Well, it's about time I gave a game that played like Centipede or Millipede a shot for the Internet.
Bug Blaster by Steve Evans is a combination of Centipede and Millipede for the BBC Micro from 1983. Just like in those games, you'll have to shoot down any insect that moves: scorpions, spiders, centipedes and even the mushroom poisoning snail known as "Brian." There is also an earwig enemy, and shooting it gives you 1,000 points.
Z moves left, X moves right, * moves up and ? moves down, while the shift button fires.
Shooting down parts of the centipede will turn them into mushrooms, and if you shoot down an entire mushroom, you'll get one point for it. The mushrooms can be used as a means of getting the centipede down to your level sooner, and if things are going your way and you're well positioned, you can finish off a centipede in seconds to go on to the next level. The further you go, the faster and more furious the action will become, just like in the original games. If the centipede's head reaches the bottom of the screen where you are, centipede heads will show up until you destroy everything centipede-related in the level.
The snail acts much like the scorpion from Centipede (and looks like it, too), going from one side of the screen to the other and poisoning mushrooms, turning them a different color. If the centipede touches a poisoned mushroom, it will go straight to the bottom, but if you can position yourself correctly, you can finish the centipede off in seconds. Interestingly, this is the one enemy from Centipede, the rest are from Millipede.
Bees fly down from the top of the screen, dropping mushrooms as they race to the bottom. Spiders move around in a zig-zag pattern in an attempt to destroy, but thankfully, they cannot double back. Dragonflies move towards the bottom of the screen in diagonal directions, and there is also an earwig that moves around and gives you 1,000 points when shot.
Whenever you lose a life, any mushrooms that are only partially destroyed are restored to full health, and you'll get points for how many partially destroyed mushrooms you had left on the screen.
This game controls well for the most part, save for one nagging flab. If you want to move and fire at the same time, you'll need to move first, then shoot. If you try to do it the other way around, you'll find out that you cannot move while holding down the fire button. Once you get used to this, however, you'll be fine.
If you get a multiple of 10,000 points, you'll get an extra life, so play well.
This is not a bad combination of Centipede and Millipede. All but one of the enemies are from Millipede, but you don't have the DDT canisters to make destroying the centipedes early and more easily as well as all that mid-level craziness, making this play more like Centipede. You can tell what everything looks like, and the game sounds very arcade-y. You'll have a bit of fun with this one, even if there are other clones of Centipede and Millipede out there. Just remember to move first before firing if you want to do both simultaneously. Give this one a shot!
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