Asteroids (multiple versions in the Atari Vault compilation played for review)

There’s this philosophy in developing games that posits nothing matters more than hitting an appealing gaming loop, and “Asteroids” represents a strong argument against that belief. “Asteroids”, no matter what accoutrements are attached to it, is about shooting asteroids, and it’s appealing for the first loop and then I’m left empty. “Space Invaders” at least conveyed some sense of nihilism; “Asteroids” is about shooting rocks and occasionally UFOs. I can see how something great could have been built off the foundation presented here (and some games have arguably done so), but as it is, this is another forgettable Atari “classic”.

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