Centipede (1998 video game)

Centipede is a remake of the 1980 arcade game of the same name, produced by Atari and designed by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey. This version has multiple in-game innovations, with improved gameplay and graphics. It retains the original idea of shooting the entire centipede repeatedly. The player assumes the role of a futuristic vehicle named "The Shooter", rather than the original garden gnome.

Gameplay consists of a series of "rounds" which are completed once the player eliminates the centipede that winds down the playing field. Obstacles such as spiders, fleas, and scorpions complicate the game. At the same time, a population of mushrooms grows between the player and the centipede.

Gameplay

The game can be played in two game modes, "arcade" and "adventure", the latter marking a departure from the original version. Only in the arcade mode does one play what would be considered a Centipede remake, as movement around the map is restricted and only the classic enemies make an appearance. In the campaign, one completes a series of levels linked by a storyline. Here the player encounters both the original enemies (centipede, spider, flea, scorpion, poisonous mushroom) and a new array as well (dragonfly, butterfly, firebug, icebug, killer mushroom, etc.), of whom some are capable of throwing projectiles to destroy the shooter and others of altering mushrooms. If an enemy or projectile contacts the shooter, the player loses a life.

The player gains one point for each mushroom they kill (except for poisonous and killer mushrooms, which count as more) and a set of points for each insect, the amount depending on the type of insect they shoot, and, if playing the campaign, by saving people and gathering talismans, as well as protecting buildings, "star crystals", and other structures from swarms of insects. Whenever the player gains 20,000 additional points, an additional "shooter" (life) is obtained.

Campaign story

The story tells of a group of villages, Weedom, all living in harmony with one another and nature. However, according to The Legend, every hundred years a group of "armored beasts" emerge from "the dark core of the earth" to serve their master, the Queen Pede, and aid her in the destruction of the Wee people. Every time the insects are defeated the villagers believe that the threat has permanently ended; but they always return, as the legend indicates.

Every time this happens a magic stick is employed to find a hero to defend them. This time the stick pointed to a child by the name of Wally Gudmunzsun, He has to pilot the spacecraft known as "The Shooter" which was created by The Legend. Wally wasn't a hero at all, and was just a simple bean counter. However when you are asked to save the world, You wouldn't ask why and you would just make it happen.

Wally goes through many worlds, saving lone villagers, defeating the beasts and eventually going on to defeat the Queen Pede herself. Wally is classified as an Official Hero in Weedom, and is no longer just a simple bean counter. He gains a statue of himself placed in Weedom.

Even though this is what happened every 100 years, The Legend classifies what would happen every 1000 years.

Gameplay in Adventure Mode

The player plays as Wally, the chosen hero to fight the insects that century, who is to take control of the shooter, a vehicle made for, as its name indicates, rendering shots against the insect menace. Thus, the player embarks a journey across five worlds: Weedom, Frostonia, Inferium, Enigma, and Evile (each consisting of 6 levels each, with the final level of each including a boss that must be defeated), in order to end the curse forever.

Apart from the appearance of additional foes and bonus points awarded at the end of each level if certain tasks are accomplished (rescuing villagers, extracting star crystals, etc.), the adventure mode also differentiates from the arcade mode by the presence of power-ups, triggered by shooting down flashing mushrooms, which enhance the shooter's shooting abilities (equipping it with double shots, triple shots, rockets, explosives, etc.).

Enemies

Insects

Weedom

Centipedes

Spiders

Fleas

Scorpions

Dragonflies

Borer Bugs

Mortar Bugs

Frostonia

Frost Beetles

Technical features

Screenshots of the original version (bottom) and the 1998 remake (top), which strongly contrasts with the original in-game graphics.

Even though the graphics were 3D, they consisted of simple geometrical shapes. Notice the hexagonal head of the scorpion, as seen in the game.

One of the most notable innovations of this remake, relative to previous versions, is that of the greatly improved 3D graphics.^[1] The game's campaign also includes first-person and third-person view, apart from the default "over-the-shoulder" perspective. Nevertheless, bugs with the new views have been cited by critics, such as when the player enables the first-person view, the shooter is destroyed easily by insects attacking from behind, out of the player's sight.

Reception

The game received mostly mixed reception, since many promised improvements and feature additions went unimplemented or were implemented poorly. Many reviewers suggested that gamers go back to playing the original version.

One review stated that even though this remake for personal computers was not successful, its adaptation to home consoles were quite impressive.^[2]

It received recognition for its graphics, which were described as "immensely more sophisticated" than the original version; but this led to the question: "Do the improved graphics actually make the game any better?"^[3]

GameSpot gave it a rating of 6.9, equivalent to "fair".^[4]

Brett Alan Weiss of AllGame rated the game.com version three and a half stars out of five and called it a "competent port of a more than competent game. It features the same type of addictive and intense gameplay as the original (sans the track ball, of course) and keeps the distinctive audio intact, right down to the high-pitched, but daunting sound effects when the spider pays a visit. [...] The animation is jerky and there's not a lot of depth here, but the game does a decent job of keeping the basic look of the original Arcade classic intact."^[5]

See also

• Centipede (arcade game)
• Shoot 'em up

References

External links

• Ign's entry for the game
• Trygame's entry for the game
• Gamespot's entry for the game
• Paranoid Production's entry for the game
• Centipede at MobyGames
• Game Developer Magazine Post-Mortem written by lead designer Richard Rouse III