Centipede (1998 video game)
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| Centipede | |
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| Developer(s) | Atari and Leaping Lizard |
| Publisher(s) | Hasbro Interactive |
| Designer(s) | Richard Rouse III (Lead Designer) Mark Bullock (Lead Level Designer) |
| Version | 1.00 |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation, Dreamcast |
| Release date | October 31, 1998 |
| Genre(s) | shoot 'em up |
| Mode(s) | Single player and multiplayer over IPX, TCP/IP, Modem or two-player split screen. |
| Media | CD (1) |
| Input methods | Keyboard |
Centipede is a remake of the 1980 arcade game, produced by Atari and designed by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey. This version has multiple in-game innovations, with improved gameplay and graphics. It retains the original idea of shooting the entire centipede repeatedly. The player assumes the role of a futuristic vehicle named "The Shooter", rather than the original garden gnome.
Gameplay consists of a series of "rounds" which are completed once the player eliminates the centipede that winds down the playing field. Obstacles such as spiders, fleas, and scorpions complicate the game. At the same time, a population of mushrooms grows between the player and the centipede.
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[edit] Gameplay
[edit] Rules and concepts
Throughout the game, the player gains points, which, once the game ends, forms a final score which input to a "high scores list" along with the player's name.
The player gains points by shooting insects and mushrooms, and, if playing the campaign, by saving people and protecting buildings and other structures from swarms of insects. Whenever the player gains 20,000 additional points, an additional shooter is gained.
Insects are the main enemies (along with dangerous mushrooms) that the player encounters; if they contact the shooter, the player loses a life. Some insects throw projectiles to destroy the shooter. Enemies are divided into "classical" and "new" enemies. Classical enemies are those whose origins trace back to the original Centipede; they are found in the campaign mode and are the sole component of the arcade mode. New enemies originate with this version of the game and are only found in campaign mode.
[edit] Game modes
The game can be played in two game modes, "arcade" and "campaign", the latter marking a departure from the original version. Only in the arcade mode does one play what would be considered a Centipede remake, as movement around the map is restricted and only the classic enemies make an appearance. In campaign mode, one completes a series of levels linked by a storyline. Here the player may encounter both "classic" and "new" enemies.
The story tells of a group of villages, Weedom, all living in harmony with one another and nature. However, every 100 years giant insects led by the "Queen Pede", described as "armored beasts", emerge from the dark core of the earth and attack the villages. Luckily, every time this happens the wise wizard of the village employs a magic stick to find a "hero", a villager with special capabilities, who fights the insects and eventually defeats them. Every time the insects are forced to return to inside the earth, the villagers believe that the threat has been ended forever, but the evil insects always return. Every time a victorious hero dies, his soul rests forever in a special statue after him at Enigma, a land somewhere far from the villages.
The game's plot is that the evil insects once again return to the surface and the wise wizard employs his magic stick to locate the next hero. Strangely, the stick points to Wally, a kid who seems unfit for any serious task, especially that of a hero. Eventually, the wizard and his men force him into battle, and get him inside "The Shooter", a technological vehicle capable of shooting laser beams to harm the insects. So Wally enjoins the quest, first by assaulting swarms of centipedes heading toward the villages, then defending sacred crystals, saving druids, helping people in diverse locations such as frosty Eskimo villages and heated mines, preserving the statues of past heroes, and finally destroying the Queen Pede to end the curse forever.
[edit] Technical features
One of the most notable innovations of this remake, relative to previous versions, is that of the greatly-improved 3D graphics.[1] Unfortunately, several bugs in gameplay have been found, degrading many of its new features. For instance, when the player selects the first-person view, the shooter is destroyed easily by insects attacking from behind, out of the player's sight; the game received negative criticism for this technical limitation.
[edit] Reception
The game received mostly negative criticism, since many promised improvements and feature additions went unimplemented or were implemented poorly. Many reviewers suggested that gamers go back to playing the original version.
Some put the game slightly better than Frogger, and it was seen as an interesting game for Centipede fanatics but beneath the standards of most occasional gamers.[2]
One review stated that even though this remake for personal computers wasn't successful, its adaptation to home consoles were quite impressive.[3]
It received recognition for its graphics, which were described as "immensely more sophisticated" than the original version; but this led to the question: "Do the improved graphics actually make the game any better?" This question was to be later applied to all video games, leading to analysis of the influence of the graphics over gameplay and the game itself.[4]
Gamespot gave it a rating of 6.9, equivalent to "fair".[5]
