QCF: Centipede: Recharged

efore games had these rich worlds where players could invest countless hours into game theory videos on YouTube and subsequent dollars on merchandise, Video Games were mostly button-mashing contests of skills with some surface-level premises to hold your attention beyond all of the action. Where some placed you in the role of a frog trying to cross the road, or a Cattle Rancher trying to herd your livestock, a majority of retro video games was shooters, and one of the most iconic among them was Atari’s Centipede.

Most of the software from this era was very limited with what they could do for their presentation, often placing the burden of personality majorly upon the player’s fortitude of imagination, filling the blanks that crude pixels and chiptunes couldn’t do on their own. Centipede was unique in how little it left to the imagination of its players though, unfolding a distinctive world of mutated fungus and humid fauna, teeming with monstrous insects who’re ready to destroy anyone crazy enough to disturb their putrid land. The charismatic shooter’s premise and addictive gameplay has granted it a legacy that’s now spanned decades across the medium, and in an effort to revitalize the title for a modern audience, Atari has called on the folks behind the brilliant Mission Command Recharged, Adamvision Studios, to release the second entry into the “Recharged” lineup, Centipede: Recharged.

Where the previous efforts from the developer were certainly impressive, the lengths they’ve pushed the Centipede formula is nothing short of spectacular—Centipede: Recharged is one of the best modern arcade titles we’ve seen since the likes of Geometry Wars.

So what is it about this iteration of Centipede that makes it so special—how much better can a reworked version of a forty-year-old game really be? Well, the answer is surprisingly simpler than you think—because, underneath all of the enhancements, the core of the title is very much in line with the Coin-Op Classic and its Second Generation Console counterparts, juiced with a whole new sensory overload for your eyes and ears. For starters, Adamvision expanded upon the Hyper-sensualized Neon-raster visual style used in Missile Command: Recharged, transforming the traditional dark themes of Centipede into an Eighties-soaked laser-grid, complete with colorful Vector sprites of the infamous bugs frenetically flashing across all corners of the screen. The minimalistic art design does a great job of looking sleek in motion, with graphics that are reminiscent of those ancient Coleco LCD-screened Tabletop Arcade games, only at 60 frames per second. As refined as the graphics may be, however, the presentation of Centipede: Recharged is still just crude enough to faithfully elicit the nostalgia of the 8-bit aesthetic of the original.

As far as sound design goes, Adamvision definitely didn’t spare any expense in this department of their sophomore effort with Atari, enlisting the talent of independent game composer, Megan McDuffee, who absolutely killed it with her composition for Centipede: Recharged. Although a lot of the tracks feature chip-tune heavy beats, many of them also infuse Modern electronica stylings that are juxtaposed with subtle dubstep breakdowns that are sparingly paced, rounding out the soundtrack that’s just as flashy as the action on-screen while still being catchy all the same.

Aside from the enhanced cosmetics of Centipede: Recharged, this reimagined take on the formula also improves upon the hectic trigger-happy gameplay of the series with a slew of new mechanics.

Just to recap on the framework of Centipede; the goal is to survive against endless waves of alien crawlers for as long as you can, racking up points for each bug-baddie you can bring down before biting the big one. The gimmick lies in the variety of enemy types that can be randomly encountered during these rounds, like the trademark Centipede itself, which can only be destroyed section by section, steadily splitting apart the more you shoot it down, and splitting into multiple moving targets as a result. If that weren’t enough of a headache, Every Centipede segment you score a killing blow against will decompose into Mushroom to crowd against the other fungi on the playing field as one last “screw you” before death. In addition to the game’s namesake are the swarms of Fleas who sporadically rush down the field, Scorpions who dart across the screen leaving behind combustible Mushrooms that explode when destroyed, and finally, pesky Spiders that intrude from the left and right areas of the Player’s immediate zone, demanding more attention amongst all the chaos.

The biggest addition to the setup is the new Power-ups that players can now earn when they take down a Spider, unleashing a wide assortment of guns and powers that significantly improve the damage output from the stock firearm. These Intermittent improvements can range anywhere from a rapid-fire shot that can flood foes with bullets in milliseconds to a Mirrored Doppelganger drone that syncs up with your lateral movement on the enemy-side of the screen, mimicking your gunfire so that you flank droves of insects with half of the effort. Granted, these random boons only last for roughly 10 seconds before wearing off, the drop-rate for new Power-up is frequent enough that Players will be able to pick and choose between whatever specific upgrade can best combat the given combat situation, applying a bit of a risk/reward element to the fast-paced nature of the game. For example, the Explosive Bullet Power-up is ideal for crowd control on multiple sets of intact Centipedes and Mushroom clusters but a terrible counter to Flea swarms, while the Spreadshot is great for long-distance coverage, but a poor choice for close-quarters assault, a scenario where the Burst shot is a far more optimal weapon to use in.

This revamped take on the addictive score-chasing gameplay of Centipede genuinely succeeds at escalating the drip-feed grip of its action to the next level. It doesn’t take long before that “one more try” mentality sinks in, turning minutes into hours, all so that you can get closer to climbing the next spot on the global leaderboard.

In the event that the chase for the Top score gets old though, Centipede: Recharged also comes packed with a Challenge Mode where players will be tasked with completing specific objectives under conditions different than the standard Arcade mode of gameplay. This secondary mode is an effective palate-cleanser to the main mode, for the most part, some of the modifiers are admittedly recycled stipulations of previous missions. These repeated conditions vary between targeting specific enemy types only, or surviving heightened waves of bugs for a set amount of time, just with the added difference of some higher stakes and steeper difficulty curve in each subsequent recurrence of the conditions. Because of these reappearing themes in the Challenge Mode, the lack of variety may be hit or miss for some folks, but nonetheless, it’s still a fun distraction that’s in line with the spirit of the game.

The last addition I want to talk about is a mode that’s always sounded better on paper than it ever has in practice for the franchise—Cooperative multiplayer. Centipede: Recharged offers Multiplayer for both Arcade Mode and Challenge Mode, and it’s certainly executed more effectively than I initially expected. The added real estate of the wide-screen playing field not only makes it a better experience than what we’ve seen with Super Centipede or Centipede Infestation, but there’s also no collision between players who cross over into each other’s space either, minimalizing the stress that an additional moving object can bring to an already hectic playing-field. As refined as the option is, however, it’s still limited by the fact that it is strictly Local Co-op only, without any sort of Online Multiplayer for Cooperative or even Competitive play, something that was never afforded to the series in the past, but could’ve easily been implemented with technical capabilities for the current platforms the game is available on. I guess what I’m trying to say is while the Cooperative Multiplayer is serviceable, it’s a bit lacking in terms of what Adamvision could have REALLY done with the concept of Multiplayer for Centipede: Recharged.

Atari’s return into the Modern Gaming climate hasn’t made an immediate splash, sure, but thanks to stellar releases like Centipede: Recharged, the once leading brand of the Home Console Market is finally making its presence felt and there’s no better time to be an Old-School Arcade fan than right now.