Astrobatics: Ultimate Collection
Astrobatics is an arcade shooting game with space combat elements. Unlike many similar games of this kind, in Astromanics players control a small spacecraft and fly through space, shooting down enemy vessels and avoiding their own attacks. The player's shields are gradually depleted by collisions with enemy vessels and missiles and when the shields wear out the ship is destroyed. For this reason, space combat elements are less involved than in other arcade games, which can be completed in minutes or less. This type of game is similar to Space Invaders in that it can also include wormholes and other obstacles that must be overcome. However, instead of attacking the spacehips, these enemies fire toward your craft and destroy it by damaging its hull.
To solve this problem, the programmers included additional features in the software package. The most important one is the "asteroid" system, which launches missiles at your vessel as it flies through space. Another helpful addition is the "escape pod" that allows the player to quickly escape from a badly damaged craft. These additional features make winning the game a more interesting experience than simply shooting down any enemy vessels that come within range of your ship. These added attributes give Astromanics a very serious feel and a rewarding experience, even though the primary purpose of the game is originally just to blast space enemies.
It's a bit of a shame, but because this game was developed for the Windows operating system, all the "extra" features needed to support it on Windows 7 will not be available on later versions. That said, if you have Windows Vista or Windows XP, there is a simple way to play the game using the built-in controls. You can access the start menu by pressing the keys Ctrl + Alt + Del. From there, you can select" Arcade", then" Astrobatics" to launch the game in that format.
