Astro Chase

Name:	Astro Chase
Company:	Parker Brothers
Model #:	9560
Programmer:	Fernando Herrera
Year:	1983
Released?	Yes
Notes:	Original game by First Star Software

Developed by First Star Software and originally released for the Atari 8-bit line of computers on tape and disk, Astro Chase is an interesting 2-D maze chase game that is a little too difficult for it's own good.  This is a shame because not only is Astro Chase a beautiful game to look at, but it has a whole lot of potential.  Interestingly Astro Chase was also released for the Exidy Max-A-Flex arcade machine (an Atari 600XL in an arcade cabinet) making it one of the first home computer games to get ported to the arcades (sort of).

The goal of Astro Chase is to stop the dreaded space mines from reaching earth, which just happens to be at the center of the universe (as we've always assumed).  However you can't just go around zapping space mines unhindered, no that would be too easy.  In Astro Chase the universe is actually a giant maze of stars and planets.  As you weave your way through the maze you'll begin encountering enemy ships (what space game would be complete without a few enemy ships?) that will try their best to either shoot you out of the sky (err... space), or just ram into you.

Thankfully you're not completely defenseless, you're armed with (wait for it...) a laser!  You can use this laser to either shoot ships or space mines (which is of course the goal of the game), but shooting takes energy.  Every time your ship shoots, bumps into a planet or star, or moves, it eats up energy.  Once your ship runs out energy it blows up, so don't let that happen.  To recharge your energy, simply fly through one of the energy generators conveniently located in the four corners of the universe (these appear as glowing squares).  Your ship can also generate a force field by flying through one of the force field generators located on the edges of the screen (these are non-glowing squares).  While generating a force field your ship is invincible and your energy consumption from moving is temporarily halted.  You can also ram the enemy (but not mines), but will cost you 100 units of energy.  The force field lasts approximately 10 seconds.

While the earlier levels may be simple enough, the later levels quickly become insanely difficult.  Combine this with the fact the whole game itself is rather boring and you get a cartridge that sits in the back of your collection collecting dust.  If the difficulty level had been bumped down a notch and the maze element ditched (or at least simplified), Astro Chase might have been a bigger hit.  Although it's not one of the better games for the 5200, Astro Chase is still fun in short bursts.  Just don't throw your controller at the screen when the earth blows up for twentieth time in a row.

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