Astrobatics

Astrobatics is an arcade-style horizontal scrolling shooter that reminds of the classical Tyrian and Galaxian arcade games. The main difference between the classic arcades, like Tyrian, and Astrobatics is that the scrolling is done horizontally, but other than that, the feeling is quite the same. Astrobatics is just as entertaining as the old arcade games, even though the gameplay and game’s idea is very simple: you just control a spaceship and shoot the encountered enemies. In the process you will be able to collect items and upgrade your weapons. The fact that it comes with numerous missions makes it easy to keep track of your game progress. Each level is unique as the enemies are not only different, but they also employ different tactics.

Astrobatics is also lightweight and can be played with ease even on older, less powerful systems. Though it comes only with single-player mode, it features a nice “Hall of fame” function. Furthermore, it provides some handy basic settings, letting you enable or disable the sound and music or tweak the keyboard controls.

To sum it all up, though simple and rather unsophisticated, Astrobatics offers plenty of fun. I enjoy playing it and the fact that you get a free 60-minute trial should be enough to encourage you to give it a try too.