Centipede: Recharged (PC) Quick Review

Centipede Recharged is a reboot if the classic Atari Arcade game that mixes retro game design with modern graphics and some new gameplay mechanics. The game offers and arcade mode, and a challenge mode, as well as coop play.

Changes were made to the arcade game like the spiders, who are no longer the bane of your existence, dropping power-up icons to give the player special attacks for a limited time. Things like auto fire, explosive rounds, and even a shotgun style shot. The game is really fun to play, and for the Steam version, they added mouse support, which makes controlling the game buttery smooth.

My only complaint against the arcade mode is there are no extra lives to start, so one mistake will restart back at the beginning of the game. The game features a leaderboard, so the point is to score as many points as possible on one life. As much as I like classic Centipede, and all it's later offshoots, I'm pretty terrible at the game, and I die pretty quickly, so I only get to enjoy the game for a couple minutes at a time before it's game over. I would have liked a couple of lives added so I could get futehr and see more of the game, but instead the Arcade mode is a survival mode.

This makes the arcade mode into something you play for a little bit, enjoy short spurts, and just move on. I haven't played the coop arcade mode, but having a second player would definitely extend the replay value a little.

On top of the arcade mode, they added a challenge mode to the game where you can play the game with various objectives, thing like kill fifty spiders, kill a certain amount of enemies with bombs, fight a super centipede, and etc. These modes expand the life of the game a little, even if I've never been big on challenge modes in most games myself. I kind of wish they had added a few extra lives to the arcade experience which I find to be the most fun part of the game. I know, get gud noob.

The Bottom Line: For it's $9.99 price tag, I can say I am happy with my purchase of Centipede Recharged, even if there are parts I think could have done better. The core experience is as fun as it ever was, I just wish the developers would have made a few choices to extend the arcade mode a little, at least for single player. The gameplay is classic, and fun, there are coop options to enjoy this with a friend, and even if the game won't keep you playing for hours at a time, similar to an arcade cabinet, it's fun to boot up, play for a little bit, enjoy and move on with your day. If you're a centipede fan, or are just looking for something fresh to play with yourself or others, give this game a look.

Centipede Recharged is available on every current console on the market, and the developers are currently working on Yars recharged, which, from the trailer, looks like another fantastic reboot. Look for Yars Recharged when it hits later this month.

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