Overview
While the Intellivision did earn a fair degree of market share, it was still dwarfed by the far more popular Atari VCS/2600 game console. It followed logically that taking some of the more popular and successful Intellivision developed titles and porting them to the Atari would be an additional revenue source, which lead to the creation of AstroBlast.
Sporting more modest hardware than the Intellivision, Astroblast features lower resolution graphics than the original Astrosmash, and also loses the star scape background and the distinctive pulsing soundtrack. However, the overall pace of the game is ramped up considerably compared to Astrosmash, and in addition to the standard joystick the game can also be played with the Atari paddles for analog control.
As with other M Network titles, the plastic cartridge shell for Astroblast is of the exact same mold as for Intellivision games, with an extra piece added at the end to fit the wider cartridge slot of the Atari system.
Gameplay
The basic gameplay of Astroblast is very much like the original. The player controls a base at the bottom of the screen and is tasked with destroying a variety of objects that fall from the sky.
Large rocks, when shot, break into two smaller rocks, and will cause the players' score to be reduced if allowed to strike the earth. Large and small spinners can be destroyed in one shot, but will eliminate the player instantly when reaching the ground. As the game progresses, guided missiles and laser shooing u.f.o.s will further accost the player. The color of the sky will change to mark the player's progression, increasing the score multiplier as well as the speed and intensity of the game.
Log in to comment