Games For Sail

In the spirit of all things funky, why not take a look at a game that really pushes the bizarre envelope. Astariel, is just such a game. Whomever the geniuses are that created this digital fiasco, I really need to know what they were smoking, drinking, ingesting, or shooting. Cause, I gotta get me some. This was the most fun I’ve had with a space shooting game in a long time. Frantic . . . yes, mesmerizing . . . yes, beautiful . . . yes, but really really fun as well.

The opening credits and many of the background screens remind me very much of the look of the game HomeWorld. Kind of glowing, oscillating, spectacularly colorful screens of stars, nebulas, and various otherworldly spacescapes. It’s really mesmerizing just to watch the colors shift and and morph. But, don’t get too hypnotized by it all, cause once the action starts, it really gets wild. This is the stuff screen savers are made of. It’s really cool, if you can set your video settings to high detail within the game. Otherwise you’ll be looking at just another eighties arcade type screen. The other thing I really liked, was the ability for the game to go wide screen. Have recently purchased a new 22 inch wide screen LCD, I really appreciate games that go the extra distance, and support this.

But enough about pretty looks, lets get to the game. Starting with your enemies. They’re really odd as games go, and quite different from any I’ve seen before. Think of a mix somewhere between Galaga, and Centepide. Long glowing blobs, that when shot, split into multiple odd enemies. Each one now a threat to your existence. And these guys come at you from every which way. Up, down, around, front, side, back, outside, and inside out. And their tracking patterns fall somewhere in between high art, and ruthless bounty hunter. Fun though, trying to keep out of their way. A warning here however to those in the early stages of carpel tunnel syndrome. Time to break out the wrist supports, or maybe better yet, time to learn to mouse with your feet. I know I reverted to mousing with my left hand years ago, due to far too much time blasting aliens, terrorists, centipedes, anything else that threatened my digital existence.

If you really like those old space style arcade shooters, you’re gonna love this one. C’mon, the download is free, small, and even runs under that picky as hell Vista. Give it a shot.

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