Centipede

If you find high end graphics too much for you or your phone or if you just love the challenge a classic retro game has to offer, you’ll be pleased to know that Centipede has been made with you in mind!

If you’ve never heard of Centipede, it’s a game that came out in the early 80’s and kept children and adults at the time glued to their old computer. The game consists of a garden full of mushrooms and a few creepy crawly bugs which you must blast away, namely the centipede, spider and scorpion.

The centipede moves in a fast and quite random pattern through the garden with one thing on its mind – to eat you! You must defend yourself by shooting your gun at the creepy crawly beast. Every time you hit it, a section of the centipede is blasted away, however, you need to try and keep your aim steady because if you’re unable to time your shot right, you’ll either miss or hit the centipede in the middle – which will cause the bug to split in two! The spider moves in a zigzag fashion and also has it in for you. The scorpion moves across the screen and although may want to kill you off, does little more than give you bonus points should you zap it in time.

Unlike other games like Space Invaders, where you can only move left or right, you can move up and down as well. The only issue is the mushrooms which appear. After completing a level a few more sprout up and they pose a help as well as a hindrance. They prevent the centipede and spider from moving freely around the screen, which means they will have to run a maze to get to you. However, the mushrooms appear after you hit the centipede(s) which will prevent you from hitting lots at a time and they take a few shots before they are destroyed each time. Should you let the creature get too close, you’ll also box yourself in which can mean certain death for you if you’re not careful.

This game although is almost as simple as it comes, it’s very tricky to keep an eye on everything that’s going on at the one time. Zapping a fast moving hungry centipede whilst avoiding a spider and trying to get the high score by shooting the scorpion means you can easily let one or other get too close and lose a life.

In this mobile version you have the original looking black screen with multi-coloured creatures and mushrooms. Alternatively, you can go for the modernised look which gives you a much more graphically pleasing appearance but can be a little distracting at times.

Overall then, this captures the original version perfectly and brings back my childhood memories. The newer version looks good too although I still found myself preferring the original version more. The moves are simple, the rules are easy and the game will keep you bug-zapping for many many hours to come. Classics are always great and should be enjoyed at any age – and this is a great classic.

Rating 79%

Positives

Perfectly captures the original game

Controls are simple and effective

Graphics are authentic

Enjoyable and highly addictive

Negatives

Quite repetitive

No real difference from one level to the next

Centipede doesn’t move faster when you make it smaller as I recall from the original