This first selection of games I grouped together because one was Asteroids originally released in arcades in 1979, and the other is Space Duel released in 1982, a semi-sequel of sorts to Asteroids as it played nearly identical although there are a few cosmetic differences, and one major difference that I will get to later. In these games, you pilot a spaceship and shoot incoming objects that break apart into smaller pieces multiple times getting progressively more difficult to shoot as well as having smaller and faster-moving objects on the screen that you have to keep track of and dodge.
I've never been a huge fan of Asteroids in any form, mainly because I was never great at controlling the ship with its sliding about advancing behavior. Most of the time when I would play this, I would just spin in one place and shoot until I lost all my ships. This time around I legitimately flew the ship, avoiding the asteroids and trying to shoot down the alien ship when it came on screen, usually dying to the smaller ship as it has better targeting than the larger ship. I actually found myself thinking, "I should have been able to avoid that UFO shot," or "one more game and I could probably beat my high score." The graphics on the New 3DS screen, while larger than that of the original DS, are still a little blurry, especially the "1979 Atari Inc" at the bottom of the screen, but Asteroids is not supposed to be a hyper-defined game, so it is kind of forgivable.
I played the game using the simplified controls.
Verdict: Yes.
- Game 1: 5,400
- Game 2: 4,800
- Game 3: 6,250
- Game 4: 4,850
Outside of this collection of games, I do not recall ever hearing or seeing anything about Space Duel, and I do not recall ever seeing it in an arcade so I was not sure what I was getting into when I started. As it turns out, Space Duel is similar to Asteroids in that you control a triangle of a ship that can rotate 360 degrees while firing a rear thruster to propel yourself and shoot at colorful asteroid-like objects spinning through space. Occasionally, an aggressive ship will come into the screen firing at you while you try and shoot and avoid the floating space projectiles. There are also these + shaped objects floating around that change color when you shoot them, but I did not notice my score increasing when they were shot, so they might just be indestructible objects to make the game a little more difficult.
One key difference between this and other Asteroids-like games is that you have a shield that can be activated with the press of a button. There is a limited amount of shield you have, decreasing in brightness the longer you use it or if it is hit by enemy fire. This mechanic I really liked because it took a lot of the pressure away from the all-too-often one-hit-kill mechanic as it does not punish the player for not flying well if they remember to tap that shield button right before slamming into an obstacle.
The other differing mechanic in Space Duel is that you have the option to have a second ship connected to your primary ship by a tether. This second ship does give you an additional gun to hit more targets, but in turn, it is another target for obstacles and enemies and if one ship explodes, then your primary ship explodes too. It was challenging for sure, but I found that I liked the single-ship better and less aggravating.
Space Duel really felt like the next evolution of Asteroids with the inclusion of the shield, the multi-colored asteroid objects, the aggressive enemy ship, and the indestructible things that fly through space.
I played with simplified controls because I was already familiar with the layout and figured why mess with a good thing?
Verdict: Yes.
Game 1: 5,610 (single)
Game 2: 8,860 (single)
Game 3: 7,750 (dual)
Game 4: 7,770 (single)
I think this is a pretty strong start to our series. One a classic arcade game that I was already familiar with, the other a completely new title, and both games surprised me in how much I ended up enjoying them. But if you are looking for reviews that are not all sunshine and pixelated rainbows, there will be a couple of articles where nearly every game I bring up received a "No" verdict from me. You will just have to wait and see.
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