Michael Abrash's Space Strike

Friendly Aliens? Forget it!

From the December 1982 issue of Creative Computing

The Company

I covered the history of Datamost in a previous article. If you would like to read about it, click here.

The Game

Space Strike was basically a clone of Space Invaders. The player moved across the bottom of the screen, shooting at advancing aliens who are also shooting. The player can hide behind barriers, but those can be damaged by both the player and the aliens. The player wins when he destroys all the aliens.

The game was written by Michael Abrash and was released for the IBM PC in 1982. The name Michael Abrash may sound familiar, he has had a long career in game dev and computer graphics. He wrote a Pac-Man clone for the Apple II entitled Snack Attack. He also worked on graphics for Windows NT 3.1. Later on, he worked on some of the graphics code for Quake. For many years, Abrash wrote a column for Dr. Dobb's Journal. He spent some time at Valve and currently works for Oculus VR as their Chief Scientist.

Now back to the game. Mark Lacine wrote the following review for Computer Gaming World, Issue 3.2.

SPACE STRIKE is a Space Invaders type game for the IBM-PC. As one would expect, the object is to stop the aliens who march across the screen from reaching the bottom or from destroying your space tank (gun). Points are given for hitting the alien saucers which travel quickly across the screen from time to time. High scores are saved to disk.

The strong points of the game include the option of using either keyboard or joysticks. Using the keyboard is quite cumbersome and not suggested if you want to achieve any reasonable score. This is not the fault of the programmer, but is generally the rule for any arcade game where agility is needed. The author, however, has made it possible for you to change the playing keys so that you can select the ones that are the most convenient. You also have the option to turn the sound off and to freeze the game in progress.

SPACE STRIKE is a simple but effective game of Space Invaders. Graphic quality for the aliens, space creatures and missiles is fair. The graphics displayed when an alien ship is hit is first rate. The accompanying sounds add to the effect. When hit, the alien spacecraft fragments into many discernable pieces which gently float down the screen. The destruction of your space tank is also finely illustrated. Once hit, your craft fragments into a mass of tiny pieces as it is strewn about the screen.

In conclusion, SPACE STRIKE is a new name for an old game. This doesn't change the fact that it is a well programmed, error-free game. It is recommended to those who are looking for a good quality Invaders program.

Try our Space Strike for yourself here.

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