the bottom of the screen. While it seems just like Millipede, there are none of the DDT canisters that the Millipede game has and you’re left to simply blast whatever happens to come your way. The speed of the game is actually done fairly well for an older game like this, and you’ll find that the game hasn’t lost any of its undeniable charm that makes it one of the classics.

The Game Play

Centipede features a constant top to bottom game play feature in which you must shoot both mushrooms that are in your way and a roving centipede creature that constantly comes down at you. Through your battle, you’ll encounter different insects that move in different patterns to try and throw you off the main path. Once you’ve gotten used to the patterns and you can move your little ship around, then you’ll find that the speed merely increases at such a rate that destruction is inevitable. Scoring is based on how many insects you can destroy and what stage that you’re on based on the different colors of the mushroom caps that look to obstruct your way.

The most interesting part of Centipede is the fact that the further into the game you get, the harder it becomes to kill off the Centipede that is making its way down the screen to kill you. When you get into the game itself, the hardest part to deal with is the way that the insects move to kill you. As you move your ship from side to side along the screen, you can take out the different mushrooms that will either help to let the Centipede move in a straight line or send them down a column of staggered mushrooms towards you for an easy kill. Blasting the Centipede is easy enough, but unlike Millipede, you don’t have the use of the DDT canisters to help kill it off, which is the main difference between the two games.

Control is nothing too difficult, in which you use the Atari joystick to move your space ship from one side of the screen to the other. A firing button can be depressed in order to fire a constant volley of lasers up the screen at the incoming insects to help you with your score. However, for every creature that you destroy on the centipede line, it turns into a mushroom which changes the flow and direction of the centipede on it’s travel down the screen. Once you’ve gotten used to the patterns of the insects, you’ll find that the control and the game play increases in difficulty and you’ll just have to use blind luck to get through the later stages!

The Visuals

There really isn’t all that much to Centipede that you have to worry about in terms of visuals and special effects. The creatures all move fairly quickly across the screen and the colors that you find are pretty basic depending on what stage that your on. Something else of interest here is that the mushrooms really aren’t that at all, but rather squares that appear on the screen. Gamers that have played this in the arcade will see the difference between the two versions immediately and you’ll find that the game is rather simple when done this way.

Really, the only way to tell that you’ve advanced through the stages is to watch and see what color the mushroom caps/squares are from stage to stage and to see just how many sectional centipedes are coming down the screen at you. The speed of which the Centipede drops is something else that is worth taking notice of and is rather fast if you’re not paying attention to what’s happening. Other details in the game are minimal with only the simplistic view of the spiders and ticks bouncing across the screen to let you know that you’re up against something different than the standard centipede creatures.

The Audio

As far as I can tell, there really is no music to accompany you through the game and you’ll find that most of your audio input is given to you through beeps and bloops as well as the occasional crash of your ship being hit. The sweet, high-pitched sound of your laser being fired and the constant drone of the creature as it makes its way down the screen is pretty much all that you’ll have to listen to, so be prepared for a rather minimal way to play and listen to the game.

The best part of the audio on the other hand is the ability to know when the other enemies are appearing on the screen, simply because the game audio gives off a different tone to warn you of the impending approach of something different than the usual Centipede. However, the less that you hear is actually better in most respects, because there is nothing here that allows you to have your attention drawn away from the action at any given point.

The Verdict

With the minimal features in the audio and visual departments, Centipede falls into the classic gaming section but fills a small place in classic gamers hearts. Having grown up on games like this one, Centipede offers up some pretty impressive game play that increases with each passing stage and although it is literally the same thing every time that you play, it still allows for some heavy duty action. If you see this game in the arcade someplace with the rest of the older machines, then you’re looking at a pretty good bet on what to spend your money on if you’re into the older games. Hell, you might even find the variation, Millipede, which is just as fun, if not just as challenging!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/01/02, Updated 10/03/02