Centipede

[Gary_b]

Centipede

Centipede seems to have gotten a bad wrap from many other reviewers. For a remake of a classic I think they did a pretty good job. When I played Mrs. Pac-Man maze madness I thought they really messed up a classic. Maybe that’s how other reviewers felt about Centipede? The reason I was unhappy with Mrs. Pac-Man, was that I thought they took the game to far away from the original series. That is not the case with Centipede. Its every thing the original game was but with better graphics and sound. They added a few other new features such as a story line and special power up weapons. Both of which are less than great! With the addition of the original Centipede game and cooperative play on the new one you have some replay options down the road.

Game play

If you have played the original Centipede as a child you will be right at home with this one. The game still follows the same basic rules. Shoot the Centipede as it makes its way down the screen. You get the endless annoying spiders and the mushroom dropping toad thing too. The controls and view are solid. The view has changed slightly in the new semi 3D world. You can change from 4 different viewing angles. How ever 2 of them make it pretty hard to see across the playing field and the spiders creep up on you to easy.

Graphics

The graphics are nice and colorful. There is not too much else that can be said about the graphics. They are good but not stellar. Their about what would expect when you consider the type of game that Centipede is. Even though they have come a very long way sense the original game. they don't come close to tapping the full potential of the hardware.

Sound

The sound is about what you would expect from a remake of a classic game. It’s on par with the rest of the game but could be better. The music is decent and the effects are good. There just is not much you can do to make the laser blast sound better with out killing the nostalgia of the classic. The blasting does get repetitive sounded pretty quickly, but so did the first game.


The final word

Given the low cost of this game today I would recommend it to any Dreamcast fan. If you are a fan of the original game then this one is for you too. It has a perfect port of the classic game and the new version has a similar feel that will be sure to bring the feeling of nostalgia. The new cooperative play adds replay value. It is definitely worth the $5 or $10 bucks it will cost you today. I give it a score 7.5 but I am a sucker for the classics.


click on any of the screen shots for a larger view.

[mazonemayu]

great game, can be friggin hard too at times

edit: also the music fits this game great; psychedelic trance while you get to blast mushrooms

[black flag nc]

Nice review. I'm interested in trying this game out now. I love frantic shooters anyway.

[TuxTheWise]

For anyone who wants to download this game:
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=656

[TheCoolinator]

This game got stomped on by reviewers IGN gave it a 2/10.......

Now I need to try it.

[Gary_b]

This game got stomped on by reviewers IGN gave it a 2/10.......

Now I need to try it.

that is why i chose it for my review. they seemed to have hated it for the same reasons i liked it.

[mazonemayu]

most of the bad ign reviews make pretty good games actually; just not mediocre, and not-mediocre= bad nowadays

[black flag nc]

I got a copy headed my way in the mail. If I don't like it I'm only out a few dollars.

[TheCoolinator]

It surprised me because usually they were very soft on Dreamcast games. Most IGN Dreamcast reviews were 2-3 points higher than Gamespot reviews.

[black flag nc]

I got it and... well... it's very repeditive. I can't imagine playing this one for more than a half hour.

Wears thin very quickly.