Annihilator

Homebrew games suck?

Back in the day, I was always fascinated by what assortments of goodies I would find within the public domain. I was always scouring the various PD Libraries trying to find either the next big thing or something obscure that would take me by surprise. Who remembers Goodmans, FaST Club, Democlub, LAPD, and so many others?

The Atari ST is truly blessed with a gigantic and assorted Shareware/Public Domain library. That includes a fantastic gaming section and here is one such example, Annihilator by Robert HC Leong. This is a classy shoot 'em up that was released back in 1991 through the esteemed Budgie UK label (a company I genuinely miss).

The gameplay instantly feels familiar with lots of baddies swarming around the screen. They're called Insectoids, not Galaxians, no matter what you think! Controls are so fluent and moving left/right will dodge the attacks whilst whacking the joystick's button will fire your cannon. Killing aliens is never boring but remember to look out for power-ups that replenish your ship's shield and increase firepower. There are even end-of-level bosses, a cool idea.

Robert coded in a level skip cheat. It's easy to activate this, just pause the game using the spacebar. Now hold down shift and press keys F1-F10 for the required level. Sweet!!

I love old-skool arcade shoot 'em ups and this is one of the best. In fact, Annihilator performs like a commercial release with smooth-as-silk gameplay. What this game lacks in originality is more than compensated with its addictive action. One of the best from Bungie's library and definitely worthy of a Crash Smash!!

Download from the GamerBlitz website.