Asteroidia

Breaking rocks

Dave Munsie is a legend within the Atari ST world. It's as simple as that. The guy released several outstanding games: Berzerk, Frantick, and Kid GP. Some of his games were even enhanced for the Atari STe.

Asteroidia, as you've probably guessed by now, is a Munsie-take on the Asteroids arcade genre. This means it's hardly going to win an award for originality, but don't be put off because I've a sneaky suspicion this might be worth your time downloading this rock blaster. It's a Munsie game, so that's a given, right?

Forget about a static/no-scrolling screen with vector graphics. Dave is transporting us to a part of space where moving pixels rule, thanks to the Atari STe hardware. Pixels powered by the Blitter chip; scrolling at blistering speeds. Not only that, but you can expect DMA audio. Your monitor won't know what hits it!

To be honest, it's hard to imagine Asteroids looking impressive, but I'll post a screenshot anyhow...

The planet is powered by the Blitter and whizzes by!

Boring old asteroids, right?

As you would expect, the gameplay is predictably asteroids with us controlling a ship chasing lumps of rocks. It's initially quite hard and surely takes some practice because everything moves so fast. Thankfully, the controls are a cinch to master, so it won't be long before you realise how fantastic this alternative conversion is.

Visually, it looks nice, but it's the speed that will impress. Planet Earth swooshes across your monitor and makes you realise how under-utilised the Blitter and Atari STe were by many commercial gaming companies. Mr Munsie puts them to shame. The audio hasn't been forgotten, and we get DMA support, which plays a short sampled tune. However, it's quite repetitive, so I switched to far better chiptune/sound effects!

Here is the options screen where you can activate the Blitter, flip to PAL/NTSC, and much more...

Gotta tip my hat to Mr Munsie... Blitter, 50Hz, Atari STe / Falcon support. Incredible!!

The CryptO'pinion?

This might be Asteroids, but the twist is how it performs with impressive Blitted graphics zooming about the screen. Not only that, it's like watching a demo that proves how much untapped potential the Atari STe has. That enormously changes and enhances the gameplay mechanics. Factor in the excellent joystick controls, and you know why this is rock-smashingly addictive. One of the most entertaining games I've played.

Blitted graphics or not, this is bucketloads of fun and a superb Asteroids conversion. Highly recommended!

 Download Asteroidia from AtariMania 
 Hey, can you beat my hi-score below?