Centipede: Recharged

Four decades after they helped to define the video game market, a lot of ground-breaking arcade games are having a hard time staying relevant in a world dominated by Fortnite and Halo. A great example of this phenomenon is the Centipede franchise, which has been flailing around for more than a quarter-century hoping to find a way to relive its former glory. They tried expanding the story in a 1998 adventure reboot, had WayForward turn it into a character-focused shooter on the Wii, made it touchscreen on smart phones and even contemplated turning the series into a fantasy role-playing game on the Jaguar CD. Now, 40 years after the game first hit arcades, Centipede: Recharged is here to remind us why we fell in love with series in the first place by giving us a shooter that ditches all the gimmicks and gives us a good, old-fashioned throwback experience. Could it be that going back to the roots was the recipe for success this whole time? Gee, who could have seen that coming?

There's no story to be found in Centipede: Recharged. You also won't find character names, fancy backgrounds, massive boss fights or cinemas that flesh out the greater lore. What we get instead is a rather refreshing reimagined version of the original 1981 arcade game, complete with a challenge mode, leaderboards and co-op play. It's a no-frills take on the series that doesn't try to reinvent the franchise, but rather lovingly recreates the original game while taking inspiration from other throwback titles, like Space Invaders Extreme and Geometry Wars.

As obvious as it sounds, this is exactly what needed to happen to Centipede. It's a 40-year-old arcade game that had you slapping a trackball around with reckless abandon, not some long and involved role-playing game with a deep mythology to pull from. The game is at its best when you're shooting at bugs and trying to avoid mushrooms. Instead of trying to turn that very simple concept into something it's not, the goal always should have been to build onto the gameplay with new power-ups, enemies, levels and more. Keep what people love and make it better. Simple.

That's exactly what we get with Centipede: Recharged. It keeps the basic premise, changes the shape of the arena and showers the player with a bunch of exciting new power-ups. And you know what? It works. This is a throwback game that is easy to get into because the original game was already so damn fun. They don't even bother with bleeding edge graphics and state-of-the-art technology, as we're shooting at wireframe insects crawling over a simple grid. It has a simple and clean visual style that simultaneously looks futuristic and retro. It lets you know right away that this is not going to be like all the other Centipede reboots, and that's a good thing.

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In case you have somehow never played the 1981 arcade hit, the rules remain the same. Centipede is an overhead shooter where the goal is to fight through wave after wave of insect invaders and avoid being killed. It plays out like a variation on Space Invaders, with the hero stuck in the bottom third of the screen shooting at enemies slithering their way from the top. The big difference is that we're given a lot more freedom to move around and shooting a centipede will result in the different parts of the body breaking free and forming their own enemies, forcing the already frazzled player to keep track of a bunch of extra bad guys.

Just like the arcade game, the ultimate goal is to stay alive and earn a high score. That's it. This is made a bit easier thanks to the addition of power-up carrying spiders, characters that drop extra firepower that will help tilt the odds back in your favor. There's a nice variety of weapons to be found in Centipede: Recharged, including a spread shot, explosive bullets, a powerful rail gun and more. You will also find defensive powers, such as a protective shield and a ghost that will scare the enemies back up to the top of the screen. Even if they aren't as visually impressive as what we got in Space Invaders Extreme, these new Centipede weapons are still a lot of fun to wield.

The problem with high-score hunting is that the core gameplay can grow repetitive and become boring after a while. That's certainly the case here, even with the new weapons and power-ups. And if that were the only mode, I would have a hard time recommending this game to anybody but the most hardcore Centipede fans.

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Thankfully, that's not all you get in this Recharged package. If you're going to buy this new game, it's probably going to be on the strength of the surprisingly great Challenge mode. It's here where you're tasked with completing thirty difficult missions using all of the elements you've come to know and love from Centipede. These challenges can include racing for a certain score, shooting down one type of insect, killing enemies using randomly placed bombs, surviving for a set amount of time and a whole lot more. I especially like how the game keeps adding layers to the challenges, such as the times when you'll need to kill a certain number of insects without destroying even one mushroom. And best of all, every single one of these challenge stages has their own leaderboard, so you can compare your best times with the rest of the world.

For as much as I love the challenge levels, I can't help but feel disappointed that the same attention wasn't given to the standard arcade mode. I'm not looking for a complete overhaul of the original, but it definitely feels like more could have been done here. Perhaps something as simple as rotating backgrounds would have helped to shake up the monotony. It also would have been fun to see some of the timed modes that made Pac-Man Championship Edition so addictive. Or maybe just more random elements. It does a good job of reimagining the arcade hit and is a lot of fun to play, but this standard mode is missing something. It needs to be a little more over-the-top.

Of course, the reasonable ten-dollar asking price helps to keep expectations in check. No, this is not going to be a deep shooter that changes the way you look at the genre. This is a simple update to a game that came out when simple was the status quo. The developer has done a good job of adding new weapons and abilities to the mix, but the real reason to buy this game is to test your mettle with the thirty challenge levels. That's what makes this reboot better than all of the Centipede games that came before it.