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Centipede Review
Written by Justin Davis on Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Includes a faithful port & a modern, updated version. Selectable Difficulty
Those damn erratic spiders ruining a good run.
There are a number of gameplay amenities that can turn an average retro mobile port into a great release, and Centipede includes virtually all of them. It's a model that I hope future retro arcade titles from Glu or other publishers emulate.
The first key element is that whatever graphic updates, gameplay remixes, or shooter power-ups have been included, there's an option to play the pure, undiluted retro experience. Centipede's aptly-named classic mode is, near as I can tell, extremely faithful to the 1980 arcade classic.
For the unfamiliar, Centipede's gameplay isn't radically different from many other early single-screen shooters (like Galaga or Space Invaders). A Centipede descends from top to bottom, switching directions anytime it hits one of the mushrooms that litter the play field. Hit any of the centipede's middle segments, and it splits into two descending centipedes. You're tasked with destroying all those descending segments before they reach the bottom. That's basically it, although in my opinion the game included more depth than it's peers, via smart management of the mushrooms, and other quick thinking.
The second key element to a great retro port is the inclusion of an updated or remixed version to stand alongside the classic, and it's here that Glu really outdid themselves. In addition to a power-up mode which adds something like ten uber-weapons (lasers, missiles, remote bombs and time bombs, you name it), five new, varied, and attractive gameplay skins have also been added. The Robo skin changes the centipede from an organic threat into a metallic one, turns the roving spiders into UFOs, etc. All five are completely different from each other and can change the game from cutesy to sinister.
The last major feature Centipede includes that is a huge plus is selectable difficulty. Both Power-Up and Classic mode can be played on easy, medium, or hard. I wasn't able to identify what specifically changed at each level (other than the speed of gameplay), but on hard I saw the "game over" screen much, much faster - there's a large difficulty difference between the three options.
Glu also included other small features that prove the company understands how mobile games are played. A "quick play" option allows you to hop into a game using whatever combination of game skin, difficulty, and mode you last played. Another nifty extra is the trivia that appears during loading screens. Did you know the original Centipede protagonist was a lawn gnome?
I never enjoyed Centipede quite as much as some of the other retro arcade titles that have been given a new lease on life via the mobile medium, but it's still tough to not be impressed in the effort and thought that went into this re-release. Hopefully it will cause other publishers to step up their retro mobile game.
