Welcome Time Wasters!
Let me take a minute of your time to complain about something really quick. That something is McDonald’s. I’m currently recovering/still feeling the effects of a case of food poisoning that I got after eating there. It sucks. I don’t even like the place’s food really, but I was being lazy and this is what it got me. Still, that won’t stop me from getting the weekly time waster ready.
The time waster this week is a computer game called Astervoid 2000. It can be picked up on Steam for $10. The game is a dual-stick shooter that has a huge focus on playing locally against your friends.
The controls in Astervoid 2000 are simple enough. The left analog stick moves the space ship and the right analog stick aims. Players press the right trigger to shoot and the left trigger to boost. They can also hold the right trigger to charge up a stronger shot. This won’t go as far, but does more damage. The player’s ship moves slower while charging. Also, using a boost while holding a charge shot will do a ram attack that instant kills enemies.
The main focus of Astervoid 2000 is playing against your friends while sitting on the couch together. Players start the game and there are several different ships that they can choose from. However, the differences between the ships are purely cosmetic. Different ships don’t get different bonuses, which kind of sucks. Still, it’s a fun time that can keep a group of up to four’s interest for a couple of hours.
Those without friends can also take on the game’s survival mode. This pits the player against endless waves of enemies. The waves start out with just a single enemy, but more are added the farther the player makes it. The problem is that there is only one type of enemy in the game. A few different enemies would add some much needed variety and keep the game interesting longer. This mode also keeps track of a high score that is shared with other players online.
I unfortunately ran into a glitch while playing survival mode. I got into a lucky streak and was able to take out a couple of waves of ships almost instantly due to catching them in other ships’ explosions. The only problem is that this, for some reason, caused no more ships to spawn in. This was on Wave 17 and I was about to enter the top 4 on the leader boards, but nothing would load. I sat around for a couple of minutes shooting asteroids that fly across the field, but nothing happened. I ended up having to kill myself by flying off the edge of the screen. That also killed my mood and I stopped playing for the day afterwards.
There’s another glitch that I have ran into every time I play Astervoid 2000. Actually, it comes around every time I try to quit playing the game. The game always freezes up when I try to exit it. There literally hasn’t been a time I’ve tried to quit the game without having to launch Task Manager to close it down. It’s not really a harmful glitch per say, but it does show that the game is a little unpolished.
The visuals in Astervoid 2000 are great. There is obviously a lot of inspiration from retro games, but that isn’t bad. The arenas that players fight in also look great with huge backdrops of space behind them.
The music in Astervoid 2000 is also solid. It’s got a few different songs that can play and each of them is filled with loads of energy. The sound effects also work well and are sitting at even levels with the music.
Overall, Astervoid 2000 is a good game that has some flaws. Most of the glitches can be fixed in patches, but I can’t really say if that will happen or not. If I’m to be honest, $10 is a bit much to pay for what this game offers. Wait for it to go on sale before picking it up.
Astervoid 2000 earns 2.5 GiN Gems out of 5!
Also, thank you for listening to the complaints of a sickly man.